#365daysofbiking Springing up like… Mushrooms?
September 7th – Up on the old rail line, I noticed that with the damp weather, fungi was now coming through after a very thin summer.
I’m glad to see this as the mycology fascinates me; most folk don’t realise that generally toadstools and mushrooms are merely the blooms of larger underground organisms, and the colours, textures and shapes fascinate me.
I looks like this spot will be a good place to find fungi this autumn.
#365daysofbiking The trains don’t run here anymore:
September 7th – The weather was still grey and unpleasant, cold with a sharpening wind and summer seemed a long way behind me. But I felt like a bit of an explore on the way home so I hopped up onto the old South Staffordshire Railway that carried freight when I was a kid.
Carefully restored and maintained by Back the Track as a cycling and walking greenway, it’s peaceful up there and as Vivian Stanshall put it, you’re nestling in green nowhere.
There are good views of the canal, Clayhanger Marsh and Ryders Mere, and plenty of birds and wildlife to spot.
It’s also home to one of the most mournful monuments to a lost railway I know: The solitary remaining signal post of Norton Junction.
Still, the ladder makes a great vantage point for photographing the marsh…
#365daysofbiking All misty wet with rain:
September 4th – A very wet commuteto work along the Goscote Cylceway on NCN 5 was actually far better than I would have expected, as the rain on on the hedgerows and berries lit them up and made them precious.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hawthorn harvest this heavy – from a distance the hedgerows and trees appear red.
Not a bad ride, despite the weather.
July 16th – In Telford, I noticed that following the dry summer, the rowan berries were ripening well, but not large; they look dry, rough and on the verge of shrivelling.
It’ll be interesting to see if other fruits are similarly affected.
It’s a long time since we had a dry summer like this.
July 13th – In Telford for the morning, I crossed the footbridge over the motorway to Priorslee and noticed that despite the dry spell, the embankments, a real haven for local wildlife were still very green and alive with wildflowers.
It always interests me how the motorways of the UK – undoubtedly polluting and hostile to the environment – have formed green ribbons of land that protect so much wildlife and provide an undisturbed haven.
Of course, this is one of the quieter UK motorways.
June 1st – A grey day, largely but very humid. Storms were expected that never arrived, and the air of humid frustration was pervasive throughout the day.
Another blossom is out now, to add to the list – elderflower. So this weekend I shall be out with the sack, collecting some for a relative to make wine and cordial. Not too many though, as we need to remember the black-crimson fruit that will be used to make excellent wine in autumn.
A nice find on an unremarkable, draining day.
May 17th – Again,in the ‘what a difference a few weeks make’ department, the cycleways of generally unremarkable Telford are returning to their leafy, shady but sun dappled summer state.
You would not know here you’re but feet from a motorway, and the colour and Arcadian effect is stunning, and a joy to ride along.
Telford faces much derision, not least from me, But some things it does really, really well. Telford, take a bow.
April 25th – One of the sadnesses of the season is how short lived the blossom is – it’s there, and gone in a blaze of colour, then shed petals and confetti, then… nothing. A more transient example of the season’s wheel you could not find.
At the moment, the blossom is just starting to end, but passing these two intertwined trees on the cycleway to Priorslee in Telford always fascinates me as it looks like one tree with two different colours of blossom.
I love how, even when fresh, the pink one looks like bright but tattered tissue paper.
Such a lovely, but all to quickly passing, time of year…
April 23rd – Later that same day, a visit to Telford saw me hauling up the cycleway to Priorslee. A few short weeks ago this view was barren and grey.
Once more this byway is turning into a beautiful tunnel of verdant green.
I love how spring and summer can make even the most dystopian of places beautiful.
April 20th – And so, spring is on her throne at last and summer is booting up.
The speed at which this has happened this year – in no more that a week – has been startling and rather wonderful.
Every day new discoveries, and whilst yesterday, the blossom was just starting, this morning it was showing strongly.
How long I have waited for the light, the warmth and the wonderful burst of life. It was worth the wait.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 