Tag: locks

#365daysofbiking Locked out

May 21st – On a late journey to work following a meeting near home earlier, I tried to get on the canal at Smith’s Flour Mill, on the New Walsall Ring Road – but I was thwarted by…. A flood.

I’ve noticed this happen here before: Someone leaves both paddles open on the lock above and I don’t think the overflow sluice next down the line – the lowest in the Birchills flight – can handle it. As a consequence, the pound between floods under the bridge.

The cause  appeared to be inexperienced boaters who were in the lock above, looking a bit helpless.

I contacted the Canal and River Trust local team who came and sorted things out.

At least it should clean some of the detritus of the path under the bridge…

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#365daysofbiking Slippery customer

March 30th – Spotted on a recently cropped tree stump near the canal by Birchills locks, some impressively horrid-looking slime mould fungus that looks for all the world that it might spring to life and try to take the country by force at any minute.I’ve not seen any of this stuff for years. It was clearly living off the tree sap and the general moisture on the stump.

Stomach-churning and fascinating at the same time.

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May 31st – My attention had been drawn to comments online that the canal water level had dropped significantly in the last couple of days, so I investigated – measuring from the weir bar to the current level was 123mm. Nearly five inches of water lost since Sunday when the canal was in heavy overflow.

Considering the length of this canal, this is a huge amount of water gone.

Subsequent enquiries with the Canal and River Trust suggest that they were unaware the valves had been turned off at Chasewater by Staffordshire County Council (see here) but I’m unconvinced the water would drop so fast considering the conditions.

I’m wondering if a downstream lock sluice was accidentally left open, perhaps.

It is said the situation is being rectified by pumping water in from Bradley, so it’ll be one to keep an eye on I think. A mystery.

August 25th – Travellers of a different kind in central Walsall. Still feeling grim even for the sun and fresh air, my burning of the candle at both ends was finally catching up with me, so a breather and a brew watching this narrowboat negotiate the locks at near Smiths Flour Mill in Walsall was in order.

I love to see the narrowboats – and this was a good one, in a scene hugely transformed in the last few decades. Once, the boat would have been grubby, in even blacker, heavily polluted surroundings, perhaps carrying coal to the power station, but now we’re surrounded by green and modern urbanity, and the cargo is not coal, but travellers, holidaymakers or boat enthusiasts passing another once industrial town.

How times change.

February 13th – Just as I feared I couldn’t stand the grey anymore, a blessed break in the weather. I have never, ever been so glad to see the light.

One commute on the canal through Walsall to Darlaston – a route I haven’t taken much since Christmas – was all it took. Sunshine, wildlife, glistening water, beautiful mist-suffused urban streets. And in Kings Hill Park beautiful yellow crocuses reminded me of the good that was to come.

I noted that the towpaths from Bentley Mill Way to Bughole Bridge are now being resurfaced, so if you cycle this way, expect to avoid folk in hi-viz marshalling small excavators and other such plant.

Today, my week was saved… by a crocus. I’m just mad about saffron.

May 27th – I had stuff to do near Allcester, and finished early, so rode over to the canal at Browmsgrove and rode home all the way on the canals, through Birmingham. A great, though tiring ride, the canal was as fascinating and quirky as ever. 

I loved the giant Lego in Aston, and was mindful of the slow men in the water. The boater dogs were charming, and I’d forgotten Brittania in inner-city Brum.

A great ride.

October 23rd – Here’s a security tip for cyclists with disc brakes. The other day I noted that you can’t make your bike theft proof, but you can make it fiddly and a pain to steal, hopefully putting off all but the most determined thieves. 

Some of the best deterrents lie in novelty; professionals will come with tools usually to smash D locks or cut cables, not both. You can make your D lock more effective by ‘filling’ it with as much bike as possible (thieves often use bottle jacks to break them open – they can’t if there isn’t room for one).

This yellow item probably isn’t that secure, but it’s effectiveness lies in the way it works: they’re sold online as disc brake locks for motorbikes and they have a plunger that latches through your brake disc, rendering the wheel unable to turn. In addition, there’s a piercing, vibration-activated alarm inside – so if the bike is handled roughly, it screams the place down.

It’s small, compact, thieves probably wont want to bother with it coupled with other locks, and it costs less than a tenner. What’s not to love?

August 10th – A return on a gorgeously languid summer evening, along the canal and then the cycleway to Pelsall. On my return, I spotted the wheat crop at High Heath, surely ripe now, and on the verge of going over.

Soon be harvesting that, I guess. But in the meantime, what a gorgeous view. The is north Walsall, folks.