Tag: rain

#365daysofbiking Heavy weather traffic

November 2nd – Out again after dark for a supplies run to Walsall Wood, and on my return, I stopped on Walsall Wood Bridge as I often do in winter to admire the lights of the village that straddles the A461.

Walsall Wood is an interesting place. Unlike Pelsall and Aldridge, Walsall Wood actually seems a little like a village still: a smattering of shops, trio of pubs, a parish church all in a quarter of a mile, surrounded by housing and further out, factories and industrial sprawl.

In daytime this place is pleasant if unprepossessing enough.

But at night, it develops a really interesting feel: almost like a sort of semi-permanent Christmas. The lights of the shops, pubs and takeaways combine and make this place look bright and welcoming in the gloom, in a way most other places don’t.

In this period between rain showers, there was a lot of traffic for a Saturday and cars made that noise they always do on wet tarmac. But it all combined as it usually does and looked beautiful.

I always love this view and I think I always will.

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#365daysofbiking Up the junction


November 2nd – Busy this weekend with stuff at home, so I’m mostly riding out on errands to get materials and suchlike. At lunchtime I had to head over to a DIY store in Chasetown, so in steady drizzle, I took to the canal. The towpaths were sodden, but the riding surprisingly fast.

I’m glad I’ve got stuff to do, this autumn has been terrible for cycling generally, and we’ve had more lost weekends than Lloyd Cole. Were I stuck inside without occupation, I’d be going stir crazy by now. I’m sure of it.

Crossing Ogley Junction over that imperious old iron footbridge, the canal looked grey and foreboding. But I was wrapped up well, warm and dry underneath. Getting past this may take what seems like an age, but better days will come, the sun will return and in a few months, we’ll have daffodils and daylight once more.

All I’ve got to do is hang in there.

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#365daysofbiking Fire in the sky

October 26th – It had been a frustrating day. I needed to get some stuff from a store on the Orbital Centre in Cannock to get started on a job, but the rain was preventing me venturing onto the A5. Finally, as twilight fell around 5pm, the rain ceased.

On the new road that runs to the back of the orbital past Kingswood, the cloud cleared for the most majestic sunset I’ve seen in a very, very long time.

In 15 minutes, it had built from nothing, peaked, and ebbed into darkness.

Proof that even the worst days can contain real, unexpected and worthwhile beauty.

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#365daysofbiking Here comes the flood

October 26th – As predicted, the Saturday was very wet indeed, with the rain not abating until early evening. I had business in town that couldn’t wait, and on the way I passed the overflow opposite Silver Street adjacent to the lower meadow on Clayhanger Common.

The canal overflow was barely coping with the torrent, and it was starting to overflow toward the meadow.

Holding this flood is what the meadow was created for, four decades ago: And it will work, admirably holding the excess and realising it slowly, preventing the village flooding.

It will, however, make the Southern Clayhanger Common footpaths impassable for a few days – a small price to pay I think.

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#365daysofbiking The hiss of wet tarmac

October 25th – I seemed to have been cycling on water all day – the rain barely abated until evening. Returning from an errand in Stonnall, I stopped at Shire Oak to record conditions.

It had been raining all day. Everything was sodden. The forecast for the weekend didn’t look much better. We seem to have had a wet autumn (I’m not sure if we actually have or not, to be fair).

After a few good, dry days it wouldn’t be too much to ask for a few more, would it?

Ah well, down the hatch. I wiped the rain off my face, got back on the bike and coasted back home into Brownhills, listing to the hiss of my wheels on the wet tarmac.

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#365daysofbiking Rainy Chase and Sundays…


October 20th – I set off mid afternoon for Castle Ring. It was spotting with rain, that wasn’t;t really forecast. By the time I got there feeling a bit sad, the rain had set in for the afternoon.

Something happened, though, and I found my happiness in the drizzle, getting wet and finding fungi at Stonepit Green and explored a boggy, muddy forest until darkness fell, visiting places around Beaudesert I haven’t been for years.

You can find peace and contentment on even the most horrid days if you stop looking for it and just get on with finding out what’s over the next hill.

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#365daysofbiking Sliding into darkness

October 15th –  Returning in the evening at the usual time is now crossing into the night: My commute now often starts in twilight and just about ends in darkness.

As I passed Catshill Junction on my way to the High Street on a sodden canal towpath, I just caught the last of the light.

Oh how I hate this gradual, inexorable slide into darkness.

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#365daysofbiking Turn, turn, turn

October 15th –  Near Brownhills Common, the colours are changing fast now with the full autumn gamut – from the bright yellow-green of shedding birches to the crimson reds and deep golds of more… Exotic shrubs and trees.

On a wet, grey morning they can really perk you up. A delight to the soul.

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#365daysofbiking Back to black

October 11th – Although technically the next day, it was still my working Friday when I rode back home in a soaking wet, somnambulant landscape in the small hours of the morning.

I didn’t;t trust the few cars that were about, speeding around, so stuck to the canal where the only things around were roosting waterfowl and the odd, dejected and bedraggled fox.

I was tired and mentally dead.

Ah well, it’s the weekend…

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#365daysofbiking Wet and dark the night

October 10th – A long day and late night at work. The journey home was dreadful, and reminded me that I among enduring The Suck, that horrible period of night-time commuting in the dark, when driving seems worse, the weather is hostile and the journeys drain you physically and psychologically.

Still, to have the gorgeous sunny summer days you need to have the winter, and even Walsall Ring Road can be surprisingly attractive when the wet tarmac, vehicle and street lights combine.

Roll on Christmas…

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