Tag: moon

#365daysofbiking To orangey for crows

Saturday February 27th 2021 – Another decent sunset which I caught near Haselour on a fast test ride around Harlaston and Whittington – but the real star was the moon, as viewed here from the old ROC bunker by Willow Bottom Lane.

It was the most stunning orange colour – the camera doesn’t do it justice and it was really, really breathtaking. I’ve never seen such a beautiful, large coloured moon before.

The effect is caused by pollution and moisture in the atmosphere, and faded as it rose.

Another I was very glad to catch.

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#365daysofbiking Glad to see it


Friday February 26th 2021 – It looks like I was right: The period of fine sunsets has commenced.

Some springtimes, it’s better than others, but that’s the luck of the weather.

I spotted it coming on, and powered up the canal on the daily exercise ride to Chasewater where it looked superb, and despite the biting cold, it was fabulous to witness. Catching the moon over my favourite tree at Sandhills on the way back was a real bonus, too.

We really do live in a wonderfully beautiful area.

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#365daysofbiking Hot pink

September 1st – Autumn is on my heels now, and slipping out after a day’s bike maintenance for a test ride, I found myself in the most beautiful pink-suffused twilight.

Heading up the canal that snakes its way between Catshill and Sandhills, I admired my favourite tree at Home Farm – now showing hints of getting on it’s autumn jacket – and the plains of stubble to Stonnall, the harvest now in.

It was peaceful, warm and pleasant, with just a hint of cold air. We are in the odd interregnum between seasons, that saddest crossover between a summer passed and an Autumn to come.

But with a crescent moon and tranquility like this to enjoy, it’s not so melancholy.

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#365daysofbiking Decent exposure:

December 9th – As darkness fell, I pulled myself up and decided to find a decent photo opportunity or two. The pedestrian bridges over the Chasetown Bypass are always good, and the Canon G1X really comes into it’s own on the long exposure work.

The crescent moon over Catshill doesn’t bode well for the weather, though – mum always said when the crescent was on it’s back, it was holding rain in it’s belly. I hope she’s wrong.

My unusually distorted shadow caught under Middleton Bridge arch from my bike light was an oddly serendipitous thing, too.

Grim days are what we make of them, I guess. Never was that more true than today,

#365daysofbiking The dying of the light:

September 25th – Darkness has begun to impinge on my evening commute. Often finding I need lights nearing home, the golden hour is quickly shifting back towards 5pm. Soon the clocks will dog back, and the darkness will again be upon me. I hate that.

The harvest moon this year has been wonderful, though, so actually coming home in the dark had a reward – particularly with the thin cloud haunting the view.

Winter is coming.

August 25th – I loped back from Alvecote through Seckington, Clifton, Darlaston and Whittington. It was a lovely evening ride marred only by my stomach troubles.

At Haunton, the beautiful little Catholic church there remains a hidden gem, the rows of graves of nuns from the local convent still sobering and very sad. Here I noted cyclamen, another sign of Autumn, and darkness fell what seemed to be cruelly early bit with a gorgeous orange moon.

Autumn is tapping me on the shoulder now…

March 21st – Leaving my camera at home made a bad day for photos – but the day was dull anyway, so at least not much was lost.

Coming back through Brownhills, though, I noticed the sky was that gorgeous azure blue of late spring dusks, and the moon was a pleasing crescent above the still skeletal trees.

I feel certain we’ve seen the last of winter now – and I’ve probably just doomed it, but there you go – and I’m really eager for sunny, warm days.

With the clocks going forward on Sunday it seems like a real possibility and not just a distant dream now.

January 31st – Oh my days, or nights rather. We never get a normal moon anymore. All we get are ‘super moons’, or for some reason our already lovely satellite is pronounced unique by the media at any given time around on it’s 28 day appearance cycle. 

I have to admit, this time it was impressive; a blue moon true enough – it’s second fullness in the month, but it was large and bright and shone out in the sky of an urban Walsall, guiding me as I cycled home. 

It was beautiful, but then, it always has been. It is special every time, because it’s distant and mystical and humans went there once. And sometimes, on cold nights in late January, the thought that if humans can go all that way and return is very reassuring. If we can do that amazing feat, perhaps we can do anything, and life is not so bad after all.

I was not the only soul the moon was clearly guiding on; as I crossed the Black Cock bridge in Walsall Wood, I startled a small, brisk, nervous cat who was clearly up to important cat things, and had no wish to share them with a human on a strange mechanical contraption.

November 5th – Returning via Longdon and Burntwood, the moon, rising through a cloud of firework night fug, was a lovely orange colour while still low. From a fence-post in Cold Well, it didn’t make a bad image. Apparently it was a super moon or something, but every moon seems special these days, and I hanker for the days when we just had a normal moon that was just as beautiful but few noticed.

Crossing the M6 Toll at Brownhills this time, I was interested in the way the lights caught the smog, but the photos didn’t turn out so well. The change to LED lights on the toll road has certainly made it more ethereal at night.

September 1st – I had to pop out again in the early evening as night fell on an errand, so took in the same loop of the canal I’d done earlier. The moon was high and beautiful, and the sunset again in wonderful lavender purple tones which reflected beautifully off the canal.

Morris Miner, also imperious and more at peace since the road resurfacing finished looked splendid in the gathering night.

I ride far and wide but sometimes the beauty is right there on our doorsteps.