Tag: NCN 5

August 4th – If you;re around Walsall and have half an hour to kill, I can recommend a walk or ride down the cycle route that follows the Ford Brook in Goscote Valley from The Butts to Pelsall.

At the moment the meadows and heaths around it are alive with colour – rose bay willow herb, ragwort, daisies and other meadow flowers form a carpet, and the metallic tang and bright pink-white show of the invasive himalayan balsam is remarkable.

This isn’t commonly thought to be a picturesque part of Walsall – but there is so much to see, including a buzzard being mobbed by crows as I cycled my way home.

July 9th – I’m seeing loads of this by the waysides this year, I think it’s some variety of bugle. It’s a lovely, delicate purple flower that seems to be really at home at track edges, like here at Pelsall or on canal towpaths.

A lovely little flower I’ve not seen previously in such profusion.

July 7th – Another desperately dull day, with not many photo opportunities. Sadly, I took a bunch of photos on the way home, and messed the settings up, so the only ones I have to show are the from the cycleway in Goscote again this morning.

I note we’re in for a fruitful year; not only are the apples plentiful, but cherries seem to be having a fine time, and haws look to be good, too; if the blossom is anything to go by I think we’re in for a bumper crop of black and elder berries too.

I love the dog roses, smelling wonderful in the post-rain humid air, and the cornflowers look superb too, in their thistle like glory.

Some much great stuff going on in the hedgerows – and all on one short stretch of path in Goscote.

November 23rd – A run out on errands late morning was shrouded in grey, overcast damp. I swung out to Pelsall, then back over to Coppice Side and up to Chasewater, Ogley and back to the supermarket. It was a thoroughly grey, uninspiring and lifeless day.

I cut up the cycleway from Apex Road, over the old cement works bridge up to Engine Lane. I was pleased to note the cycleway here has been opened back out and the paths cleared – all by a Community Payback team, who were working cutting the scrub back today.

That pleased me, and makes riding down here a whole bunch nicer. Thanks, folks. Looking good!

November 1st – Yes, it’s November, and the sun is warm and the landscape still perceptibly green. The weather this year has been nuts. It was very windy, and I was, to be quite frank, knackered. I had some shopping to do so headed out to Pelsall and then up the cycleway and canal to Sainsbury’s at Reedswood. The wind was punishing, but it was a lovely day – and I did get blown home, so it wasn’t all bad.

And yet again, great skies.

October 4th – Another enchanting golden hour, and I needed something important. Having had no luck at the big Sainsbury at Cannock the day before, I struck gold at Reedswood.

Progress was slow, but I wended up the canal and down the cycleway to north Walsall in the most gorgeous light, and back in a equally gorgeous but cold sunset.

The weather really is great at the moment.

March 19th – Spring, it seems, has sprung. Not just the daffodils, crocuses and early blossoms, but buds, green shoots and nascent leaves. All taken in one short stretch of the Goscote Valley cycleway on the way to work this morning. 

The verdant young leaves of the hawthorn are particularly wonderful to see…

March 8th – On the former railway embankment that is now a cycle track, I stopped to survey the council depot at Pelsall Road. Slumbering in the evening, there was nobody around. This time last year, the gritting hoppers would have been on lorries and working hard. This year, they’ve barely been used at all. 

Let’s hope there’s no further call upon them until next winter…

June 4th – A hectic one. I had a morning meeting in Redditch, and an afternoon one in Telford, so I spent most of this gorgeous, sunny day either cycling, or on the train. Redditch’s the Arrow Valley cycleway is still gorgeous. I love the way the tiny hamlet of Ipsley is preserved in the middle of a park, surrounded by urban sprawl. The wild garlic glade has improved since my last visit, too. 

A joy to the heart.