Tag: nice

May 14th – The first century day ride of the year saw me travel to Congleton in Cheshire first thing. It was a nice journey with a single change at Stoke, which is a very underrated station.

I love the wide open, light and airy feel it has, and a decent buffet, too. Stations like this are a pleasure to wait in, and I’ve always loved this one.

Let’s hope it isn’t ruined in a drive to ‘modernise it, just as Rugby was. 

May 26th – Around the corner, the new housing development at Streets Corner is looking very nice. Replacing homes that had been derelict for a decade or more, this new build project has been a long time coming, but I like this modern townhouses a lot. I like the materials used, and the pleasant, traditional approach.

So much better than what was here before, and much more aesthetically pleasing than I expected.

February 23rd – A harsh day to ride to work into the wind. It started out sunny and bright, but it quickly became overcast, but then brightened again, It was hard work, and I stopped to take a phone call in The Butts, Walsall. The former school here has been converted into dwellings, and seems to have been done quite sympathetically. I think the exterior doors would have been better in wood or a darker colour, and the white boarded detail in the water tower jarrs; but otherwise, a great repurposing of a very interesting, surprisingly ornate building.

February 16th – It was a gorgeous day, and a reminder of what this country is like when the sun shines properly. With the sun on my back, I rode out at lunchtime to check out the floods of the Tame Valley, around Hopwas, Elford and Croxall. 

I was expecting the Tame to be in flood. This wasn’t the case at all – the Tame had clearly stayed in-channel, and although brisk, the Footherley, Black and Bourne brooks were all below capacity, too; although we’ve had record rainfall, it’s clearly been spaced out enough to avoid the horrific scenes locally that we saw in 2007. 

Of course, other areas have not been so fortunate.

What is evidenced is wind damage. At the hump bridge on Gravelly Lane, Footherley, tree debris blocks one arch, and a whole tree lies similarly before the Elford Bridge. Clearing the detritus from trash screens and under bridges is an essential part of waterway maintenance, and this will have to be removed.

The technicians that do this work have plenty to do in the coming weeks – their work is essential, and I wish them well.