June 3rd – This is near the centre of Redditch. No shit. Buried on the Arrow Valley cycle route is this small hamlet of old houses. Encircled within a cocoon of greenery, they are bounded by the great, terrible sprawl of the new town. A very peculiar place with some surprising corners.
May 17th – Exploring a bit more of the Arrow Valley cycle route in Redditch on the way to work, I took a trundle round the central lake in Arrow Valley Park. Home to a boat club and an outdoor centre, it’s clearly a popular, well maintained amenity, teaming with wildlife.
It’s easy to knock the town, and I often do, but this route and park are wonderful, and a credit to their designers.
May 16th – Redditch. Pouring myself liquid downhill here is a joy, usually, but one has to beware of vehicles – it’s a bad place for dooring and being pulled out on. This example of shocking, idiotic driving is why I give so much time to maintaining my brakes. Ah well, replacement pads are only fifteen quid a pop…
May 5th – first wild garlic nasal attack of the season. I love the scent of this woodland plant. Preferring wet, shady areas, this white-flowered relative of the more familiar cultivated variety grows in profusion on the banks of the River Arrow in Redditch. Stopping to investigate this delicious aroma, I came upon a veritable carpet of white blooms. A delightful assault on the senses.
May 3rd – Interested to note that in Redditch, the government isn’t universally loved. Coincidentally, there seems to be an increase in politically motivated graffiti in the last 6 months. Are we really returning to the eighties?
April 27th – clearly, today was drive like a fuckwit day, and I’d missed the announcement. Why is that on some days, you just feel really uneasy on the road and see a whole traunche of daft road use? Today was one of those.
I was on an early morning commute to work in Redditch – 7:50am on the Smallwood Island. Some duffer in a cream car just stops in the middle of the island. I have no idea why. I check he can’t suddenly floor it and hit me, then get the hell out of there.
A little further on, we see a community transport bus overtake me, only to cut me up turning left. It’s why I hate left hand cycle lanes; they encourage this behaviour. It wasn’t dangerous in this instance, but it’s as irritating as hell.
I was glad to get home this evening.
April 14th – Last commute to Redditch for a bit. Despite a dull, overcast day, the River Arrow is looking as beautiful as ever – and this is only 100 metres from heavy industry. Utterly remarkable. Sadly, not seen any kingfishers here this week…
April 6th – The beginning of the Arrow Valley cycling route in Redditch, part of the national cycle network. I ride this as a commute quite often. The route is a ribbon of green surrounded by urbanisation, and is really quite wonderful.
The pause in the middle of the river bridge is to look for Kingfishers, which are a frequent sight here.
April 5th – Another work commute. The Arrow Valley cycle path runs right through Redditch and is a joy to cycle. In a couple of months the wild garlic will smell gorgeous here, but for the moment, the Blackthorn is my portal to work. Either side of me is industry. This green ribbon is a real achievement in urban design.
It’s a shame, really, because the rest of Redditch is crap.
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