#365daysofbiking A new muse:
November 30th – Passing Walsall Arboreetum on the way home I noticed that it was open – so I popped in for some night photos.
Sadly, they didn’t work out too well, but it turns out that Walsall’s premier park is now open every evening, and it looks like I have a new muse.
I will return.
July 29th – Following all the brouhaha over the leak at Little Bloxwich and the dispute between the owners of Chasewater, Staffordshire County Council and the people who rely on it for water, the Canal and River Trust, it’s interesting to see the valves are open at Chasewater, resulting in waternflowing into a full canal and draining away via it’s overflows.
I guess they have their reasons, but it seems odd to be wasting the water at the moment, with conditions having been so dry. Perhaps they’re trying to keep up flow into the Ford Brook. The level of Chasewater itself is, of course, steadily falling now.
Nice to watch and listen to the water though – very relaxing on a dull, cool wet afternoon.
April 14th – Spring came today properly, and brought with her warm sun and the general population out enjoying itself in what seems like the first temperate weather since last year…
Interested to note as I rode out through Chasewater on a bike ride to Cannock Chase and Shugborough that the canal feeder valve from the full reservoir is now open quite some way, and there’s a strong flow of water into the canal.
Either the Canal and River Trust have sorted out their argument with Staffordshire County Council, or the latter have decided unilaterally to reduce the water level in the reservoir themselves.
I noticed that at the time of observation, the main lake was still overtopping the weir at the Nine-Foot so the valves can only have been very recently opened.
Always an interesting, relaxing thing to watch.
August 20th – A very tired day in which I felt groggy, tired and insubstantial, like I was a ghost or something. I didn’t realise at the time, but I think I was experiencing low sugar levels.
I set out late to the supermarket in Burntwood on a punishingly windy day, and got caught in a rain squall on the way back that made my forehead so cold it hurt. But there was a rainbow, too, which didn’t photograph well, but made me feel better.
Passing through Chasewater, I note the valves are still open and the water level is steadily dropping, now about 12 inches from maximum.
I love the tide marks on the spillway weir.
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.
April 11th – After being closed during roadworks since last summer, it’s good to see the steps from the canal up to Bentley Road in Darlaston back open. With them closed, it meant a trip to Bughole Bridge – not too bad on a bike, but a fair walk to get back to the same place. The steps on Bughole Bridge are also much harder to get a bike up, unlike these, which are so shallow, you can actually ride down them if you’re careful.
Long overdue, but glad to see it.
April 7th – And daffodils again, this time on a chilly ride home; these are on the site of the former railway bridge in Shelfield that’s now a public open space, and are an absolute riot. Again mixed, it’s a fantastic show this year, and a credit to those at the council who planted and tend them.
Gorgeous.
December 6th – A late spin around Chasewater, and the railway caught my eye. Finished for the day, the carriages were left on the platform for cleaning and the engine in the sidings further over towards the shed. I loved the light, the open doors and the gathering dusk. There was a real atmosphere of abandonment, as if everyone had just disappeared in some 1950s rush hour sic-fi movie.
I was lucky to catch this.
July 19th – Another hectic day, and still not feeling exactly chipper, I spun again to Chasewater to catch a summer fair there,, and the speedboats. From there, I shot over to Wall to take a quick shufty at the Letocetum fun day – where the ancient Roman remains here were surrounded by re-enactors, stalls and activities. I wished I’d got there sooner; it looked like a fun, and very, very English summer event.
Wall is a gorgeous little place and the church overlooking the Roman site is just wonderfully historically prescient. The antiquity is free to visit and open all year round. Its well worth a visit.
April 7th – Sad to see the decaying relics of a lost period of history I feel we shouldn’t let pass unrecorded. The old ROC post at Elford is in a sorry state. Open, vandalised, robbed. Once the pride of the volunteers who would man it in event of a nuclear conflict, it’s just now a lump of subterranean concrete and metal that nobody knows what to do with.
In similarly reduced circumstances but in better condition, the microwave relay tower at No Mans Heath is looking bare now. When I was younger, this unmarked, unacknowledged communications installation was bristling with horn antenna, dishes and drums; now it carries very little. A few telemetry and mobile data links, and that’s it.
In terms of engineering complexity, the framework of the tower is hugely intricate, now to no purpose. I suppose, like the ROC post, eventually it will disappear; testament to times dangerous in a different way to our own.
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