Tag: days

#365daysofbiking All things must pass

Monday January 11th 2021 – Life is grim in the UK right now: The pandemic is claiming higher and higher numbers of people every day, and the economy is taking sustained hits from it and Brexit. It’s taking superhuman levels of self discipline to be able to just listen to a radio news bulletin.

But all is not lost: The darkest hour comes before dawn and the vaccine is being distributed quickly and professionally. It’s nice to see science working so well.

In the midst of all this I ride my bike to and from work as usual, in an often alienating world of masked up, hostile fellow citizens. Some days it feels like normality will never return.

But it will, and the spring flowers know it. Jack in the Green has tapped the ground with his cane, and everywhere you look fresh green shoots are optimistically shooting skyward, in anticipation of the warming spring sun.

They know like we must all  know deep down, that these cold, grim days will pass. And so they will.

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#365daysofbiking Gaining already

Sunday January 2nd 2021 – A day of pre-back to work bike maintenance and cleaning, so only time for a short test ride to check everything was OK. Which was sensible anyway, as during the day the temperature had risen and the snow had melted, leaving behind muddy, unpleasant road conditions.

Looking at the bike computer as I left, I noticed the sunset time was now already at 5 minutes past 4 – around the shortest day is was 3:53. 11 minutes clawed back from the sunset already.

By the end of January, we will have gained pretty much an hour.

This is very good reason to be cheerful.

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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 On the run

January 25th – I noticed not long after I left work that on this wet evening it was a balmy 12 degrees or so, and that sunset now didn’t arrive until 4:40pm – that means it’s pretty much light now until 5pm.

It was a horrid journey home but the improving conditions made me feel better.

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#365daysofbiking Trail blazing

December 21st – Summerhill motorway bridge on a dry evening is the ideal place to try long exposure photography, with the opportunity presented by the  motorway below and also down the A461 from kerb level.

Today is a turning point: Not just last day of work for 2018, but the shortest day. Today, I have beaten The Suck – the darkening, grim winter commutes when traffic is bad and huge riding concentration is required. From today, the days will lengthen, sunset will get later and later and the driving will actually improve.

Regardless of the weather, the light will return and things will get better. Today was a turning point, and a very welcome one.

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January 20th – Then, as if by magic, the light appeared to save my soul.

Or at least, that’s how it felt.

I set out early on a frosty morning I wasn’t prepared for, and had a few interesting moments on black ice. But there was one notable feature as I rode to Darlaston at the same time as every other day this week – The sky, gently lightening to the east. It filled my heart with hope – and the roofs of Darlaston looked gorgeous against a bright dawn. This was much more like it.

Mid morning, I popped to Telford on a morning beautifully draped in a thin, opalescent mist. From the train it hung low over the countryside and was beautiful, and even the M54 wore it well.

Just as I thought there was no end, a sign of a new beginning. I saw the light, and it was good.

December 20th – I keep passing this sign at the garden centre on the Chester Road near Mill Green, and as I passed it tonight, I realised that as with every year, it’s purpose had now all but ceased; few people will be buying the traditional nordman fir now, and so inexorably, the season is ticking away; One more day at work, then holiday, then on my return, a new year and nights that open out again after the winter solstice and shortest day, which occur the very next day.

Time marches on quickly for me these days, but this autumn, with the huge workload and long hours, has seemed particularly cruel.

I long for spring flowers, warm breezes and the sun on my face.

Soon be over the peak.

August 14th – And no series of wildlife pics would be complete without the bunnies. Oddly, the ones up on the dam at Chasewater seem to have vanished, so I’ve been looking for others when out an about; I saw these in a garden near Carroway Head. These are true rural rabbits; scruffy, dog-eared and showing signs of skin problems, these are animals that have seen a thing or two. But the eyes are bright and they were alert and content.

I do like the rabbits.