November 5th – Stopping on the Pool Lane bridge over the M6 Toll to try another long exposure shot, I noticed the lights here seem to have been changed to LED white from the old orange sodium ones.
Whilst the change is undoubtedly for the better, I miss the orange glow and the peculiar light of the older types – but it’s interesting to see a shot like this with such clear and true colour.
October 6th – I’d had to nip into Birmingham and Lichfield on the way home, and came back down the A461 at Summerhill long after darkness had fallen, so I thought I’d try some long exposures from the M6 Toll bridge there.
They didn’t come out too badly for 30 second shots. Interesting that the traffic is so light, vehicles rarely stray out of the inside lane….
December 23rd – Christmas starts here for me, really – as I finished work today. It’s been a long haul, this Autumn. After a good Indian summer, it all went horridly wrong and it seems to have blown and rained they rest of the way here.
I sped from work on very quiet streets, in a chill, but not cold night air. I had an errand to run to Lichfield, and on my way back, paused on the motorway bridge at Summerhill to try a long exposure like the one I failed at in Pelsall earlier in the week. This time, it worked.
This is a 30 second exposure; note orion clearly visible in the sky. I’m pleased with this, and it feels sort of Christmassy.
Merry Christmas and a happy and peaceful new year to all my readers and friends.
December 18th – a half day, and chance to nip on an errand to Whittington. The weather was horrid – drizzly, hot and very windy, so I wound my way through the backlanes of Shenstone and Weeford. Heading up Jerrys Lane, i stopped to look east over the A5 bypass to Tamworth. One of the few decent road projects to spin off the M6 Toll, it has cured the traffic issues on the nearby old A5 and A51 beautifully.
I rode on this just before it opened, but never took any photos. I wished I had – the views from the brow of Rock Hill over Tamworth are extraordinary, particularly at night. But this road is more of a motorway than the M6 Toll, and I wouldn’t dream of cycling it now.
December 6th – Out in daylight for the first time in a while, and the afternoon was hard and cold. Over to Burntwood for some shopping, I hammered it up the canal in a harsh but golden hour before dusk. The huge black and white smug cat was a gem at the back of Milfield School, and that dog… I could just take it home. Gorgeous.
Returning over Chasewater,I was snagged by the moon rising over the motorway – I’d forgotten the night-time beauty of the distant windy sweep of cars as they passed.
October 21st – A dreadful wind and threatening rain menaced me on the way to work, but fortuitously, it also blew me back. I left after the rain had stopped, and found conditions challenging. As I rode, I noted a developing sunset I couldn’t ignore, so I hopped on the canal to Chasewater, hoping to catch it.
Sadly, by the time I got there, the gathering dark had swallowed it up – but it was an interesting ride.
January 4th – I’d been down to Stonnall on a fairly uninspiring ride; the weather was far more settled, the wind had dropped, but everywhere is still sodden. I couldn’t find a decent picture. Then, as I cycled up the Chester Road and over the brow of the hill, I realised we we in for a good sunset. I immediately decided to head for Chasewater, to try and catch it. On the way there, I realised it would be nearly over when I got there, so captured views along the way.
I do hope this is the start of a more settle period, but somehow, I doubt it.
December 26th – I nipped out again in the evening. Crossing the tollroad bridge at Pool Road, I took a shot of a deserted M6 Toll. For quite a long time, there were no passing cars at all. So quiet.
It’s like a ghost-road. But then, everywhere was quiet, I don’t think I saw a soul. Christmas renders everywhere ghostly, I guess.
December 31st – Sometimes, you come across a scene by chance that’s really, oddly, uniquely beautiful, and in a really unexpected place. On the footbridge between Poole Cresccent and Chasewater, over the M6 toll, a street light shines through the safety cage. I’ve never noticed it before. It’s like a portal. It fascinated me.
December 18th – The weather has become warm, drizzly and misty once more. On my return from Chasetown, I noticed the streetlights on the road below were highlighting the thin mist. I’m fascinated by the view from this bridge. This is the new road system constructed a decade ago to support the M6 Toll. The roads are wide, open and fast, and without the expected traffic level, seem impressively large at night. In the background glow the red lights of Sutton Coldfield’s transmitters. There’s something almost inhuman about the design of these roads – no footpaths, a world prohibited to pedestrians, yet they have a very human beauty. I find them fascinating.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 