Tag: Cycleway

April 17th – The Telford footbridge construction project continues, and there’s a really interesting stage started now; partially build sections of the bridge have been delivered as steelwork skeletons, namely a couple of lattice piers and the over railway deck section. What’s interesting is that they have been fixed temporarily on spare ground, and other parts are being welded and added. The assembled sections will be completed on the ground, and then lifted into place.

I’ve never seen this done before and passing through on a grey, drizzly afternoon it was certainly interesting to watch the engineers at work while I waited for the train.

This is certainly going to confuse people trying to work out the final layout…

April 11th – There is beauty and positivity in the gloom – the cycleways, verges, edge lands and tracks of Telford are lined with tentative buds and trees coming into early leaf. Nature is just poised to go for it when the warmth comes, just holding it’s breath…

Aren’t we all?

March 7th – The weather is much warmer now and I’m desperately looking for signs of a nascent spring, which aren’t very forthcoming yet but the daylight is really lengthening now.

On the cycleway at goscote, some lovely colour in the moss and lichen growing on the tree, which I think is probably dead – making me wonder if the moss killed the tree or is a result of the decay?

Whatever, it’s fascinating.

November 23rd – I mentioned this earlier in the week, but it’s deadly at the moment, so bears mentioning again – watch the paths and cycleways at the moment. They’re more slippery than a grease deal dipped in baby oil.

Algea, leaf mulch and general damp slime are combining to make the less well used paths treacherous. I nearly lost the bike twice today. The main reason is.a few days of light drizzle, but not enough rain to actually cleanse anything. 

Although the routes in Telford are beautiful, they are to be ridden very, very carefully – and they’ll be in the same state everywhere.

November 3rd – Of course, if you’re heading towards Priorslee, Stafford Park or Hortonwood it’s always a fair old uphill, that does thankfully break under the motorway bridge. But it’s a pleasure to ride, even on a dull autumn morning. The colours and beauty of an otherwise unremarkable urban cycleway are a joy to behold.

October 24th – I popped to Telford late morning on a quite errand and noted this row of trees near the cycleway, whose uniformity has always fascinated me. 

All ornamental cherries, the branch at the same height, are about equall in height, blossom and shed at the same time, and never seem to need management at all.

And in autumn they make for great photos!

September 19th – I had to visit Telford and when I arrived late morning it was still quite misty with a soft, suffused sunlight. The cycleways and views of the new town are beautiful at this time of year in the right light and it’s one of the good things about autumn.

So nice to see a familiar place wearing such a pretty jacket, even if it does mean the end of the green for another year…

September 18th – It was grey and just after heavy rain when I returned to Brownhills. There traffic had been bad I I hit the canal through Central Brownhills. 

On the old cement works bridge, teases grow well every year, and this year there are a fine crop, looking as prehistoric and alien as ever.

These wonderful weeds go largely unnoticed, but they are fascinating. Taking their name from their utility for teasing out cloth and yarn, they now provide winter food for songbirds, particularly goldfinches.

June 13th – Coming to be a common sight about now, a lovely purple flower dots the verges, hedgerows and neglected spaces. I’m fairly sure this is knapweed, and looks very thistle-like, but has no prickles. 

I wonder what the evolutionary genesis of this is – something so similar to another plant, but without the protective defences? Whatever, it’s a really beautiful thing.