Tag: rain

#365daysofbiking Into the black:

October 13th – A dreadful, wet and dull day during which I got absolutely none of the things done I wanted to. High winds and rain meant I was hemmed in and my mood deteriorated.

Slipping out purely from necessity in the evening to get shopping and a takeaway, I forgot half of what I needed and the takeaway I’d planned as a pick me up wasn’t available.

A somnambulant Brownhills, even at the early hour of 7pm didn’t help.

This autumn is mad. One minute it’s sun and shirtsleeves, the next it’s like a typhoon.

This does nothing for my mood.

#365daysofbiking Spot on:

October 12th – On the way to work in the season of the storm living up to it’s name: torrential, driving rain and a bastard of a headwind forged on satan’s back step.

I took the canal at my earliest opportunity to avoid the madness of the traffic, and as I passed the bank where the fly agaric normally grow in large numbers but has been barren so far this season, a glint of bright red caught my eye.

The size of a dinner plate, it must be the largest, most perfect specimen I’ve ever seen.

Despite the rain, there was brightness. There always is, if you keep an eye open for it.

#365daysofbiking Sucked under:

October 2nd – The Suck is brutal this year. The dark evening commutes are hard and the driving is bad. But today was unexpected, unforecast drizzle all the way, and with no waterproof trousers, I was soaked and miserable.

This is the hard bit of winter. Dark, wet and cold, it’s going to get a lot worse before it begins to improve.

Every year this gets more and more daunting.

#365daysofbiking Welcome to The Suck:

September 20th – It started with a bang: The Suck, the gradually darkening, menacing and psychologically hard commuting journeys from now until Christmas began today with a twilight, torrential rain soaked journey from Darlaston to home. 

Drenched in spray, nearly left hooked twice, perpetually on guard for bad driving this was the worst journey I’ve had in years.

At one point I just stopped and took refuge in a bus shelter to calm down. The sheer hard work of concentrating and being aware enough to survive in this conditions is a gargantuan effort.

But I made it home, and as I once again get used to this, it’ll be less of a trial.

Winter sucks you down.

#365daysofbiking Farewell wellfare:

September 16th – The rain steadily increased, and I headed up the gorgeous Cross o’ th’ Hand lane to Farewell, where I called in at the church in steady rain.

Farewell church, possibly dating back in part to the 1400s (some say earlier) is gorgeous and the rain enhanced the sad beauty of the roses in the graveyard.

A sad day punctuated with great beauty.

#365daysofbiking It’s because I’m a fun guy:

September 11th  – Riding down a post-rain Goscote cycleway, the edges of the trail were dotted with mushrooms and toadstools, I’m fairly but not absolutely sure of the identity of the large, spotted specimens: I think they’re blushers but could, at a pinch, be shaggy parasols. I welcome further views on that.

The field mushrooms were copious, and I got out my cotton bag and plugged about 2lb of them, which made a lovely accompaniment to my evening meal.

#365daysofbiking Headache grey:

September 8th – My hopes for an Indian summer were looking a bit forlorn as I sneaked out in the evening for a circuit of Clayhanger and Brownhills, looping back around Chasewater. It was grey, wet and cold with alternate heavy showers and periods of light drizzle, but none when it wasn’t raining at all.

The green was trying to shine through, but fighting a losing battle under the headache-great sky, reflected off the canal and wet town.

Apart from the odd car, I don’t think I saw a single soul about. A hard, wet ride that I was glad to return from.

August 23rd – On the way home, a real treat to compensate for the persistentt wind and rain – a vivd, beautiful rainbow.

I caught it over Shelfield and Jockey Meadows. It was perfect, and I revelled in it for 15 minutes, steadily getting wet.

A beautiful thing I was lucky to witness.

August 17th – Well, we’ve had a little rain (but not nearly enough) and something becomes clear: Grass fires are dramatic and worrying and do lots of damage, but as can be seen here on Chasewater Dam heath where there was a fire a month ago, it’s recovering well. The fire has cleared the scubas and fresh plants are shooting anew, and the area, although still scarred, is taking on a green appearance.

The grass fires are awful and so unnecessary, but nature clearly heals, and remarkably quickly too.

August 14th – A tiring, very long day, but despite my weekend gloom (sometimes the IBS gets you like that) the weather is still very dry and warm – although not the sun-drenched heatwave of a couple of weeks ago, it’s still warm enough to ride with just a tee shirt and hopefully catch a little warmth on the skin.

The weekend’s small amount of rain clearly hasn’t been wasted: things suddenly look green anew – the canal at Clayhanger Bridge was as limpid and peaceful as ever, but the surrounding vegetation is greening up again. It looks… Fresher. Grass is sprouting again, and optimistic, opportunistic weeds and wildflowers are shooting up on the edgelands.

Looks like summer isn’t over after all…