Tag: moors gorse

#365daysofbiking I dream of wires:

September 10th – Two things I thought I’d never see in my lifetime are the Chase Line Electrification and the creation of the pedestrian bridge to cross the tracks at Moors Gorse instead of the level crossing, but here I am, taking pictures of one from the other.

Interesting to see how far advanced the electrification of this busy passenger railway from Walsall to Rugeley now is – the catenaries are in, strainers all fitted and it seems here very close to functional.

I note the blue earth bonds to prevent the overheads going live while being worked on, and the curious block communing point on the track not yet connected to anything, but with the coil of bonding cable nearby ready. Wonder what that’s actually for? It looks like there’s some kind of sensor built into it.

Never seen those before and I’m curious.

October 29th – It’s been a long time since I did a proper ride cam, something I’ve been needing to sort for a while. I have lots of footage to edit up, but the software I use has been a bit crabby in recent versions, which has now been ironed out, so hopefully I’ll get some more done.

This is a short film of riding Rainbow Hill on Cannock Chase from the edge of the golf course on the Rugeley Road, over Rainbow Hill and down to Moor’s Gorse, a ride I’ve recorded before but on this bright, sunny autumn afternoon it seemed a good one. I’m riding a mountain bike for a change, and get to speeds of about 30mph. The ride is recorded real time.

The music is ‘All of the Time’ a cult classic by Mason Williams.

(Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

April 13th – Back up on the Chase for the first decent, dry ride in what seems like an age. Still the heavy wind, but a joy to fly down Rainbow Hill to Moor’s Gorse.
Note the young bloke who overtakes me. He was absolutely flying. I topped out about 35mph and bottled it. He just floored it. Respect.
Music is Lindsay Buckingham’s ‘Don’t Look Down’ from the chronically overlooked ‘Out of the Cradle’ album. Video is real time.