Tag: Dru Marland

#365daysofbiking Truculence

February 2nd – Up by Middleton Bridge, two likely characters loiter and preen on the ice, regarding me with grumpy, truculent eyes.

I feel for the waterfowl this weather, they don’t have much open water, and most of that will be full of Canada geese and Mallards, who are both just shouty, loud idiots and must drive cultured birds like swans mad.

Still, at least that answered the IC scale question well enough…

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#365daysofbiking Bitte

February 1st – Friday was, again, bitter. In practice, probably not as cold as previous recent winters have been, but it seemed positively arctic after the mild season generally this time around.

The canal ices was getting quite thick – maybe an IC5 today.

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#365daysofbiking IC


January 18th – A very cold, hazard-ridden commute as I got used to riding on ice – all be it with ice tyres – again. It takes time to reassure yourself that they actually work.

The road gutters and towpaths had some lurking black ice and it was rather cold.

Still only an IC1 on the fabulous Dry Marland canal ice scale though….

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January 8th – Off to work on a miserable, grey and cold morning. I hit the canal in Walsall to avoid the morning crush hour and was accosted in Pleck by a very cross character demanding food. Sadly, my supply of corn was in another jacket, and the swan who was so aggressively begging showed it’s displeasure by repeatedly pecking my feet.

Of course, the swan was not starving, but urban swans are very lazy and accustomed to the high life, and when loafing in ice-free swim holes near bridges on cold days, they have little better to do that harass passers by for tidbits. I suspect the policy works best on passing mothers and fathers with children, whose guilt twanged, will come back with food.

The ice itself wasn’t severe. Moorhens and coots skittered about on it, but I doubt it would have supported the portly resplendent girth of your average drake mallard. 

On the wonderful Dru Marland Canal Ice scale, I guess it was somewhere between IC2 and IC3. Check Dru out here: she’s wonderful.

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