April 8th – Spotted in the meadow at Waterhouses, this venerable, grumpy looking puss.
Peak District cats are a tough breed, and often look as weathered as the landscape they inhabit. This white cat was just sat, taking the air and enjoying the sun (one presumes, although the expression doesn’t give much away). I like to think it was taking stock, and looking forward to another summer of hunting, stalling territory and snoozing in the sun.
As befits any older cat, really.
April 8th – The first big hayride of the year – out to Staffordshire, Weaver Hills and the Manifold, then around the Moors and Roaches and returning from Congleton on the train.
More photos on my main blog later today – a cracking ride; I was fluid, had energy to spare and it was a fast, warm ride on a day more usually expected in May than April.
Nice to be back in the saddle for long rides again!
December 11th – After a couple of years in limbo, I’m sad to note that after all the fuss and brouhaha, the old boating lake at Chasewater as just been filled in with earth and grassed over.
Staffordshire County Council, the park’s owners, couldn’t be doing with cleaning the water, so in a fit of typical reductive thinking, they drained the pond, left it empty for a couple of year and just filled it with earth that’s now turfed.
With no drainage in the concrete liner it will be interesting to see how this survives. One would hope they drilled the base. But maybe not. They haven’t even kerb edged the grass properly, so it will just die back and recede.
A botched solution to a botched problem that was really quite simple: it just needed good housekeeping.
December 3rd – Another great Christmas tree – always one of my favourites – it the one on Swan Island at Burntwood. Always with really nice lights, it’s a lovely sight and erected by the local Rotary Club – if I remember right, their membership sponsors it.
A lovely sight that cheered me up like Walsall’s tree did yesterday,
October 23rd – For the final light Sunday evening of 2016, I went up to Packington Moor and up the greenway called Knox’s Grave Lane, across Common Barn, then through the deciduous woodland of Hopwas Hays. It was chilly, but the sun was bright, mellow and warming and autumn was beautiful The leaves are really turning now, and the the recently relaid tracks of the woodland were nice to ride.
The sunset, too, was excellent, although sad that it came little after six, with this the first sunset before 6pm of the autumn. Sadly, with the end of BST, next week it will be before five…
A great ride, with the best of Autumn on show. If you can get to Hopwas in the next week or so, do so. Its beautiful.
September 23rd – A chance day off and escape into the Staffordshire Moorlands. I rode the reverse of a ride I did in spring, leaving at dawn and riding up through Rugeley and Uttoxeter, then over to Marston Montgomery, Snelston and Ellastone, over the Weaver Hills and Waterhouses, up Morridge to Flash, then back through Danebridge and Rushton Spencer to Congleton, where I picked up a train back to Lichfield.
Passing Morning Star, the steam roller from Klondike Mill at Uttoxetter was a rare treat.
It was a long ride, over a century, and the climbing was hard and prolonged. There was a good but chilly following wind, but when the sun shone it was warm and lovely.
What a joy to catch summer’s last breath in such beautiful scenery.
September 18th – I have no idea about this, as I’m no meteorologist and I know even less about cloud formations, but I can’t recall ever seeing stripy cloud like this before.
It persisted for some time around 5pm over east Staffordshire, and was quite beautiful – when most pronounced, it had a very shard ‘edge’ to it which was fascinating in itself.
Can anyone tell me what this is all about, please? How rare is it? Does it have a name?
September 14th – I had to call in Birmingham after working late, and returned as dusk fell to Shenstone – and I was reminded one more how lovely this station is at night.
The last Cross City Line station to retain it’s original charm, it wouldn’t look out of place any time in the last century. At this time of the evening, with the lights coming on and mist and autumn in the air, the sight of this wonderful station is welcoming, attractive and a genuine pleasure.
A great place to start or finish any rail journey.
July 17th – In spite of some grim mechanical problems and slow initial progress, I made it to Rosliston for tea and cake, and then pootled back through Coton in the Elms, Lullington, Clifton Campville, Haunton and Syerscote, calling at Hints and Weeford in the golden hour.
The villages glowed in the summer evening warmth, and even though I was battling a keen westerly, my England was right here – in a view familiar to Peter Cutler, in the flower-adorned villages, and in the sad but tranquil churchyard at Haunton, with it’s ranks of gravestones to nuns from the nearby convent.
It doesn’t get much better than this.
May 14th – A long ride from Congleton to home, a distance of 108 miles. I took in The Cloud, Roaches, Flash (the highest village in England), Morridge, Weaver Hills and Tutbury. It was a gorgeous day, and a good ride despite having mechanical trouble.
To see a large gallery of this journey, see this post on my main blog.
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