Tag: snow

#365daysofbiking Snow… And a touch of colour

Monday December 28th 2020 – It had snowed a little, and I headed out before lunch to catch something I thought would be fleeting – I love cycling in snow.

It was very wet, and only an icing sugar dusting on the whole. It was noticeably less over Stonnall and Wall than it was back through Hammerwich, Chasetown and Chasewater, which I found interesting.

Be warned that the road is flooded to some depth at Cranebrook Lane, Hiton, between the Pouk Lane and Boat lane junctions, just before the rise for the motorway flyover. It’s deep. I suspect this may be rated to increased load on Crane Brook with Chasewater in spate.

Splashes of colour caught my eye: The robin in Stonnall Churchyard, and also the old, minimalist gravestone with partially coloured lettering.Wonder whose stone that was?

The snowman and postbox decorations at Hammerwich were lovely.

An interesting change in the weather!

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#365daysofbiking – Snow joke


February 10th – I was at work in a windowless building. At 3:30pm I stepped out of a fire escape answering a call to find it had been snowing, but only a little. An icing sugar dusting was remaining in gutters, shady grass banks and in the shadows of trees and buildings, but disappearing fast.

I have the feeling this will be the only snow we’ll get this year.

Sad really, as I love a bit of snow cycling.

Perhaps it’s for the best, though: Spring is too important to me now I think.

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#365daysofbiking Deceptive

March 10th – Some days you look at the photos you’ve taken and wonder if the camera experienced the same thing you did. Today was that kind of day.

I slipped out mid afternoon. I had things to check up on. I felt rough, I needed the air. But it was bitterly cold, had periodically been snowing, and there was a very wolfish wind that punished for any open zip or gap in clothing.

The towpaths and trails were muddy and wet, but I headed for the common anyway, and found it looking good. The heathland management is still going on here and the latest effort has been using and excavator to pull pack the grass in small squares all over the common.

This will help small, fragile plants take a hold and also give bugs and other small creatures access to fresh earth.

Looking at the pictures, I notice how blue the sky looks and how serene it appears. It was really rather unpleasant. My camera is lying.

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#365daysofbiking Receding gently

February 3rd – There was still ice on the canals and the fringes of Chasewater, of course. In the gentle wind that formed the usual waves here, the edge of the ice was a battleground between frozen water and the gently dynamic open lake.  The fight was continual, and made a lovely, gentle tinkling sound continually.

It Wass so gentle and slight you really had to strain to hear it, but it’s a gorgeous, magic sound.

Shame is was too quiet to record it…

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#365daysofbiking Sugar me

January 30th – Heading to Hortonwood in the morning, I alighted in Telford in a snow shower that didn’t last long, but rendered the cycleway beautiful with an icing sugar dusting of fresh, undisturbed snow.

What made it even more gorgeous was at the same time, the sun was shining.

An odd experience on a beautiful, cold and crisp morning.

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#365daysofbiking Unstoppable, now

January 29th – Despite an icing sugar dusting of snow and a very cold wind, the dates and emergent daffodils of the industrial estate where I work know spring is a thing.

Jack in the Green has tapped the ground with his stick and it’s all systems go.

The cold might slow things up a few days, but it’s underway now. It’s coming.

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#365daysofbiking Salt beef

January 29th – The cold weather for this winter has finally arrived, and the roads are icy. I’m fairly OK on the ice tyres, but it still takes time to build confidence back up when hitting black ice.

Thankfully, everywhere I’ve been, the major routes are well gritted, even though many motorists swear they haven’t been.

Road salt is not magic. It won’t work instantly, won’t de-ice the whole troad, and won’t allow you to drive like Sterling Moss in cold weather.

Tae care and take it easy, folks.

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#365daysofbiking Just ice

January 23rd – The journey home was not so enjoyable. The snow had thawed, but it had gone cold again, and there was a lot of ice. I made an awful decision to try the canal between the Black Cock Bridge and Brownhills, and the towpath was barely ridable: The thawing snow had frozen hard and the problem was not the ice, but the ruts in it which were numerous when they took your wheel.

Almost worth it though for my regular muse Clayhanger Bridge at night, with a very different appearance for a change.

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#365daysofbiking Ice kingdom

January 23rd – The snow quickly petered out, and it went very cold overnight, with a small, further flurry in the early hours. I had stuff to do near home early in the morning, so left for work when the sun was well up and the sky a precious, azure blue.

Jockey Meadows in Walsall Wood and the Mystic Bridge in Darlaston were nothing short of stunning.

It’s not often we get sun and snow together like this. It was absolutely captivating, and a joy to be cycling in it.

For a while, my commute was like the kingdom of Narnia, and it ma=de me happy.

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#365daysofbiking A shock to the system

January 22nd – A further shock to my sensibilities was the snowfall. I left Telford in relatively dry, clear conditions, but noticed the icing-sugar dusting of snow becoming more evident as the train neared the Black Country.

Leaving the train at Shenstone, there was more snow, but it was very wet. Whilst there was a little snow falling, I thought I’d missed the worst.

Within ten minutes I was cycling in persistent, large flakes of snow, making visibility difficult and soaking me to the skin.

I was glad of the  studded tyres once more, and when I finally got there, glad to be home, too.

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