Tag: IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Toeing the line

May 30th – For the first time in quite a while, despite the rampant hay fever I decided to ride home along the canal through Birchills in Walsall to Goscote.

Climbing the lock flight here is always a pain – not so much the climb but negotiating the many sets of anti-vehicle barriers, so it’s not one I do often; but today, I had a pleasant surprise.

The towpaths on the stretch I rode are all being resurfaced. This is good news: The runs through Leamore and Harden particularly have been deteriorating in recent years and this will make them much more viable in winter on dark evenings, which is when they’d be most useful to avoid the traffic in central Walsall.

At the moment, the route as far as about Leamore is surfaced properly with asphalt down, the rest is in various stages of excavation or restoration, and on anything less than a mountain bike will be very hard going, so if planning to ride this stretch, I’d wait a week or two.

Now, if only the authorities could be persuaded to re-lay Ryders Hayes to Blakenall and Aldridge to Rushall Junction we’d have a totally ridable local network, possibly for the first time ever…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2W6HBme
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Respect your elders

May 30th – Also blossoming now is the delightful and humble elder, a shrub beloved of winemakers for hundreds of years. It grows in woods, hedgerows, on wasteland and anywhere it can. Here in Harlaston it’s thriving at the back of Victoria Park.

The tiny, beautiful white flowers have a gorgeous scent and can be used to make wine or champagne: the berries they make way for – deep red, almost black – make a heavy, heady wine that’s almost legendary.

This gives the winemaker a tasty dilemma: White and floral or red and strong?

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2JPD0Do
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Borstin orchid

May 30th – One of my favourite times of summer is when the orchids come into bloom.

There are many species of orchid in the UKL and none are particularly common – those we see around the canals and marshes of the local area now are a recent thing and a delight to see.

Varying in shade from a sort of lavender blue to very deep purple, the marsh orchids by the canal and over CLayhanger Common are just beautiful.

Let’s hope the mowers of the Canal and River Trust are held off until they’ve finished their lovely display for another year.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2QCYBiJ
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Just like mum

May 29th – Encountered just by Clayhanger Bridge, the Watermead swan family are growing fast, and the youngsters are growing in confidence and pottered over to see if I had treats, under the stern, watchful eye of dad.

Mum was grazing the bottom of the canal, pulling up choice strings of algae and offering them to her chicks – who obliged by attempting to copy her. This is obviously ja learning exercise only, as the tiny birds can’t yet reach the bottom.

Lovely to see the family growing and developing so well.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2HQu6mZ
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Yellow peril

May 29th – Always nice to see the flowering of the beautifully yellow flag irises that grow in abundance alongside the local canals and wetlands.

Sadly, they really, really trigger my hay fever like nothing else.

So for the next few weeks every canalside ride will be punctuated by sneezing – but in such a good cause.

Such lovely blooms.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2MgLwwZ
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Secret pathways


May 28th – I note the pathway on Clayhanger Common between the overflow by the bridge and the grassed area behind is nearly overgrown again.

Every season this delightful, overgrown desire path through the scrub very nearly disappears, but is kept in existence by whoever uses it regularly (and that appears to be sometimes, at least, deer.)

Right now it’s at the stage when any use involves breaking off bits of overgrowth. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

I love the almost secret garden feel of it.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2HMfRzp
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking I dream in colour

May 27th – Just north of Brewood, following a short, sharp shower and for a few very short moments, nature showed me something gorgeous.

You have to have the rain to have the magic of a rainbow…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2EJlNXR
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking New ways out

May 27h – Recovered from the punishing excesses of Saturday’s ride, I headed out again on a grey bank holiday lunchtime for a gentle bimble once more to the west.

Finding decent routes past the dreadful Cannock/Great Wyrley/Churchbridge morass is always the challenge heading out that way and today, I took the canal to Brewood, through Wolverhampton – a lovely run of waterway I often forget about. The towpaths were good, and the only downside was an. encounter with a particularly unpleasant boater at Wolverhampton.

Leaving the canal at Brewood, I rediscovered this gorgeous village and vowed to return when the shops were open. The sun periodically came out and accompanied me north through Whiston, Bradley, Copenhall and Weeping Cross.

A ritual visit to the Wimpy at Milford reloaded the fuel tanks and kept me warm in the steady rain that fell on my way home.

All in all a nice 58 mile ride in lovely countryside.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2XaURrq
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Stopping to smell the flowers

May 26th – On a weary recovery day, I pottered to Brownhills on an errand, and passed the canoe centre at Silver Street.

Although not as beautifully maintained as it once was – the planted boat has been left to wild and weed over – the poppies and other flowers growing on the embankment are gorgeous.

Some days it’s about distance, some days it’s about stopping at the wayside to admire the flowers…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2Z1Tc8b
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Unique characters

May 25th – One thing I love about Derby is its characters. At the River Gardens, a dapper, older gent waited for his ladyfriend to go walking along the river, before dinner and a drink, a routine they’ve had for years in good weather. He was a lovely chap and his character as individual as his fantastic style.

I hope they had a lovely evening.

At Shelton Lock, a no-nonsense neighbourhood, a fluffy-tummied tabby with a very individual ear arrangement glared at me for disturbing his evening activities. He seemed like a lovely puss that someone must adore very much.

Cities are about the personalities that inhabit them as much as architecture and geography.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2YSqHJR
via IFTTT