Tag: commute

#365daysofbiking Homeward bound:

November 5th – I’d been in Redditch, a place I used to work lots but in recent years, hardly had been to at all.it’s fair to say that following the events of the weekend, my heart wasn’t in life at all.

I didn’t get the camera out all day, until I returned to Shenstone – and there it was shining in the dark like a beacon.

This station is part of my soul and has been for 40 years. Coming back here after a hard day is reassuring, soulful, welcoming. 

Like Paul Simon, I sat on the railway station and reflected for a while. Then I got on my bike and rode, homeward bound.

#365daysofbiking The dark side:

November 2nd – Returning that evening, drained after a heavy, stressful week, I hit the canal.

Riding the canal towpaths after dark requires a couple of things – nerves of steel and a good front light. 

The nerves are necessary to spot the familiar hazards of the towpath in unfamiliar lighting conditions – ducks, geese, foxes, cats etc, as well as deep potholes, bumps, wooden trail edge boards and paver edges. It’s also challenging to predict sudden curves in the path you navigate automatically in daylight.

I can also be a bit… lonely.

But I love the mental challenge and peace of it.

#365daysofbiking Colonial life:

November 2nd – the fungi colonies are still doing well. The earthstars of the Darlaston Trading Estate are still showing beautifully like some petrified, child’s drawing flower, and these little buttons on a stump were fascinating. I’m not sure what they are, and welcome suggestions: Maybe slimy beech caps or roundheads?

Never tire of studying fungus.

#365daysofbiking The world spins, me a apart of it:

November 1st – My worry was misplaced. I had good news from the hospital, and rode gently back, taking in the air which with my inbuilt mood filter switched off, was now sunny and cheering.

What better time to enjoy the parks of Darlaston, Victoria and Kings Hill? What better time to sit and appreciate the leaves, the dog walkers, the birds and my beloved Black Country?

It made a change to have lightness in my heart. That’s been a rare thing of late.

#365daysofbiking Wellness:

November 1st – I’m running behind at the moment, please bear with me. 

I had to go to the hospital for an appointment, and went from work mid morning. I was apprehensive, tense, and sad. I looked back down the Walsall Canal from where I came and noticed the curious, dull sunlight on the yellowing trees.

I felt the very chill of autumn in my bones there and then. However beautiful, autumn is always, always melancholy.

#365daysofbiking Mystical:

October 31st – Passing Victoria Park on Station Road, Darlaston on a beautiful day on the cusp between autumn and winter I’m reminded how lovely this place really is. 

I’ll never tire of that view of the Mystic Bridge and the leaves turning.

Summer may be long since gone but there is still plenty of beauty around.

#365daysofbiking Parked:

October 30th – My peaceful retreat Kings Hill Park is looking gorgeous in it’s autumn palette right now and I’m really enjoying it.

Sadly, the flowers haven’t been so good this year, and I fear cost cutting at Walsall Council may have been to blame, but none of that detracts from the essential beauty of this peaceful, beautiful urban oasis, where I often stop, separate myself from the workaday stress and have a brew and a think.

This place will always be mine, whatever the season.

#365daysofbiking A goldmine:

October 30th – A shoutout here for a little shop in Darlaston I love – Mindful Gifts. It’s a charity shop, but not as we know it Jim: It’s a veritable treasure trove of music, books, ephemera and great miscellany at really low prices. 

Mindful Gifts is run in aid of folk with dementia and it a really wonderful charity -and there’s always a buzz around the shop. Find out more here.

Do pay a visit if you’re in Darlaston.

#365daysofbiking Stark:

October 29th – I took a stop at an old night-time favourite, for old time’s sake.

Clayhanger Bridge and the overflow still captivate me at night. So many possibilities. So still. So starkly beautiful.

The G1X seems to like it.

I hope the darkness will be my friend this year.

#365daysofbiking Catching the leaves:

October 26th – Heading to Hortonwood from Telford Station on the cycleway, I crossed the motorway bridge to Priorslee and my attention was caught by the sunlight catching the turning leaves.

Motorways are not beautiful but they do have a particular charm, especially in autumn when their embankments, generally undisturbed havens for wildlife, become especially beautiful.