Tag: junction

January 2nd – Well, this is it – the fifth anniversary of my continual cycling. Every day for the past five years – that’s 1827 consecutive days (2 leap years, don’t forget) – I’ve got on my bike and rode it. Maybe to work, maybe to the shops, or on a long ride. Often, when commuting, I ride more than once.

Of course, this isn’t the anniversary of the journal – I actually started in April 2011 as my contribution to 30daysofbiking, egged on by the lovely Rene Van Barr; but a dodgy pie laid me low with campylobacter at new year 2012 and I missed two days. So I started the clock again.

I believe I’ve shown it’s possible to ride a bike in all conditions, to all manner of places, and still find interesting stuff both local and distant.

I’ve got to the point where doing this is part of my daily routine, and I enjoy it – so I intend to continue. If you think it’s stale, old, or uninteresting, please tell me so, and I’ll consider your views.

I do enjoy sharing the ride, and love that people seem interested. I love being able to show you the things I find – like tonight, we passed through Fazeley Junction in the dark, and the Weighmaster’s house, old mill and beautiful moon – photographed by balancing the camera at full zoom on the bridge coping stones and leaving it on timer – made for wonderful, seasonal photos.

Thanks for having this odd little journal in your life. For everything I do online, this is probably the most heartfelt.

December 16th – On my return from work, I hopped on the canal at Walsall Wood, and enjoyed the peaceful darkness as far as Anchor Bridge, where I switched back onto the High Street.

The canal was peaceful, silent, eerie, with only snatches of light in the darkness, my headlamp scything the night as I rode.

But riding in the dark is mentally hard work, and I hadn’t got it in me. For once, the road felt safer, so I took it.

November 26th – Out for an early spa and an errand to Aldridge, I passed through a grey, millpond still Catshill Junction. With it nearing December, and nobody around, this is a quiet, if bleak spot to take five minutes and contemplate the day ahead.

Still astonishingly plenty of colour in the trees from the late autumn, though.

November 21st – I’ve not known a day’s weather so consistently, unrelentingly bad for a long, long time. It rained continuously from before I awoke, through my 7am commute, right up until around 6pm.

Riding to work was a battle. Despite waterproofs, a ride rendered 50 minutes rather than the usual 35-40 left me wet in places. I was miserable, cold and grumpy.

In Darlaston at teatime, the rain slowed, so I made a bolt for it. Mostly, the rain held back during my journey home, on flooded, waterlogged roads through a glistening, dripping, wet and cold town. 

Drivers were behaving in that terrifyingly single minded, selfish way they always do in bad weather; either travelling at ridiculously inappropriate speeds, or crawling. The spray was penetrating.

Thankfully, by the time I reached the Coppice Road junction on the Brownhills/Walsall Wood border, there was little traffic around.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to get home, have a shower, and a mug of tea. I so hope tomorrow is better.

November 5th – It was bitterly cold as I headed out just after nightfall on a run up to Chasewater and back to the supermarket to get some shopping.

I’m fiddling with the camera settings, and it’s getting better, but I still can’t find that magic spot I had with the TZ70. Perhaps I never will with this one, it’s an odd box.

I was lucky to catch the firework at Chasewater on a long exposure. I was less lucky at Catshill Junction where I tried repeated shots to just miss the action every time. Still, the view wasn’t bad.

Practice makes perfect, I guess.

October 11th – Crossing the Shire Oak Junction and heading down to Brownhills at dusk is a sadder experience of late.

The Shire Oak Pub – recently refurbished at no little cost – closed some weeks ago following poor public reception and has yet, despite assurances of people who apparently knew what was going on, to reopen, and stands in total darkness.

The lights of this landmark used to shine out in the darkness and often be like a welcome as I crested the last hill into Brownhills form a day at work, or long ride out. Not any more.

Let’s hope it reopens soon. It could be a great house.

October 8th – I looked hard for inspiration in the grey gloom of late afternoon, and found nothing, and darkness had fallen before I found anything that interested me. Hopping on the canal at Walsall Wood, I headed for Brownhills via Catshill Junction. The stillness of the canal in the dark was as beautiful as it ever was.

When the nights close in, it can be hard to find decent photos for a while as you shift expectations of what makes a decent image. There is no longer the abundance of plants and wildlife in good light, and the sunshine that makes even the plainest view special is far more sparing in it’s attention; but in the night shot there is a whole range from quiet, lonely peace to the bright chaos of a city centre rush hour.

It just takes time to adjust to the darkness again.

August 11th – I think this is an interesting submission for seven days of wildlife. The teasel currently sprouting from Catshill junction Bridge in Brownhills is flowering, and clearly attracting the bees. 

Anything that helps the fellows in stripy jumpers is great by me – and I’d never studied before how intricate these almost prehistoric-looking blooms are.

An interesting find on an otherwise dull day.

July 9th – On the canal near Ogley Junction, one of my favourite mad fishermen was stalking the bank, looking as eccentric and slightly dishevelled as ever.

I adore herons. This one seems unusually dark in colour, and was very bold, not moving on until I got very close. Is it possible a juvenile?

Wonderful birds, but probably not if you keep a fishpond…