Tag: commute

January 2nd – It was good to be back on the commute, and good to be back at work. On this pleasant morning, the cycle tracks of Telford were showing signs of not being swept over the break, but they were still fast and quiet. For all I (gently) knock it, this is one aspect of TelfordI really like – the ability to get about without having to interact with it’s awful road system too much.

January 2nd – First day back to work, and a lovely commute. The roads were quiet, and the weather reasonable. I just got time to take a quick shot of the dawn over Hill Hook and the Sutton Transmitter. It’s somewhat out of focus, but not too bad. I felt good, and despite the trains being abysmal, it was good to be back.

It felt doubly magical, because this is the second birthday of 365daysofbiking. I actually started the project in April, 2011 in order to ride every day of the 30 days of April, mainly to stop fellow twitter cyclist Renee Van Baar from nagging me about it. At the end of that month, i was enjoying the thing so much I carried on, and vowed to make it 365 days.

Sadly, over the new year of 2011/12, I suffered bad food poisoning, and was off the bike for two days. I was gutted, and so feeling cheated, I started again. 2nd January 2014 – today – was the second anniversary of that resolution.

Last year I agonised over whether to continue, this year I don’t. The eagle-eyed may have noticed I installed a hit counter here a couple of weeks ago – just under the search box on the right. That tells me lots are still reading this, so it seems worth continuing, and it’s part of me now. The urge to get off the bike, stop, and look around is now so habitual that I don’t think I could really stop.

Statistics for this year gone have been a tad more modest at 8,732 miles. That’s still  about 24 miles a day. A remarkable total of 15,356 photos have been taken. On the journal so far, there have been 2,212 posts. I have cycled continuously, every day, for 730 days. It seems wrong not to at least make the 1,000.

In total, the journal has run for 1,003 days from the start, and something in excess of 25,000 miles.

Thank you for riding it with me. As long as people are enjoying this, I’ll keep doing it.

Your comments are, as ever, welcome, even if it’s just to tell me to shut the hell up…

December 12th – Coming home late, it was raining quite hard. It was warm, though, and well wrapped in my waterproofs I enjoyed the sights, sounds and sensory onslaught of the traffic on the rain. At Rushall, I stopped to photograph the Christmas tree. It looks better in the photo than it looks in reality – this one seems a little tatty, if I’m honest. 

In the late hour, the junction at Rushall Square was quiet, and glistening in the rain. Sadly, I couldn’t keep the lens clear and just had to go for it.

Hopefully, the weather will clear for the weekend. 

December 5th – Without a functioning rail service, there was no alternative and I cycled home from Tyseley. The wind was strong, but it had died back considerably, and the rain – apart from a brief shower as I hit Park Hall – had cleared. I didn’t fancy the traffic up the main drag over Kingstanding with a side wind, so hit the canal all the way home. It got dark in Aston, and the front light – my trusty Hope R4 – was plenty good enough all the way. The going wasn’t fast, but it was steady, and much of the time I was sheltered from the wind. 

Reality checks came at Tower Hill, where rocks had tumbled from the steep cutting embankment onto the towpath, and Park Hall, where a tree had similarly come to a sad end. 

There was a cracking sunset, too, but I missed most of it, hidden behind the cityscape. The views over Hamstead were great though, and it made a change to see them at this time of day. I must head here for a sunset when I get chance.

I arrived home tired, but just pleased to be back, and safe. Many, many people had a far worse time with floods, the tidal surge and severe gales. My tribulations were nothing, and I did get in a decent ride, after all.

December 5th – It wasn’t a great day for train travel in the Midlands (or the rest of the country, for that matter). Signal failures led to horrid delays getting to work, and storm damage mainly caused by falling trees stopped lines to Walsall and Lichfield during the afternoon and evening, so I cycled home from Brum and gave the trains a miss completely.

I noted that Notwork Fail have this year put up a lush, artificial Christmas Tree in the ‘New’ New Street.

It’s irritatingly not straight, buy very apposite.

November 26th – Heading off to work on a less than inspiring morning. I’m glad to say I’m used to the chill again now, but the greyness is still a bind. As I sped down through Stonnall, I passed Grove Hill. Last time I looked up there, it was a field of oilseed rape, and the tree, now barren, was in full leaf.

There’s a winter crop grown in the surrounding field now, which was young and vivid green, perhaps the only splash of natural colour on an otherwise dismal grey morning.

That hedge still demonstrates soil erosion beautifully, mind. The folks that planted that knew exactly what they were doing.

November 20th – Just the one picture today, as the commutes were horrid and wet, ad the images I took in the morning were spoiled by rain on the lens. I grabbed this as I left the station at Walsall in the early evening. The rain had stopped, but everything was wet and cold. The traffic seemed tetchy and aggressive tonight, too, but nothing really matches the glisten of a wet urban night scene. There wasn’t much business for the taxis tonight, but it’s nice to see Station Street undergoing a bit of a revival.

Even on a cold wet Wednesday in Walsall, there’s beauty to be had.

November 19th – It didn’t feel icy. But it was cold, and I guess the first really winterish commute of the season. But this sign – a new appearance today at Moor Street Station – seems to indicate lawyers have been earning their corn somewhere. The language is mealy mouthed too. 

Oh well, it kept a sign maker busy somewhere…