December 12th – Telford was stunning too; from the station which looked like a winter wonderland, to the old bridge now with one of the ramps to the Staples store removed to the cycleways which were packed ice and easily navigated on the studded tyres.
Only problem was many of the laurel trees that line the paths were weighted down to breaking point with snow and were hard to get past.
December 12th – Off to Telford in the early morning in temperatures pushing minus 6 with a fresh fall of snow the night before. Blake Street Station looked oddly eerie in the dawn light and pure white, and as the electric 323 train rolled in past a familiar view of the Sutton Mast going in the opposite direction, the pantograph pickup arced continuously and noisily due to the ice on the catenary wires.
A mesmerising sight, I couldn’t help wondering if ithe 25,000 volt arc degraded the pickup carbons or just burnt of the ice.
Something you don’t witness too often, that.
December 11th – After getting one or two bits of shopping in, it was dark so I went up onto Pier Street Bridge to take in one of my favourite views with an added snowy flavour.
What’s interesting about these images is one is taken with an iPhone, and the other with a pretty decent camera. Apart from the dirty lens on the phone camera, you’d barely tell the two images apart for quality.
How technology marches on…
December 11th – I’d run around in the morning sorting displaced family members out and getting them back where they needed to be in the chaos of a snow-hit morning rush hour, so spent the day working from home. It was bitingly cold and with the snow a wee bit to deep to ride far in, I contented myself with getting caught up in the peace of a warm, quiet house.
Nipping out to take the air late afternoon in a lazy loop around Walsall Wood and Brownhills, taken slowly due to the conditions, I caught a lovely bit of snow day sunset at Anchor Bridge.
It caught me short for a bit. What a a gorgeous view that is.
December 9th – I was looking forward to a snowy ride out to a couple of food fairs – one at Whittington, and one at Lichfield. Sadly, when I escaped at lunchtime, most of the lying snow had melted away and the ride was just greasy and dirty with meltwater and mud.
Still, the ride out through Little Hay was nice, and up over the Heath. The Whittington event was decent, and I was amused by the tiny, real snowman standing sentry on the door.
After a look around, I headed to Lichfield with a keen seeming wind against me, still a bit miffed about the snow melting. But as it turned out, it didn’t turn out too badly…
December 8th – As I approached the supermarket at Burntwood, there was a sadly short but very enjoyable whiteout. The snow was heavy, fast and think, and all of a sudden, my ride was transformed from a normal shopping errand into an adventure.
The snow stopped pretty quickly, but left a decent enough cover that made a familiar night-time view at Anglesey Basin beautiful and gave e an interesting and challenging ride back to Brownhills.
December 8th – The forecast had been for heavy snow during the day, and whilst it had been cold, the anticipated white stuff only presented a dusting by the time I headed over to Burntwood as night fell. I was quite disappointed if I’m honest, but I headed out into an impressively blue night to try the snow tyres for the first really icy outing of the year.
They were, as always, excellent, as were the views on the way, which made the ride much better than expected.
And then, something quite unexpected happened…
December 7th – Out and about on a sunny, bright but windy day in Darlaston, and I was passing through the parks I love now that winter is now in full effect.
Mostly the leaves and flowers have gone, the majestic trees are bare and growth has stopped – yet the colours are still lovely and there’s still a barren beauty, and above all, peace.
The long shadows, sunlight and crisp air always make Victoria and Kings Hill Parks beautiful – every year I hate it’s approach, but every year I again learn to love winter.
December 1st – It was still very cold on Friday evening, and again taking the canal to Walsall Wood – this time from Aldridge – I was reminded of the perils of black ice. Hitting this frozen puddle at speed, in the dark? I didn’t take a spill, but I did feel the back wheel slip.
Ever year there’s a little warning to be more sensible.
Take care if you’re out when it’s frosty, folks…
November 30th – Heading home that evening I hit the canal at the Black Cock Bridge and rode into Brownhills in peaceful, cold darkness.
I stopped to have a go at one of my favourite muses – Clayhanger Bridge by night – and by removing the bike light, putting it on full and shining round, I don’t think I got a bad pic.
That’s ice on the canal, by the way.
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