Tag: moon

May 10th – Going stir crazy, I escaped again at sunset, and headed up to Chasewater, just for the hell of it. I was captivated by the colour of a late-spring sunset, by the huge, yellow moon over Sandhills and the mist rising off the surface of the canal due to an inversion.

It’s a long time since I caught a sunset and dusk as lovely as this. After a very trying few days, it was lovely to be out in the dead calm and still, to feel the night chill encroaching and hear the soft sounds of Chasewater at dusk – calling birds, lapping water and the chatter of ducks and geese.

Recovery needs many things, but one thing that really does help is peace and beauty when you least expect them.

January 13th – To my further disappointment, when I left work, there was no snow left to speak of, and it was almost warm, but very wet, although not raining. I don’t mind admitting I really love cycling in dramatically cold conditions, and I felt a tiny bit cheated.

But as I rode back down Green Lane and over the Black Cock Bridge, they sky was clearing and a full, mist-shrouded moon hung there. It was impossible not to feel cheered by it.

January 2nd – Well, this is it – the fifth anniversary of my continual cycling. Every day for the past five years – that’s 1827 consecutive days (2 leap years, don’t forget) – I’ve got on my bike and rode it. Maybe to work, maybe to the shops, or on a long ride. Often, when commuting, I ride more than once.

Of course, this isn’t the anniversary of the journal – I actually started in April 2011 as my contribution to 30daysofbiking, egged on by the lovely Rene Van Barr; but a dodgy pie laid me low with campylobacter at new year 2012 and I missed two days. So I started the clock again.

I believe I’ve shown it’s possible to ride a bike in all conditions, to all manner of places, and still find interesting stuff both local and distant.

I’ve got to the point where doing this is part of my daily routine, and I enjoy it – so I intend to continue. If you think it’s stale, old, or uninteresting, please tell me so, and I’ll consider your views.

I do enjoy sharing the ride, and love that people seem interested. I love being able to show you the things I find – like tonight, we passed through Fazeley Junction in the dark, and the Weighmaster’s house, old mill and beautiful moon – photographed by balancing the camera at full zoom on the bridge coping stones and leaving it on timer – made for wonderful, seasonal photos.

Thanks for having this odd little journal in your life. For everything I do online, this is probably the most heartfelt.

December 4th – The Chase was beautiful and deserted, and from Chase Road, over Stepping Stones and Seven Springs back to Abraham’s Valley and the old RAF Hednesford, I barely saw a soul. It was cold – so very cold, but with parts of the forest at wildly differing temperatures: In Abrahams Valley it was at least two degrees higher than in Sherbrook Valley. In any case, barely above freezing anywhere.

As night fell, owls and deer were busy and the Chase was a sensory delight. Just what I needed!

November 14th – Nearer home, at Fighting Cocks, the moon made an appearance.

It was a beautiful as ever, but didn’t seem that much bigger than usual to me, but it was very bright.

An odd thing, really: Every moon these days is special in some way. I think I preferred it when we just had normal ones!

October 16th – I remember when we just used to get plain old moons, but these days every full moon is special for one reason or another – a harvest moon, a supermoon, a hunters moon, which this was – all of a sudden every appearance of this old familiar has to be special.

Which is daft, really, because the moon always is special. Caught from near George’s Hayes, Longdon, it was low and made orange by the atmosphere. 

I never tire of looking at the moon.

September 14th – This last few weeks I’ve been travelling home late a lot, and commuting in the dark. During these tired, weary evenings the rides have occasionally been very solitary, but one thing keeping me company has been the moon. Watching it wax and wane over successive fine nights has been a genuine joy, as has being observing the position every night.

This evening, with low cloud and mist on the ground, when the moon occasionally emerged, it had a lovely orange red hue.

It’s an odd friendship, me and the moon…

August 17th – Another sunset return after an early start and late finish. As the more perceptive amongst you will have noticed, my main blog operations are currently on reduced power for a few days due to workload. Which is a bugger, but they do pay me so I’d better do it.

It is nice, however, to return through a twilight, almost somnambulant Walsall. The moon is still full, and rendering normally mundane views magical, and keeping me company as I pedal wearily home.

Sometimes, the moon is company, and sometimes, that’s all you need.

August 16th – No wildlife today, sadly; I had hoped to carry the seven days of wildlife challenge on further than the week, but I saw nothing of interest in that department today – at least, nothing that stayed around long enough to give good camera face. So I made do with the moon.

It was full and beautiful this evening, and what a night to look up at it and ponder the wonderful feat of travelling there, given the technology of the day.

The moon will never lose it’s romance.