October 31st – A beautiful day in Darlaston and on the canals of Walsall, with sun shining through a light mist, suffusing all with a soft golden light.
As I’ve noted, Darlaston wears autumn well, and Victoria Park, the mystic bridge and canals were all lovely today.
A welcome pick me up after yesterdays dull greyness.
September 13th – One benefit of the shortening days is the comment colliding with sunrise and sunset. As I left for work early in the morning, the sky was so beautiful I decided to take the long way to work and travelled down through Stonewall and Mill Green just to catch it.
I wasn’t disappointed.
There are some benefits to the closing summer, after all.
March 13th – Up onto the Chase via Pye Green over Brockton Field and down into Sherbrooke Valley: over to Milford, then onto the Shugborough Estate and the canal, returning via Rugeley and Longdon.
A remarkable, beautiful, mist shrouded sunset – and Sherbrrok Valley was as wide open, deserted and cinematic as ever.
I really missed this.
February 25th – Passing through Mill Green on the way to Sutton early. The sun was up, but there was an ethereal mist and a cold, frosty feel to the countryside.
A beautiful start to the day – I’m full of cold, and should really have stayed home today, but if I had, I’d have missed this. And that would have been a tragedy.
November 2nd – The mist and horrid weather continued throughout the day. Patchy, it would be relatively clear one moment, and quite dense the next. Commuting was a challenge – it’s amazing to see people driving and riding around in these conditions without lights.
Fog is horrid to ride in. It drenches you and gets into your clothes and hair. It’s cold, and the extra vigilance it requires is mentally exhausting on a long commute.
Hope it clears up soon.
November 2nd – A hard commute to and from work, but I wasn’t the only local whose activities were restricted due to fog.
This buzzard, hunting curtailed by the poor conditions, was loafing off the Mellish Road in Walsall.
He looked well fed.
October 9th – Out of work at lunchtime, and off to Brum on an errand. Occasionally sunny, but mostly grey and chilly, a real autumn run into the city down the cycleway from Straitly through Stockland Green and Witton Lakes.
The lakes were beautiful, and the swans as charmingly truculent as ever. I’d still like to know who Georgina is and why she has a way. There is clearly a story there.
Returning on the canals and through the Sandwell Valley in a blue grey dusk, seeing the mist rise over the meadow at Ray Hall was a real ‘wow!’ moment.
A great ride, proving that the seasonal change is inevitable now.
September 27th – I caught a classic, sunny and misty autumn morning just as the mist was burning off. I had to nip to Burntwood on an errand and I took the canal to Chasewater. It was magical and gorgeous.
The spiderwebs on the gorse were captivating and there also seems to be a burgeoning crop of puffballs this year.
Could this be the last good weekend of the year, or are there more to come?
September 8th – It’s nice to see the fungi coming through now – I love this feature of autumn. Many folk don’t realise, but toadstools, balls and polypores are just the bloom of much larger organisms living out of sight. They really are unlike anything else in nature.
This roll-rim was growing on a grass verge in Wednesbury and was about eight inches in diameter. They start flat and become funnel-shaped as they age: it was a misty, wet morning and this one was gathering condensation well.
April 21st – Another bitingly cold morning, but in Mill Green, the early sunlight – obscured the day before – caught the light, rising mist and rendered it precious.
It made up for the frozen fingers. Second day running I’ve awoken to ice on the grass. Cast n’er a clout…
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 