July 6th – On the way to work on a grey, dull Monday morning, these apples near the cycleway in Goscote caught my eye, and made me think. They’re growing well, and ripening in the recent warm weather.
That’s a harbinger of late summer.
Just where is this year going?
June 23rd – It was so lovely, I headed back along the canal too on my way home, riding along it to Coalpool and then onto the cycleway to Pelsall. Along the way the waterways sparkled, the skies were blue and a family of swans I’d not seen before, plus five healthy cygnets, promenaded past.
I was particularly taken with the thicket of wild sweetness on the cycleway at Harden.
Summer was made for splendid commutes like this.
New Year’s Day – I was miserable. The weather was miserable. That’s all there was to it.
I wasn’t feeling good – not over-indulgence, but the semi-regular bad stomach and that post-Christmas feeling when the work that seemed so far away two days ago is suddenly noticed, bearing down.
I span out after dark, up Coppice Lane and the cycleway, and back along the canal. It was raining, and windy so quite tough going. But I felt better for it, and got home more cheerful than I left it.
I always find January 1st difficult if I’m hemmed in. Tomorrow will be a better day.
November 23rd – A run out on errands late morning was shrouded in grey, overcast damp. I swung out to Pelsall, then back over to Coppice Side and up to Chasewater, Ogley and back to the supermarket. It was a thoroughly grey, uninspiring and lifeless day.
I cut up the cycleway from Apex Road, over the old cement works bridge up to Engine Lane. I was pleased to note the cycleway here has been opened back out and the paths cleared – all by a Community Payback team, who were working cutting the scrub back today.
That pleased me, and makes riding down here a whole bunch nicer. Thanks, folks. Looking good!
November 1st – Yes, it’s November, and the sun is warm and the landscape still perceptibly green. The weather this year has been nuts. It was very windy, and I was, to be quite frank, knackered. I had some shopping to do so headed out to Pelsall and then up the cycleway and canal to Sainsbury’s at Reedswood. The wind was punishing, but it was a lovely day – and I did get blown home, so it wasn’t all bad.
And yet again, great skies.
October 24th – I was in Redditch, which is quite a rarity for me these days. It wasn’t a great day weather-wise, either, and the rain caught me on the way back – taking shelter in the bakery at the top of Unicorn Hill, I realised I had to go for my train. I got soaked.
Like Telford, it’s easy to take the mickey out of Redditch, but it’s really rather beautiful, and at no time does it show more than autumn. From the neat order of Church Green, to the timber frame houses of Ipsley, the grey heron on Arrow Lake and the peaceful solitude of the cycleway, this isn’t a bad place.
It’s even better when the sun’s out…
October 4th – Another enchanting golden hour, and I needed something important. Having had no luck at the big Sainsbury at Cannock the day before, I struck gold at Reedswood.
Progress was slow, but I wended up the canal and down the cycleway to north Walsall in the most gorgeous light, and back in a equally gorgeous but cold sunset.
The weather really is great at the moment.
September 8th – I hit Birmingham again mid afternoon. I was drained, and feeling a bit groggy, but couldn’t waste the good weather. I rode out of town on the canal to Spaghetti Junction, then eastwards to Castle Vale and hopped on the Plantsbrook/New Hall Valley cycleway. It was gorgeous, and well worth what seemed like a Herculean effort.
The Himalayan balsam is thick by the brook for almost the entire cycleway, making the air smell of hot tin, but for all the damage it causes, it is rather beautiful.
When I got to Sutton, I was beaten, and hopped on the train to Shenstone. IBS can be a pain sometimes.
August 10th – A remarkable season, and now the fruiting begins in earnest. The wind was gusting hard, and the threat of rain not far away, but I slid out mid afternoon in defiance of Hurricane Bertha (spit). I let the wind blow me along the wet canal to the cyclway over the common – on the way, I noticed what I think are cherries growing ripe on a tree by the Pier Street Bridge. They look rather fat and large to be such gems in Brownhills. Can anyone help there?
There’s also been a remarkably prodigious crop of hazelnuts from the hedge thicket opposite the Watermead estate – but what wasn’t already squirrelled was blown down in the wind; the towpath is thick with nobbled and wind-fallen nuts.
On the cycleway, a similarly bountiful crop of blackberries, and the elderberries too are ripening to a beautiful black-crimson gloss.
Summer coming to an end is always sad, but how can one remain so in the face of such wonderful fruits?
June 25th – One the way to work today in Telford, I passed, as I usually do, a tall beech hedge. My attention was snagged by the bright, crisp red-green new growth, and the intensely geometric nature of these gorgeous leaves.
Each leaf different, but similar. Macro, and fascinating. Never really studied them before, but these were remarkable.
Funny the things you sometimes see afresh by chance.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 