Tag: summer

June 27th – A hard day and an awful journey home for the last commute of the week. The trains were a mess and I came back from Four Oaks against a grinding headwind with little left in my reserve tanks. I was knackered.

Re-armed with the camera, I spied this field of high-quality, nicely ripening barley at the foot of Castle Hill. It’s a lovely crop, with plump, large grain and will make fine malt.

I love the satin sheen of an undulating crop of barley, as it bobs in the wind. It’s one of the great seasonal sights of the English countryside. 

June 25th – As the summer winds on, the next stage of the season begins; moving from the flowering, to the fruiting and seeding. In Walsall Wood’s Green Lane, there’s a patch of comfrey that’s going to seed, and I was intrigued by the way it forms from the flowers, another almost prehistoric-looking plant. Intertwined with it, the white bloom of mid and late summer, bindweed.

Soon, blackberries will be forming on the brambles, and there will be hips, haws and berries ripening aplenty, and time for a new palette of colours; but at the moment we’re passing from the purple into the white for a while.

The advancing summer makes me a little sad, but the weather is fine ad warm, and everything looks splendid. I’m in my element, to be honest.

June 24th – The wildflowers have peaked now – as summer draws on, only the old familiars will really remain as the more showy specimens fade. One of my favourite long lasting flowers – up there with birds foot trefoil – is this vetch, an electric blue/violet delight. It’s growing in abundance on Clayhanger Common and near the Pier Street Bridge in Brownhills, and is really rather splendid. 

It always seems alive with bugs, too, so it serves a useful purpose to boot.

June 23rd – Long, hard day at work on a gorgeous summer day; I only caught the beginning and end. The sky was a lovely blue this evening, and as I passed Little Aston church, I stopped to take a few shots over the meadow. That’s a remarkable spire on a very nice, underrated church.

Even better on a languid summer evening…

June 20th – I came back along the lanes around Stonnall for the first time in a while. On such a warm, sunny afternoon they were a delight to the soul, and very green and peaceful.

At Stonnall itself, I noted the barn conversion at the top of Main Street is nearly complete. A beautiful, painstaking job, the pointing alone has been a work of art. I was initially shocked when the covering bushes were cut down, but this is a sympathetic and lovely conversion and the craftspeople and designers should be proud. I love the way the dovecote in the eaves has been preserved, too. 

A fine thing indeed.

June 19th – At that moment, the battery in the camera died. This one has a slight design flaw in that you can accidentally turn it on to display mode without noticing as you put it away, drawing power unnoticed. Hate it when that happens.

I had to make do yet again with the phone camera, which doesn’t seem to like bright sunlight very much at all, but the beauty of Lichfield’s Friary Gardens on a bright summer afternoon is undeniable.

I love this spot, with it’s mature trees, weathered paths and great flowers and shrubs. An overlooked, tranquil jewel.

June 9th – I came back from work and into Brownhills on a rather lovely summer evening, which, in contrast to the stormy morning, was welcome and lovely. Even at 6pm Brownhills seemed busy with walkers and folk out and about, and the Canoe and Outdoor Centre on Silver Street was humming with activity. 

Summer this year is coming in short bursts. Hope this stormy weather passes soon…

June 8th – A very, very British Sunday. I left at 1:30pm for Draycott in the Clay, knowing there was a steam event going on at Klondyke Mill. I like to visit every few years if the weather’s nice – it’s a great run up the A515 and a a nice hour or so ferreting about around lovely old machines and even more fascinating characters. More of that on my main blog in the next few days.

I set out on a warm day with bright blue sky and high cloud. As I got to the mill 70 minutes later, the heavens opened and we had torrential rain, thunder and lightning – which cleared within minutes. This was the pattern for the remainder of the day.

I enjoyed the event – lots of great machinery and lots to mooch around – but the entry fee was eye-watering, to be honest. But I understand running the machines is costly and the society need funds, so I don’t mind too much.

I did learn that there’s a huge, possibly even gourmet, selection of coal and coke. It really is a different world. 

I returned with a challenging climb up Hanbury Hill, close to the Fauld Crater, and back through Anslow and Tatehill. Passing Battlestead Hill, I stopped to think of the RAF training aerodrome that was on these hills during the war. So many lads learned to fly here, left for war and never came back. Now the sheep graze safely while I look out towards Burton.

On the way back, I experienced several more heavy showers. But I also got a sun tan, had ice cream, and cracked a hard climb. Not an afternoon to be faulted.

May 26th – Riding on a dull bank holiday, the weather turn to warm, soft rain. It wasn’t unpleasant, though, and I didn’t even put on a jacket. Hopping on the Trent & Mersey at Hopwas, a ride down the canal to Bodymoor Heath was excellent; swallows swooped low over the water picking of bugs one by one, as common terns did the same with fish. The hedgerows were alive with birds and flowers, and Middleton Lakes looks superb. Coming back through Middleton the wet roads were slick and fast, and very, very quiet. 

A great ride on an otherwise grey day. There’s beauty in the greyest summer if one cares to look.

May 23rd – A horrid day. Rainy, wet, and the warm summer air seems to have left us for a while. I slipped out in the evening to Mill Green to run an errand, and coming over Shire Oak, stopped at the quarry gates to capture my familiar muse in the murk.

A horrid, headache grey day. I didn’t feel great, either. Summer, come back soon, please…