Tag: sun

July 16th – Slowly bumbling over to Chasewater to catch the sunset, I wasn’t disappointed. I was pleased to see the wakeboarders out on such a temperate evening, and they made for good photos. 

I’m pleased this particular facility is doing well and seems popular – and it’s a favourite of local photography enthusiasts who love to catch the thrills and spills of the novice and experienced boarder alike.

Chasewater really looks better than it does in a golden hour. For the time I loafed here, enjoying the moment and forgetting I had a headache, I’d have not been anywhere else in the world.

July 6th – Passing through Walsall and making a few calls on a periodically sunny morning, I was intrigued by the laser cur plate in the railings and the shadow it cast. 

That’s a lot of effort to go to for a plain, mostly overlooked bit of street furniture, and I only spotted it by the shadow cast.

I wish the photo had come out as well as it looked at the time!

June 20th – This old chap is someone I’m very pleased to see, for the first time this year.

This elderly, gummy old cat lives in Kings Hill, Darlaston, and is clearly a well loved companion to someone in the old folk’s flats there. I’ve been saying hello to him in passing for years now, and he’s a good natured but aloof fellow who’s proud and busy despite his clearly senior status.

His whiskers are always immaculate, and his lack of teeth doesn’t seem to impede his hunting instinct. But the reason I’m pleased to see this gentleman is that I always think about old cats, lying in the sun, enjoying the day. Never is a cat happier than summer, and I’m pleased this one survived long enough to feel another day of healing sun on his back, ease his aches and maybe stir the memories of kittenhood and a life well lived.

So pleased you’re still around old lad.

June 18th – Another fine, high summer day and this time I headed out to North Warwickshire, going from Stonnall to Bassets Pole, on to Middleton, body moor Heath, Hurley, Baxterley, Grendon and up the canal back to Tamworth with a speedy run down the old A5 home.

It was a lovely ride on a gorgeous day and the scenery showed itself well. Merevale Hall still sits imperiously over the plains beyond the Watling Street, and over the former mining communities on the ridge, which apart from the memorials and odd preserved building, you’d never guess had ever existed at all.

It was also a day of languid animals, from the ambling rabbits who unusually didn’t have a rush in them, to lounging cats hunting shadow, rather than sun. 

Bernie the boater Birman was going for a walk with his dad at Polesworth, on a lead as he normally lives at home. He was perfectly content and a lovely cat.

A word of caution, though: if you’re planning to ride the Coventry Canal between Grendon and Polesworth, choose something agricultural to ride. The towpath is non-existent and was seriously challenging to ride.

May 26th – A lovely, warm shirtsleeve ride to work on a gorgeous morning, with the wayside wild roses fully in bloom and bees busy, even at an early hour.

I know I keep saying this, but this is what I look forward to all year. I know many don’t enjoy the heat and humid conditions can be wearing, but this really is the best kind of day.

May 14th – A gorgeous warm run out to Fradley, Barton, Rosliston and Syerscote was just the tonic I needed. I didn’t take many photos – sometimes, you just don’t – but the landscape was beautiful, particularly the river section of the Trent and Mersey Canal at Alrewas, where this most utilitarian of canals kisses the Trent. 

I noted also a beautiful red horse chestnut in full bloom in the sheep pasture by Wychnor Church. Those really are lovely flowers.

I really enjoyed the sun on my back today.

April 25th – Although still very cold for the time of year, there was no trace of snow when I rolled into Telford that afternoon. On the contrary, with the trees and hedgerows coming into leaf a little bit of urban magic has returned to my life: the lovely green tunnels that form the cycleways of the new town.

They are absolutely beautiful and a joy to ride upon…

April 9th – A 35 mile recovery ride for tea and cake on the following day didn’t go so well though. With technical issues and some spills the ride didn’t start well, and like a fool, I headed out with a punishing wind flat behind me.

The ride out was beautifully sunny and warm, and the oilseed rape at Middleton was beautiful.

As I rode from Middleton up the canal to Tamworth, someone flicked a switch and the nascent summer instantly was turned off. A harsh, cold wind and overcast skies battled me all the way home.

It was harder to ride 35 miles today that the 111 I rode the day before.

March 9th – A gorgeous, sun soaked early spring commute, a little bit into the wind, but no less gorgeous for that. I rode fast through the backstreets of walsall, enjoying the sun on my face, and for some reason today at 7am, all I could smell in Darlaston was bacon cooking.

I spotted these gorgeous primroses, just dying to be noticed in Kings Hill Park. They almost glow in the sunshine.

March 4th – A much better day, when it felt spring had arrived. It was the day of the annual Erdington Cycle Jumble, so a chance to rummage some tat, bag a bargain, scoff bacon rolls and talk to old faces. Following, I rode the canals of Birmingham, down through Brookvale, Witton Lakes, Aston, up over the Hockley Flyover to Soho for lunch, back along the canal to Small Heath, then via the Cole Valley and Plants Brook back to Sutton Park and home. 

I was particularly intrigued by the wonderful Jonathan Meades immortalised in stencil underneath Spaghetti Junction.

It was a great ride with periods of lovely sunshine, spring flowers and only one heavy downpour.

And the cats, particularly the monocular marmalade munchkin in Erdington, were great, as ever.

A restorative and lovely ride.