Tag: Park

#365daysofbiking Happy valley

May 9th – A run into Birmingham the day before had me hankering for the Sandwell Valley. I had errands to do, and the park is on the route between West Browmwich and Rushall Junction on the Tame Valley Canal, so what better chance to pay it a visit?

It was on my return I chose to visit the park: With snacks in the saddlebag and a cooling alcohol free G&T I enjoyed a small, private picnic overlooking Swan Pool.

It was busy with walkers, runners, cyclists and promenading families, but everything was well distanced and pleasant.

And while I sat cross legged and munching, the late afternoon sun warmed my soul and the azure blue sky, reflected in the water, was gorgeous.

A very welcome afternoon of clarity and peace.

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#365daysofbiking Renewal

April 12th – Easter Sunday was so quiet as I slipped out on a changeable afternoon. Mindful of the exercise only diktat, I figured a ride around the backlanes to Little Hay and back would be acceptable.

I was shocked to note very few people about at all. I pretty much had the lanes to myself – and how beautiful they were.

The blossom, green shoots and beautiful skies made for a refreshing, rejuvenating ride that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I really do feel like I’m beginning to get that old spark back.

It’s been gone awhile, washed away in the rains of the winter, I think…

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#365daysofbiking Eternally connected

March 13th – Friday came as a day that was decent to start, and then gifted rain in the afternoon. When I left work, the rain had cleared leaving a bright, sunlit evening on which to admire my beloved Twin Sisters, the two church spires of Church Hill in central Wednesbury.

I love to admire this view from Kings Hill Park. I love the hill, the space, the rooftops before the tree-lined ecclesiastical summit. I love to think of the hundred or more years these lovely buildings have watched over the industrial landscape and it’s changes below.

And I also wonder how many people like me have stood in this place and done exactly the same as me over the years. I love the way it’s all kind of eternally connected.

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#365daysofbiking Let it bee


March 6th – The honeybees were very much awake, and busy, if a little ponderous. This one seemed OK with me being close, which isn’t something they tend to like later on.

These, remarkably enough, are phone photos. How far technology has come…

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#365daysofbiking Quiet riot

March 6th – The sun was shining, the day was almost warm, and at lunchtime, Kings Hill Park in Darlaston was the perfect place to chill out.

Spring flowers like crocuses and daffodils bobbed and waved in the breeze, and there was much bee buzz and birdsong… All to the accompaniment of an industrial Black Country town going about it’s Friday business.

A veritable riot, but a quiet one.

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#365daysofbiking – Just for me

February 7th – A test journey to work was tough, but so worth it: A stop for a break and a snack in Kings Hill Park rewarded me with gorgeous spring flowers.

It felt today, in that moment, that they’d made the extra special effort because they knew I was coming, that their admirer and champion was back.

Happily, the sun came too, and warmed my face.

Some things you just wish you could bottle for the darker days.

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#365daysofbiking Starting to show


January 24th – It’s happening, it really is happening.

In Kings Hill Park on a wet, grey morning, flowers are coming – from humble, enduring daisies to the first crocuses (yellow. Why are yellow always the first?) with the taller, bolder spring flowers now developing well too.

Spring is showing. It’s starting to come now, and whatever happens in the next month, soon it will be here, with it’s warmer, lighter days, flowers and green.

I am so ready for it.

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#365daysofbiking Headlights on the parade

November 11th – In the quick loop of the common whilst killing time waiting for food, we poured ourselves liquid down the parade.

At night, we often see deer crossing here, this wide, tree-lined road over the common is always beautiful, but never more so than in autumn.

One thing the sodium lights do set off well is autumn leaves.

Gorgeous, and the perfect appetiser for a good curry…

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#365daysofbiking Crowning glory


October 22nd – Tipton’s Coronation Gardens on a beautiful, sunny autumn day.

The Black Country is my home, the place I love: My past, present and hopefully, future.

William Perry the famous pugilist still takes on all comers here, but is continually humiliated by pigeons. His embarassment is quiet and dignified though,like this small but beautiful park.

When you mention Tipton to people who don’t know the place, they invariably imagine dirt, factories, bleak streets and deprivation.

Both I and William Perry know different. Although he’s still annoyed about the pigeons.

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#365daysofbiking Always restful

October 17th –  On the way to work, I stopped for a break in Victoria Park, Darlaston – the park curiously formed from a railway cutting abandoned in the 1930s.

It’s always beautiful here in Autumn and today, the trees were just shrugging on their seasonal jackets of gold.

Victoria park is a great example of how urban edge land with a peculiar topology can be repurposed into a beautiful and well loved place, that’s always restful and a real oasis in the heart of a busy town.

I’ll never tire of this place.

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