January 16th – Although, on the way home I stopped to take a call and noticed that sunset was now over thirty minutes later the at Christmas.
Soon, it will be 5pm. And I will start to see fingers of the day creep into the skies of my journeys home.
Can’t come soon enough…
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January 2nd – Back on the 21st December my heart was lifted, as it always its, by the thought that we’d had the shortest day of the year, and that now the sunset would get later and later and the night and darkness would retreat for another year.
Well, not two weeks later, and the sunset is already 10 minutes later than it was on that day.
Ten minutes may not seem much, but it’s significant. Although the timetable to which the day lengthens is fixed, the rapidity of the change is always impressive to me and the retreat of night, being loosely sinusoidal, accelerates as we escape winter.
That six hundred seconds of gleaned light mean that on a clear day, it’s not really dark until well after 4:30pm. Soon light will leak into my evening commutes, and all will be well again.
I so hate the darkness.
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January 1st – The ride was continued through beautiful soft half light up to Brocton Field, down into Sherbrook Valley, then over the hill and down Pepper Slide to Abrahams Valley, returning down the A51 to Rugeley then home over Longdon, Stoneywell and Hammerwich.
The Chase was as beautifully cinematic as ever, and filled with hardy souls in new anoraks enjoying the outdoors, many with stoical expressions.
A good sunset, then the beauty of Rugeley from the main road was a real restorative. It was so cold, but I didn’t care: It was just great to be in my beloved Staffordshire outdoors again.
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December 29th – Also a view from a bridge, but a very underrated one; Down the Lichfield Road toward Walsall, in the same sleepwalk half-light. Busier looking, even when not; the mixture of traffic, streetlights, factory floodlights and sky is magical and it’s a joy to view.
One of the best bits of going up The Wood…
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#365daysifbiking Bridge to my heart:
December 29th – Still busy doing other things (bike maintenance, mainly) I had to nip up Walsall Wood to Screwfix in that magical interregnum between the sun setting and it not being fully dark.
Bullings Heath on the flank of thelack Cock Bridge looked superb, as did Hollanders Bridge.
I love the quiet, sleepy feel of the days between Christmas and new year; like the world world is snoozing off its lunch.
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#365daysofbiking Finding what’s important:
October 28th – I was lost. The week had been stressful, Saturday had been a disaster in many ways and I felt beaten, down and hopeless.
I did what I always do at times like this – wrapped up warm, got on my bike and hit Cannock Chase.
I found rutting deer at Brocton Field; marvelled at the sunset over Sherbrook Valley, laughed at a retriever playing fetch in the water at Stepping Stones. I raced down to Seven Springs, listened to owls calling in Abrahams Valley and rode the night forest braking sharply for foxes at Brindles Heath.
Some days. the forest is all you really need, and it does just what you require.
#365daysofbiking Frustration:
October 25th – There was a beautiful sunset as I left work. I saw it through the frosted skylights at work; they’d got a lovely pink colour which signified something interesting was happening.
The trouble is with where I work, there aren’t many decent spots to get the sunset from.
Getting on a turn of speed, I managed to make old favourite the Kings Hill cellphone mast, still trading data with the ether against a glorious sky, and over the ruins of James Bridge Copper Works at Alumwell.
It’s always annoying to see a good sunset yet not be somewhere with a decent view of it…
#365daysofbiking Falling, down::
October 20th – I was very down today. At the moment I’m working hard, long hours and it caught up with me when everything I attempted failed, or had proven to need more stuff than I had to do it with: From DIY to bike repairs, the day was an utter failure.
I slipped out at dusk, and in a half-light Brownhills, unusually my mood did not improve at all.
The gorgeous avenue of trees on The Parade few locals seem to realise is there is as photogenic as it is every autumn, and the M6 Toll and Chasewater are always good for the photographic, darkness soul.
But today, rarely, cycling didn’t help.
#365daysofbiking Golden:
October 18th – A lovely still evening, again with a beautiful sky it was a joy to cycle home in. At Stonnall, the last dying light over Sandhills was precious and suffused with gold.
I’d better make the most of it as the clocks go back in a week’s time, and that’ll end my sunset commutes for another year…
#365daysofbiking Stars of the fall:
October 17th – It was a beautiful crisp, clear evening as night fell, and I was pleased to see in the western skies the stars were out, just discernible beyond the trees.
I might not like this time of year that much, but the sunsets are well worth it.
BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking 