Tag: spring

#365daysofbiking Welcome snowflakes

April 4th – A break in the rain, and I made a dash for it, mostly avoiding getting too wet, but oh my goodness it was cold.

Not cold enough for snow, though.

Warm enough for spring snowflakes, as I found this clump growing and flowering beautifully at Sandhills. Gorgeous white flowers with delicate green tipped petals, snowflakes look a lot like snowdrops, but are bigger and bushier and flower later.

A real treat on an awful day.

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#365daysofbiking Currant affairs

April 3rd – Too rushed to take many photos today, but pulled up short by a flash of cerise in the Clayhanger hedgerow – blackcurrant blossom. Always beautiful, mostly overlooked.

On a grim, cold and windy day a real fillip.

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#365daysofbiking Familiar hoodlums

April 2nd – Since it’s spring, I note that the aggressively begging Canada geese are back on the canal near Clayhanger Bridge. Although they’d both clearly been grazing the freshly mown grass on the towpath, they were both hungry and refused to let me pass until I gave them a treat.

Curiously, this seems to be their permanent state, no matter how much food they have…

Fortunately, I’ve been anticipating their reappearance and had some seed in my pocket ready for these shameless muggers.

I’m glad to see some traditions holding steady.

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#365daysofbiking Thank you Gordon

April 2nd – One of the delights of Walsall Borough in springtime is the huge amount of daffodils on verges, in parks and other open spaces, like here on the corner of Four Crosses and Lichfield roads in Sheffield.

They are a credit to Gordon Kinnair at the council, sadly no longer with us, who was responsible for their planting.

This post is dedicated to both Gordon and his good friend Kate Goodall.

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#365daysofbiking Beaming

April 1st – It’s the 8th birthday of this blog today – on April 1st, 2011 I started by joining the #30daysofbiking project egged on by Renee Van Bar, top cyclist, pal and Dutchperson. I enjoyed it so much, the only thing that ever stopped me riding was a very bad case of food poisoning at New Year 2012. Apart from those lost 2 days, I’ve cycled every day since then.

That’s cycling for 2,920 days out of the last 2,922.

I’m quite pleased with that. When I tell the #30daysofbiking people about this they always treat me like some kind of oddity.

Every day I get on my bike and ride somewhere, and take you readers along with me. Thanks for joining me and sharing my journeys, be they work, errands or pleasure.

And what better time to mark this achievement than to note the fresh white beam leaves of a new year? Gorgeous in their ridged perfection, they are beautiful and I was pleased to see them near Clayhanger Common.

Cone on then, grab your coat – I’m up for another year of this. Are you? Hop on.

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#365daysofbiking White star


March 29th – And later, in Darlaston, the cherry blossom is ahead of that I saw a week ago in Telford.

It’s an absolute riot of delicate, tissue-paper like flowers. And so early, too.

Against the blue sky, with the sun on my face, it’s hard to think of a better start to the day than the sight of such gorgeous flowers.

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#365daysofbiking An overlooked gem

March 29th – With all the showy colours and dramatic blossoms of spring, it’s easy to forget one prolific, pretty little flower that’s hardy, populous, yet delicate and pretty – the humble daisy.

Peppering any open grass right now – whether it be roadside verge, field, sports pitch or domestic garden, these hardy little souls are everywhere, just trying to cheer us up.

These lovely examples were worshipping the spring sunshine on a verge just by Brownhills High Street.

Never overlook the small stuff. It’s very important.

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#365daysofbiking Another early arrival

March 28th – Also early this year along with most other stuff are the pieris flowers and bright read leaf tips.

This gorgeous ornamental shrub – sometimes called fetterbush – is grown a lot in gardens and in beds on industrial estates and parks for no other reason than well, it’s stunning.

This example was spotted in an otherwise anonymous scrub beside the cycleway near the Euston Way pub in Telford.

This is pretty much a fortnight earlier than it was last year, when I spotted the same shrub in Wednesbury.

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#365daysofbiking Subterranean sunny station blue

March 28th – Always nice to get a glimpse of blue, sunny sky from the dark platforms at New Street Station in Birmingham.

Today I was waiting for a connection early, and although there were loads of trains, there weren’t seemingly too many people around. I killed time with a snack, and peered up out of the tangle of steel, concrete, wires and machinery to the surrounding architecture – always fascinating, always in transition.

And then beyond that to a blue sky – and even in this urban morass devoid of anything natural – the promise of a beautiful, sun-dappled spring.

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#365daysofbiking Fresh and green

March 27th – So many delights out there at the moment, despite the continuing chilly days. it’s quite dry, and nature is making the most of it with a whole host of fresh, verdant foliage on display every day.

These perfect bramble leaves were spotted on the way to work near Smiths Flower Mill in Walsall.Aren’;t they gorgeous?

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