July 28th – Goscote Valley cycleway, on a summer afternoon.
This place is magical, and a place few would consider attractive, or even consider visiting. This former rail line is host to a whole range of wildlife, birds and flowers.
One of Walsall’s best hidden gems.
July 23rd – in the Goscote Valley on my way to work, as the day started to warm up, I was drawn to a continual crackling sound. This always fascinates me; it’s the sound of gorse pods popping open with a snap, and scattering their seeds.
The action is induced by the warmth of the sun, and makes for an interesting diversion on the way to work. I love how the pods rattle musically when you shake the bushes, too.
It’s the little things that make summer, really.
March 19th – Spring, it seems, has sprung. Not just the daffodils, crocuses and early blossoms, but buds, green shoots and nascent leaves. All taken in one short stretch of the Goscote Valley cycleway on the way to work this morning.
The verdant young leaves of the hawthorn are particularly wonderful to see…
August 6th – I’d been in Darlaston, and returned home via the cycleway down the Goscote Valley. Despite small areas of tipping and litter, it’s lovely at the moment; the pastures and wastelands are bright with willow herb, wort, convulvulus and budleia, and the Ford Brook has tall swathes of Himalayan balsam growing tall. It’s an unwelcome species, but it is gorgeous to look at.
All the way through Goscote I watched two buzzards wheel and soar on the warm breeze. You wouldn’t think this area could be so peaceful and beautiful.
Walsall still has the capacity to surprise.
July 28th – After going to see some mates in Walsall, I returned down a somewhat breezy Goscote Valley on a sunny afternoon. Joining the cycle route at the Butts, though Mill Lane Nature Reserve, I was immediately struct by the range and beauty of the plants and flowers, which were alive with awakening insects. The elegant, almost Francophile church spire of Rushall was visible above the trees across the valley, and this old railway line just screamed for attention. A wonderful place. Get your arses down there before summer passes.
February 14th – This is the stray horse problem Walsall Council claims it hasn’t got. To be fair, horses are cheap to acquire right now; market prices have never been lower, and any bit of common land around the Goscote Valley has a variety of nags tethered or just wandering free. These three forlorn animals – not one with access to water – were tethered within a short section of the cycle route running through the area. In total, there must have been about 15 of these unfortunate beasts, yet the council bafflingly announced recently that we don’t have a problem with this sort of thing. The council can’t actually do much. People won’t claim the horses if taken away, and the sanctuaries are, by and large, full. It’s a thorny, and worsening, issue.
June 11th – Near national cycle route 5, as it leaves north Walsall at the former level crossing in Station Street, there is a second kissing gate near the pedestrian crossing. If one takes a short walk through the trees here, there’s a very unusual feature of hydrological engineering. The Ford Brook – rising in Clayhanger – meanders down the Goscote Valley being bulked by various water reclamation works and land drains on the way. Here, the main stream does an elaborate, snaking dance with a tributary source and they actually cross. This man-made bridge is also an overflow; in years past the upper deck rarely overflowed into the lower channel, but it does so constantly now. Many people think this is a weir, but if you study closely it’s double sided and the lower channel flows right underneath. I’d love to know why this exists and who built it.
A real curiosity. Am I the only person who puzzles over these things?
27th June – Of all the flowers taking part in the riot of summer colour right now, my heart is stolen mostly by the vetch that grows on verges and field margins, forming a thick, yellow, orange and red carpet of vivid, joyous colour. When I was a kid, we used to call this delicate but hardy plant ‘Egg & Bacon’. I think it’s gorgeous.
This fine example is proliferating on the embankments to the cycle tack through the Goscote Valley. A fine sight indeed.
June 8th – Cycling the old railway route up through Goscote to Walsall often throws up unexpected challenges – gangs of loafing youth, grass fires in summer, intemperate canada geese. By far the most frequent seems to be negotiating the wrath of often rather stroppy horses. This particular equine highwayman casually stops me, presumably after a mint or food, receives a bit of welcome fuss and then lets me pass.
May 23rd – An awful day to cycle – blustery, then rainstorms in the afternoon. I left work early for a meeting in Rushall, and dropped on to the canal at Pleck, south Walsall. I prefer the canal in this weather as traffic tends to be a bit mad in heavy rain. Cycling in the rain can be a lovely, sensual experience, and this was no exception, climbing the locks and bridges through Birchills and acing the traffic queue at Rushall was a joy…
The soundtrack is ‘Nice Weather for Ducks’ by the wonderful Lemon Jelly.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 