Tag: panorama

December 30th – I think I was a little over optimistic in wondering if Chasewater would be totally full by new year, but I guess it’s only got 18 inches or so to go. It’ll be interesting to see if the authorities allow water to overtop the new weir into the spillway, or if they open the drain sluice before that point. 

There’s no doubting, however, that the lake is back to it’s old self, and the now the wildlife should recover well. There are already huge nightly gull roosts, and the waterfowl seem happy. This has been an incredible process to witness, and I’m glad I documented it in a small way.

For those interested in such things, the phone camera isn’t bad in the right conditions – this was taken on the phone.

October 13th – My town, for better or worse.

I have a strange relationship with Walsall these days. Pass through it regularly, love almost all of it, but bits I used to know like the back of my hand are now alien to me. Certainly, shopping there is a grim experience these days. I was in town anyway, and wanted to see the Damien Hirst exhibition at the New Art Gallery. I like Hirst a lot, but the exhibition left me cold – I really wanted to see stuff like Mother and Child Divided again, yet what was here seemed to be the odds and ends of the artist’s work. The way it had been mixed in with the Garman Ryan collection was clever, though, and I did admire the guile of the people responsible for doing that, particularly the placement of the wallpaper.

I hadn’t been in the Gallery for a long while, and not on the roof terrace since the building opened a decade before, as when I’d visited, it had always been shut. Today, it was open, and I took photographs of my town – the place I once haunted like a skinny, music-obsessed ghost. I knew every shop, every bar, every alleyway, every cafe. Yet getting older dragged me away, and Walsall befell the same fate as other such post-industrial towns; ravaged by the inexorable rise of out-of-town and fringe retail developments, atrocious town planning and the encroachment of internet shopping,  it now holds little for me. The independent shops have gone, replaced by nail-bars, hairdressers, pound shops and money lenders. Many of the heritage buildings I could see from this view ten years ago are gone, lost to the arsonists that seem intent on depriving us of a cultural past. The bad planning goes on, the retail sheds obscuring or wrecking formerly decent vistas.

I still love this place with all my heart – as Bill Caddick put it, ‘Sore abused, but not yet dead’, but I fear I’m losing it forever. What’s gone, cannot be put pack, and there just doesn’t seem to be the breadth of vision, or cast of hand to build something new. Stuck in a kind of decay-limbo. I could cry.

I did what I always do at times when Walsall, and my past, makes me feel like this: I got back on my bike, cycled up to Caldmore, and reminded myself what community was about.

That’s my Walsall, right there.

June 10th – Whilst at Chasewater, I played with the sweep panorama function on my trusty Panasonic TZ30 camera. It’s a great piece of kit of which I’m very fond, and a huge step on from it’s predecessor. The panorama function, however, has been a disappointment. Not as reliable as the one on Sony pocket cameras, it seems to have trouble with synchronisation, and can generate poor images. Hoping this will be fixed in a firmware update, it does work best on sunny days like this, and these results weren’t bad. 

June 4th – The weather was spectacular, and Chasewater and it’s surrounds looked beautiful. The sun gradually emerged through the afternoon and the day got brighter. The flowers are gorgeous right now, and everything is just so green. After a frankly grim weekend, it’s easy to forget how lovely everything becomes after a few minutes of sunshine…

January 15th – Bimbling around the western edge of Chasewater, I noted the water level in Jeffrey’s Swag was rising well. The main lake also seems to be creeping up, but the smaller pool on the northern side of the railway causeway is critical. Topped up by several creeks and streams, once filled it will be key to the return of the main body of water, as all the overspill flows into it. It’s good to see the gradual restoration of this vital habitat to some kind of normality. Sadly, the replenishing of Chasewater itself will take an awful lot longer.

August 28th – Urban riding can be surprising to people who’ve never considered it before. Our towns and cities are surprisingly green, and even concrete jungles can be fascinating places. The panorama of Paddock, from Church Hill, Walsall, demonstrates this, as does the one from under Spaghetti Junction. So much to explore, even in the depths of the city. All joined together by our fantastic cycle network.

April 22nd – The long Good Friday. 2nd 100 mile plus ride this year, a 114 mile spin up through Staffordshire, into the Dove Valley and up over the Weaver Hills to take some photos and video for top twitter guy @66usual (Steve Lightfoot), who’s interested in the area. Dropped down into the Manifold Valley, then up onto the Tissington Trail, back down the High Peak Trail to Brassington and home via Ashbourne, Hatton, Barton and Lichfield.

This image was taken from the back of the Weaver Hills, just north of Calton, overlooking the Manifold Valley. Few people here, only livestock and bird song to break the silence. And, of course, an old, sweaty cyclist singing tunelessly to the Stone Roses as he descends on one of the best downhill runs he knows.

A great day and a fantastic ride. Seem to be in good shape for early spring, and didn’t crap out once – although the climb out of Thorpe to the Tissington had me sweating a bit. 

Look out for a post and video here and on the main blog in the next day or so. This is a large panorama photo and you’ll need to click on it to get the full impression.