#365daysofbiking Making the best of things

September 22nd – Dejected and wistful, we pottered up the old line into Birmingham, through Oldbury. The rain held off. The flowers and berries that were out welcomed us and glistened in there coating of raindrops. The towpaths were wet, but made for good riding. There were few people around, and the verdant, still mostly green canals were a real tonic.

Past the old engine house, Tollhouse Loop, M5 Viaduct and engine arm, and into central Birmingham. The mood improved.

An interesting graffiti writer had been at work, leaving neat-script, cryptic phrases at intervals from the Soho Loop to the ICC. That was engaging and something to spot and ponder over.

At the city centre, food, drink, then up the A34 cycleway to the canal at Perry Barr, and home via Ray Hall and Rushall Junction.

A bad day had been pulled around. The rain held off. Deep down, it didn’t feel so bad. But I’m getting far too old to work weekends – I was exhausted.

But there was one inescapable thought – if those folk at Tipton had held on, they’d have had a decent afternoon.

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#365daysofbiking An unexpected flash of orange



August 21st – Returning from Birmingham, the train unexpectedly terminated at Tame Bridge due to a line fault or something, maybe the elastic band snapped.

I couldn’t be bothered with the ride home up through Walsall so hopped on the Tame Valley Canal and then home via Rushall Junction, Park Hall and Aldridge.

Passing through a nondescript bit of towpath near the Birmingham Road, a flash of bright, vivid orange caught my eye.

A gorgeous par of feral marigolds, just trying to make me happy.

They succeeded in their aim.

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February 29th – I know this journal is becoming somewhat old when I realise this is the second leap year it’s passed. I still find that peculiar, really.

Today was not so sunny, although there were patches of brightness in the morning. On the way to work I noticed flowers – primroses amongst a stack of cut logs in Kings Hill Park and marigolds in a roadside garden flowerbed. I still can’t believe this is happening in February – but given the coldness of the day, and keenest of the wind, it was welcome colour.

January 1st – New Years Day 2016, and the weather is so unseasonably temperate that calendula are flowering on the verge in Barracks Lane, just at the Warrenhouse, near Brownhills. And they aren’t the only thing.

I welcome the colour and cheerfulness, but this can’t be right, can it? 

May 4th – A run out in the afternoon didn’t reward me with the good weather I was expecting. It was lightly sunny (but mostly overcast), but not terribly warm, and whilst the day wasn’t the big, bad wolf of yesterday, it still had lupine tendencies.

I went out to Hints to explore the Black Brook Valley which I hadn’t done for years. On the way, I spotted a wealth of bright spring flowers.

The weather may not have been brilliant, but these certainly made up for it.