February 5th – Long exposure experiments I’m not entirely happy with, taken from the A5 bypass flyover at Jerry’s Lane, Packington and the Alan Woollatt bridge over the A38 at Thickbroom.
For some reason these aren’t as sharp as my earlier experiments and I’m not sure why. The wiggle of the road as it winds up Rock Hill was also not as evident as I would have hoped.
I need more practice, and maybe to read a manual or two…
August 30th – This time of year is mostly about fruits, and this year, there are no shortage. Another fine crop of walnuts in Wall, possibly the best yet. Conkers were growing big and fat at Weeford village hall, and reships glisten orange by the waysides. At the Bourne Brook near Thickbroom, the Himalayan basal is beautiful, but chocking out the other pants, notably purple loosestrife. In Shenstone churchyard, prickly sweet chestnuts fascinate.
Painful as autumn is, heralding the oncoming darkness, it is such a beautiful season.
August 30th – A grey day, but I needed a ride. It’s been a few weeks since I had a good one, what with the cold and everything else. Conditions were pleasant enough, and it was warm with a little drizzle.
I went out to Whittington, and back across the heath to Weeford. I forgot how nice Weeford is, and what a curious little marooned village it is: built as a demonstration of his architectural prowess by noted ecclesiastical architect John Wyatt, it clings to a hillside in rolling countryside bisected by the A38.
The late summer colour was nice, and the roads were peaceful.
I need more of this in my life.
December 18th – the weather got progressively worse, and on my return I crossed the Alan Woollatt memorial bridge over the A38 at Thickbroom. I had to be back for an appointment, and it was raining steadily but I couldn’t resist long exposure photos of the rush hour.
Before this bridge was built – again, a side effect of the M6 Toll – I used to negotiate that road between here and the turning for Little Hay. It was murder.
Alan Woollatt was a great cyclist and a fine man who fought for this crossing. I think of him every time I use it, and gaze from safety at the traffic speeding beneath me.
November 19th – A grim day, really. A pleasant but chilly 50 miler around Weeford, Whittington, Harlaston, Lullington and Coton-in-the-Elms, but the mist never lifted once. I also, for the second time in a week, forgot my trusty little camera, so had to really on a phone for photographic support. The day really was this grey, but Staffordshire was a gorgeous as ever; large houses at Shenstone and Thickbroom, near Little Hay always enthral for their wonderful architecture, and the view over John Wyatt’s model village of Weeford from the elevated cemetery always enthrals, however grim the conditions.
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