Tag: Leamore

May 5th – One of the reasons I haven’t been this way much in the last few months is that the canal aqueduct over the railway between Leamore and Harden has been closed so the structure can be refurbished, and has only just reopened.

I do hope that this loose, non-compacted shale isn’t the final preparation for the towpath surface – it’s uncomfortable to walk on, dangerous to ride on and just a plain shoddy job.

Take care if you’re riding this section – the loose nature of the surface steels wheels.

May 5th On the way home I took the canal from Darlaston, in the hope of avoiding the worst of the wind. Nearing the factories near Pratts Mill Bridge, I noticed this swan, ostensibly asleep but clearly monitoring me on the far side of the canal, nurturing it’s clutch of eggs.

I wonder if it’s the swan couple that in previous years have nested in the old Gasworks Arm and Anson Junction in Pleck? No sign of them up there this year. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch sight of one of the parents leg-rings soon and find out for sure.

March 2nd – As I said yesterday, the season of transition is upon me; and that includes the period of travelling – on good days, at least – in the golden hour.

I often talk about this magical time, when just approaching sunset the light becomes soft, suffused with pink and gold and changes everything it touches to a precious, rare jewel.

There are few better places to catch such a time than Kings Hill Park and the view of the Twin Sisters. Bathed in the evening sun, they looked even more majestic than usual, but so did the park, and the sunset on the way home along the canal wasn’t too shabby, either.

This’ll do.

September 22nd – The cat population of the UK doesn’t seem very pleased with me lately. After being scorned by the posh pusses of Lower Stonnall yesterday, today this black and white fellow glared at me from wasteland in Leamore. 

A lovely cat though: love the three spots on the nose and white tail-tip.

I remember when cats used to stop for a bit of fuss. Not at the moment, it seems…

June 24th – And by the canal in Leamore, just near Pratts Mill Bridge, a clump of purple vetch was proving irresistible to the bees, who buzzed around it with an air of frantic, but random purpose.

The vetch, like many other flowers is profuse this year. I hope the bees prosper from it. They need our support…

November 10th – I had to leave work mid morning and head up to Great Wyrley, which was a longer ride than I expected – but very enjoyable, all the same. On the way, I went up Green Lane, but on the way back, came through Leamore. I’d forgotten just how great the view was from the top of Pratts Mill Bridge; on a clear day a great view of St. Matthews, but even on this hazy, smoke-fogged day the view across the terrace rooftops was ace.

It makes me think of Douglas Dunn’s ‘On Terry Street’.

Walsall – always a surprise in store.

November 1st – After Thursday’s blurry rat backside photo, I received a complaint from a reader who’s rat phobic. Sorry, Linda, but I quite like them, and they are a part of our wildlife. I’ll try not to spring rattus norvegicus on you again without warning. 

I have suitably cautioned Linda about this post….

Rats and humans have a symbiotic relationship – they are intelligent, quick and scarily versatile adaptors, which has ensured their proliferation and survival, and despite their carrying of disease and filth, it is without doubt that without these guys cleaning up after us the human race would probably have died out by now.

Today I was riding back from the supermarket, and this healthy specimen was just on the towpath near Pratts Mill Bridge in Leamore. Braver than most, it hung around as I took its photo, before it darted for safety into the reeds next to me.

What I hadn’t seen was Mr. Whiskers looking sternly on from nearby. Rat for tea, possibly…