Tag: darkness

#365daysofbiking Dark, dark heart

November 15th – It had, at least, stopped raining. I arrived in Brownhills to overcast skies but thankfully, for once, dry.

I stopped to re-tie my lace at Ravens Court, the derelict, abandoned shopping precinct in the middle of Brownhills.

Beyond me in the heart of darkness there are no longer any shops in the place, and it sits, gently decaying, unloved and beyond the reach of anyone who cares to sort it out.

One day it will be gone, and this sad place will no longer be a focus for that which ails our town. But until then, it makes for a very eerie night image.

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#365daysofbiking Sliding into darkness

October 15th –  Returning in the evening at the usual time is now crossing into the night: My commute now often starts in twilight and just about ends in darkness.

As I passed Catshill Junction on my way to the High Street on a sodden canal towpath, I just caught the last of the light.

Oh how I hate this gradual, inexorable slide into darkness.

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#365daysofbiking Into the darkness

October 3rd – The sunset now is getting really, really early and is quite a shock.

That was a hard, wet and punishing ride into the wind. It was hard work after the week I’ve had.

The winter lights are on, the scarf is out of the drawer and the thermals are being checked and washed.

And so, into the dark I disappear for the worst half of the year.

I hate this, but you have to have the bad with the good, so here goes…

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#365daysofbiking Gaining fast

January 16th – Although, on the way home I stopped to take a call and noticed that sunset was now over thirty minutes later the at Christmas.

Soon, it will be 5pm. And I will start to see fingers of the day creep into the skies of my journeys home.

Can’t come soon enough…

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#365daysofbiking Getting better every day

January 2nd – Back on the 21st December my heart was lifted, as it always its, by the thought that we’d had the shortest day of the year, and that now the sunset would get later and later and the night and darkness would retreat for another year.

Well, not two weeks later, and the sunset is already 10 minutes later than it was on that day.

Ten minutes may not seem much, but it’s significant. Although the timetable to which the day lengthens is fixed, the rapidity of the change is always impressive to me and the retreat of night, being loosely sinusoidal, accelerates as we escape winter.

That six hundred seconds of gleaned light mean that on a clear day, it’s not really dark until well after 4:30pm. Soon light will leak into my evening commutes, and all will be well again.

I so hate the darkness.

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#365daysofbiking Darkness my old friend:

December 8th – Speeding around a wet, sleepy Brownhills is always strange. I feel almost invisible. Rolling up the canal to Pelsall was lovely, but very soggy.

I love the lights of the Watermead Estate at night, and the effect they have on what would otherwise be an utterly dark canal.

Sometimes the darkness isn’t so bad. I’d always rather be riding in the light of a beautiful spring or summer, but as Judy Collins put it ‘Sometimes the darkness is your friend.’

#365daysofbiking Rainbows in the dark:

December 2nd – A session of intensive and long overdue bike maintenance dragged on until sundown, then a thrash onto Cannock Chase, specifically Rainbow Hill.

It was warm, quiet, and there was a gentle drizzle. Owls and deer called in the darkness, and rabbits and badgers scurried from my light.

A surprisingly enjoyable blast.

#365daysofbiking Grimness:

November 29th – Although we’re approaching the shortest day – when the advance of night is defeated and light gradually seeps back into my life – this next three weeks are the hardest commutes of the year. 

This evening I noted from the bike computer that sunset is now before 4pm for the first time this winter, and it will creep almost ten minutes earlier as the weeks wear on.

The commutes will be heavy with seasonal traffic, there will be grim weather and the trains when used will be a mess.

It’s the same every year and I hate it.

#365daysofbiking Death throes:

November 20th – In Redditch, just like everywhere else I guess, Autumn is in it’s death throes now. Winter is on my shoulder and it was cold, and on the way home, wet too. It’s not yet frosty, but there’s a characteristic bite in the air that finds every sensitive tooth when you first step out.

Rolling along the Arrow Valley through the park to visit a customer, the river and meadows were still gorgeous. But you can tell it’s ending now. Another week or so and winter will be here.

But also, it’s only a little over a month now until the shortest day. A month. Then darkness will be in retreat once more.

Onwards. I’m ready now.

#365daysofbiking Sensations in the dark:

November 3rd – The Saturday closest to November the 5th is usually busier than Bonfire Night itself, and this year was no exception. Coming back from shopping in Lichfield, I was getting used once more to rural cycling darkness, and found Aldershawe Lodge’s lights charming in the darkness.

Further towards Wall though, a huge bonfire in a field, fireworks and the sound of fun, one of several on this windy, cold night ride home.