Tag: Norton bog

#365daysofbiking Mist opportunity:

November 17th – A spin up to Chasewater after some mechanical jobs on the bike didn’t quite reward me the way I’d hoped: There was a mist settling and I was hoping for either an inversion or a gorgeous sunset – but neither occurred, just a hazy, soft dying of the light. 

Even a ride up the former pit mound to take in the view was uninspiring, sadly.

I made my return through CHasetown, and as always, the high street is brilliant at night. Even when there are few people around, it looks busy. I’ll never work that out.

Nice to see also that at Chasewater, the water levels are slowly recovering.

April 17th – A ride over a very muddy Cannock Chase and Shugborough on a fine, sunny but quite cold afternoon. I saw a small group of red deer on Norton Bog, several of which had been mud-bathing to aid their moult. The Chase itself was as beautiful, wide open, cinematic and deserted as usual, and Shugborough’s farm animals and new arrivals were charming and cute.

With an insistent west wind and low energy it was a battle at times, but a lovely ride. This spring has been truly wonderful, even if the weather hasn’t really played along.

December 28th – Take one large pit mound. Leave it in the northwest corner of Chasewater, then landscape it. Plonk a bench on top. Then wait for a bored, bedraggled cyclist to pedal up it in the dark. 

Here, I experimented with long exposure photographs again. I was looking for something interesting, but the wind and rain were a problem. As I returned, I tried the same over the Swag pool, towards Norton.

None of these have been doctored, and exposures varied between 1.6 and 5 seconds. Quite pleased, really.

Boxing day – I always head for the Chase at this time. Birches Valley cafe is usually open, and it’s great to blast off the excesses of the previous day. I travelled out via Chasewater, and cycled up the mound on Norton Bog, something I haven’t done before. The view up there is really quite good, and although it’s unseasonably springlike at the moment, it really shows we’re in the midst of winter.