Tag: Common

#365daysofbiking On the spot

January 2nd – Crossing Clayhanger Common on the New Spot Path, it occurred to me suddenly that this was an anniversary for 365daysofbiking.

I started this madness on April 3rd, 2011 resolving to cycle every day of April, to do the 30 days of biking project. I enjoyed it so much I vowed to do 365days continuous.

The following New Year 2011/12, I was very very ill with food poisoning, and slain for 2 days in which I didn’t ride. So I restarted the clock in embarrassment.

So this is the eighth year of cycling very day, rain, snow or shine. That’s 2,922 days, on a bike every day, sometimes with multiple journeys.

It’s fair to say I like keeping the journal and love to ride a bike. I’m slowing up and getting more cautious as I age, but I’m still rolling down the hills and panting up them on the way back.

And I’m still haunting the locality at night, on my way home from work, unafraid to stop in the loneliest, creepiest places… Like Clayhanger Common – to document my life on two wheels.

I’m glad you’ve been there by my side. Thanks. It makes me less afraid of the dark. Not the dark of the night, but the dark of the loneliness of the commuting bike rider.

Here’s to another 365days under the wheels…

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#365daysofbiking Headlights on the parade

November 11th – In the quick loop of the common whilst killing time waiting for food, we poured ourselves liquid down the parade.

At night, we often see deer crossing here, this wide, tree-lined road over the common is always beautiful, but never more so than in autumn.

One thing the sodium lights do set off well is autumn leaves.

Gorgeous, and the perfect appetiser for a good curry…

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#365daysofbiking Here comes the flood

October 26th – As predicted, the Saturday was very wet indeed, with the rain not abating until early evening. I had business in town that couldn’t wait, and on the way I passed the overflow opposite Silver Street adjacent to the lower meadow on Clayhanger Common.

The canal overflow was barely coping with the torrent, and it was starting to overflow toward the meadow.

Holding this flood is what the meadow was created for, four decades ago: And it will work, admirably holding the excess and realising it slowly, preventing the village flooding.

It will, however, make the Southern Clayhanger Common footpaths impassable for a few days – a small price to pay I think.

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#365daysofbiking Proudly hanging on

October 16th –  It’s not all grey and darkness, though – if you look carefully some flowers are still proudly hanging on on the edge lands and verges – the odd ragwort, bindweed, persistent daisies and oddly enough, plenty of purple clover.

There’s always something positive to be found if you look hard enough.

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#365daysofbiking Turn, turn, turn

October 15th –  Near Brownhills Common, the colours are changing fast now with the full autumn gamut – from the bright yellow-green of shedding birches to the crimson reds and deep golds of more… Exotic shrubs and trees.

On a wet, grey morning they can really perk you up. A delight to the soul.

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#365daysofbiking Waxcap waning

October 12th – A pretty little ‘shroom spotted in the leaf litter under those trees on The Parade: The blackening wax cap or witches hat. Starting light in colour they can be anything from yellow to deep red. As they age they get darker and darker until the point of decay.

Not particularly toxic but not really edible, the wax cap is a diverse family that are absolutely beautiful and well worth looking out for.

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#365daysofbiking Things in common

October 12th – Little sleep, online life getting to me and feeling tired. Not a great recipe – but a potter into town for shopping and a coffee was welcome. I headed to The Parade which is always beautiful in autumn, and although too early for the real show, it was still pretty impressive and a good tonic.

I remember this majestic trees being saplings. They are pretty much as old as I am.

And today, I felt very old indeed… Certainly too old to be working into the wee small hours.

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#365daysofbiking The spore of the moment

October 6th – Another day with the cold and no energy, but an unexpectedly fine afternoon with sunny spells. It was, however, rather blustery and Chasewater had white-topped waves beating it’s shores.

I roved for a couple of hours around the common, canals and Chasewater looking for fungi, and was rewarded with the usual suspects – good fly agaric, ammonite, puffballs, honey fungus, polypores and earth balls.

But there was one find I was most pleased with – and a species I’ve not seen since I was a child: Amethyst deceiver.

These tiny, delicate, beautifully purple shrooms are actually edible and absolutely gorgeous. Hard to spot at first, they look brown at first, until you see them in the light – then the magic happens.

A great afternoon against my expectations.

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#365daysofbiking Stars on earth

October 1st – I had to go to have a medical procedure, so I was out in a rainy dawn on a quick spin to get the ride in for the day.

On Clayhanger Common, a first for the year: Earthstar fungus.

This remarkable, almost unreal looking fungi grows quite widely now but was once a rarity, and there are lots on Clayhanger Common from now until Christmas.

They work like puffballs, and the central sphere pops releasing it’s spores to the wind.

They always look like plasticine to me. Beautiful, curious things.

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#365daysofbiking Breakfast run

September 29th – Sunday was a very rainy day. The forecast was bad so just a short run out in the early morning before things worsened.

Found under trees on Brownhills Common, a decent crop of blumels, or shaggy ink caps.

Picked carefully and popped in a cotton bag, I dashed home and had them fried for breakfast, a real autumn treat.

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