Boxing Day – A late run out just to test a bike build was a great opportunity to catch a slightly misty atmosphere at Chasewater.
The shot off the north end of the dam was pure chance and took loads of attempts to get a usable image; the M6 Toll shots were far easier.
I love the way the LED lights highlight the mist.
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December 21st – Summerhill motorway bridge on a dry evening is the ideal place to try long exposure photography, with the opportunity presented by the motorway below and also down the A461 from kerb level.
Today is a turning point: Not just last day of work for 2018, but the shortest day. Today, I have beaten The Suck – the darkening, grim winter commutes when traffic is bad and huge riding concentration is required. From today, the days will lengthen, sunset will get later and later and the driving will actually improve.
Regardless of the weather, the light will return and things will get better. Today was a turning point, and a very welcome one.
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#365daysofbiking Reflections:
November 17th – I returned to Brownhills on the canal and that was much more rewarding. Although the sunset wasn’t anything significant, the reflections on the water and the light around bridges made for some lovely views.
You really can’t beat riding the canals at dusk.
#365daysofbiking Falling, down::
October 20th – I was very down today. At the moment I’m working hard, long hours and it caught up with me when everything I attempted failed, or had proven to need more stuff than I had to do it with: From DIY to bike repairs, the day was an utter failure.
I slipped out at dusk, and in a half-light Brownhills, unusually my mood did not improve at all.
The gorgeous avenue of trees on The Parade few locals seem to realise is there is as photogenic as it is every autumn, and the M6 Toll and Chasewater are always good for the photographic, darkness soul.
But today, rarely, cycling didn’t help.
#365daysofbiking Through the haze
September 1st – I headed out to Whittington Country Fair and Craft Show (a large gallery from which can be seen on my main blog here) along Bullmoor Lane and through Wall on a warm, lovely late summer day.
This lane has always captivated me; diverted south to accommodate the toll motorway, a hill was created at one end 15 years ago that now gives commanding views of the treetops to Wall Village, with little hint of the motorway and A5 between.
A gorgeous, little known gem.
February 18th – One of the stranger legacies of the M6 Toll motorway coming through the area has been the drainage and pollution control lagoons that dot the countryside at intervals along it’s route.
I think the idea is that surface drainage from the road is taken into these pools which can be isolated during instances of pollution, like diesel spills. The lagoons themselves seem to overtop into local drainage, so they also provide a sediment settling function.
The one on Bullmoor Lane has matured well, and is, in summer, alive with wildlife. Secluded and rarely visited, it’s a little enclave of peace and tranquility. Only the sign by the roadside gives you any hint of what’s there.
November 25th – On a bright, cold winter day, near the M6 Toll in Great Wyrley, clematis seed heads looking very alien in a forgotten, edge-land thicket.
These fascinate me, as no two have quite the same texture or appearance. I bet these were an absolute riot when they were in flower. I must come here next summer and see.
November 4th – As is traditional on a weekend where bonfire night falls on a Sunday, the annual firework binge took place on Saturday. But as I crossed the motorway bridge on Mill Lane in Great Wyrley, I decided to experiment with long exposure photography, having totally forgotten the firework display about to take place.
This is an otherwise unremarkable spot in a semi-urban, inhuman scale landscape, which at night, comes alive. This evening, my companion and I found it very special indeed.
March 17th – Coming back from Lichfield, tired after a hard week, I stopped on the motorway bridge at Summerhill and tried long exposure photography again.
I finally got just what I wanted. and the experiment of setting the camera on the ground looking down the hill towards Sandhills worked better than I could have imagined.
That’s taken a while, but I’m happy with that.
December 31st – A bit of a bug and a mountain of admin and accounts paperwork for work kept me home, but the weather wasn’t great. I slipped out at teatime, and sped along the darkened canal through Brownhills to Chasewater.
There was no moonlight, and for once, Chasewater in the dark was uninspiring but not so the M6 Toll. For once quite busy, I waited for a gap in the traffic which bunches strangely.
I’m not keen on new year, to be honest; I dislike the forced jollity and felt quite down; but as ever, a ride on my cyclic antidepressant did the trick.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 