April 23rd – Later that same day, a visit to Telford saw me hauling up the cycleway to Priorslee. A few short weeks ago this view was barren and grey.
Once more this byway is turning into a beautiful tunnel of verdant green.
I love how spring and summer can make even the most dystopian of places beautiful.
March 27th – And in Darlaston, near the Black Country Route, the hawthorn is coming into leaf, splattering formerly dull, barren hedgerows with bursts of vivid emerald green.
Spring really is trying her very hardest to please us.
March 7th – The weather is much warmer now and I’m desperately looking for signs of a nascent spring, which aren’t very forthcoming yet but the daylight is really lengthening now.
On the cycleway at goscote, some lovely colour in the moss and lichen growing on the tree, which I think is probably dead – making me wonder if the moss killed the tree or is a result of the decay?
Whatever, it’s fascinating.
December 18th – Off to Telford again, and caught out by a sharp frost, I nearly lost the bike on black ice, having chosen the one bike without ice tyres as I thought it was too warm.
I’d set out at dawn, and in Brownhills, it wa misty and warm. Unusually, as I got to Mill Green, it was cold, clear and frosty. This was unusual, as normally the reverse is true. Turning into Mill Lane I realised ice was a problem and about 100 yards on I did a series of shimmies that would have please Torville and Dean.
Luckily, I had no following vehicles, and relaxed, I let the bike go where it wanted and gradually let the velocity drain away, before walking back up the lane to the main road.
A close shave, which meant I missed my train; but it did give me chance to catch an icy dawn over Hill Hook.
November 6th – The shrooms are multiplying!
A few weeks ago I spotted a single toadstool, chainsaw-carved from a log near the old Charles Richard Imperial works in Darlaston Green, where that interesting ex-military truck is always parked. There is a trestle there, and logs, so it seems the trucker is cutting winter fuel there (although there’s no sawdust, oddly).
I presume the artist is carving the toadstools at the same time – and they are beautifully executed. Now multiplying, I wonder if there will be a clump form?
October 12th – In Darlaston Green on a sunny day, outside the old Charles Richards works, I spot a small but amusing bit of whimsy. The owner of the land rover that parks here – which has an ingenious and wide range of interchangeable rear bodies for different tasks – clearly has a log burner and is preparing for winter with some good logs and a cutting trestle. But also here is a chainsaw-cut carving of a large toadstool from what looks like an ash log.
It’s well executed and mad me smile.
October 4th – There is sun, though, despite my constant grumbling, and in my beloved green urbanity of Darlaston, the leaves are turning and it is absolutely beautiful.
Some days, even just popping to the Post Office is an unassailable joy…
September 14th – Further on, still nestling in green, the countryside of Stonnall is beautiful. The harvest is largely over, with just maize and potatoes left in the fields, and the machinery one now sees in the lanes is for ploughing, harrowing and seeding. Near Stonnall itself, the oilseed rape fields are already growing a new crop.
And so, the seasonal wheel turns. As the cold, darkness and winter come on, these fields will slumber until reawakening in spring. It’s all part of the cycle, and the cycle is round.
It’s not been a bad summer. Just wish it had been longer…
September 8th – Returning to Brownhills and home, the skies were threatening and it didn’t look like it was going to be a good evening. Looking distinctly black over Bill’s Mother’s, I surveyed the still green canal and banks from near the canoe centre, and unusual angle if I’m honest that I always overlook.
It was good to be near home – the week had been long and trying.
August 23rd – I’m also really enjoying Victoria Park in Darlaston at the moment. Still to pull on it’s autumn jacket, the greens are still bright and the mystic bridge looks as gorgeous as ever.
I keep banging on about this but Darlaston and it’s parks are gorgeous. If you live nearby and have never been, why not pay them a visit?
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