December 16th – On my return from work, I hopped on the canal at Walsall Wood, and enjoyed the peaceful darkness as far as Anchor Bridge, where I switched back onto the High Street.
The canal was peaceful, silent, eerie, with only snatches of light in the darkness, my headlamp scything the night as I rode.
But riding in the dark is mentally hard work, and I hadn’t got it in me. For once, the road felt safer, so I took it.
November 19th – Riding to Lichfield on a grey afternoon to get a little shopping in and get some fresh air. I went through the backlanes of Hilton, Wall Butts and Chesterfield, and was cheered here as I was elsewhere earlier in the week by the still wonderful autumnal colours.
I’m finding the darkness a little tough this year, but rides like this, although mostly dull and grey, the brightness I do find helps immensely.
Spring can’t come soon enough – yet it’s barely winter. Oh dear.
November 13th – Another evening mooch around Lichfield with camera and tripod. I’m really enjoying night photography at the moment and am learning more about the camera with every attempt.
Mind, it’s easy in Lichfield – such an enigmatic, beautiful place at night.
November 1st – It’s coming on winter. That was cold, and a shock to the system, for sure.
Now commuting in both directions mostly in darkness, the cold and the nights are drawing in. Already seeing evidence of the communal madness that commences with the darkness every year, this run up to Christmas is my least favourite time to be on the road on a bike.
Stay safe everyone, and wrap up warm – it’s getting chilly out there.
October 29th – Passing through Chasewater to Morrisons on an errand of mercy just after darkness fell, I passed the Chasewater Railway’s Halloween Ghost Train at Chasewater Heaths station.
The train, full of families and excited kids, was in darkness and I bet it was great fun onboard. I’m always a bit sceptical of ‘scary’ events, but this looked very atmospheric, and a great idea – Chasewater is, after all, one of the darkest places around here at night.
The pumpkin was a nice touch too.
October 28th – An irritating day where I forgot my camera and everything happened at top speed, so little time to take photos. I’d been over to Telford in the afternoon and came back from Shenstone as dusk fell.
These lanes, I know them so well; they run though my veins like blood. I must have ridden this route thousands of times, and certainly many with the impending feeling of autumn I had today.
I know I will again ride this way on a springtime, sunny day and the wheel will continue it’s inexorable rotation, but tonight, in the gathering dark, it felt a very long way off.
I hate the dark months.
October 15th – Further on, I hopped on the Spot Path back to Pier Street, and autumn is clearly well afoot now; leaves are turning and falling, and there’s that unmistakable nip to the air. It’s also getting dark now only a little past six pm – and in a week or so, the clocks will be going back and it’s the time of darkness once more.
Although autumn is lovely, I hate what it leads to.
September 14th – This last few weeks I’ve been travelling home late a lot, and commuting in the dark. During these tired, weary evenings the rides have occasionally been very solitary, but one thing keeping me company has been the moon. Watching it wax and wane over successive fine nights has been a genuine joy, as has being observing the position every night.
This evening, with low cloud and mist on the ground, when the moon occasionally emerged, it had a lovely orange red hue.
It’s an odd friendship, me and the moon…
february 24th – Another interesting thing about spring is the colours of the dusk. Tonight, quick shots as I rode home; a gentle indigo in Birchills, soft orange in Pleck and deep, deep blue at Clayhanger.
Winter feels nearly through now. I’m really enjoying the outdoors again. This is what I’ve missed. Light, air and colour.
January 21st – Taking a shortcut home through The Butts in Walsall,I was struct by the beauty of the car-lined street of terraces under the ghostly white LED streetlights. I don’t often come this way as I find the traffic down here a nightmare, but it’s a lovely place; by day, busy and occupied but by night, almost somnambulant.
A snatched photo taken just because the scene charmed me.
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