January 17th – Still off, but thankfully brighter if still sporting a rather productive cough, I headed up to Aldridge for a change of scenery.
I was feeling much brighter about myself, and looked for snowdrops, but was sadly unable to find any. But one winter reliable did please me with it’s colour – the gorse is looking stunning, particularly welcome in a little weak winter sun.
Going to have to watch the macro mode on the TZ100, it’s quite limiting at the moment…
July 24th – It seems the Walsall stenciller is at it again.
Since street artist made such an art of stencil painting, we’ve had a few copycats spring up locally, but today I noticed a new one on the over bridge to the disused canal arm in Pleck, Walsall.
A small, red person, as might be featured on a warning or keep Britain tidy sign. The image was fresh, there was still overspray on the gravel underneath.
I have no idea what this is about, but I shall be looking out for more… I think it’s rather cute.
June 26th – A brighter day and on the journey to work, a small mystery.
A huge pine cone, eaten by something, probably a squirrel, lying on the canal towpath near Pleck.
It was lying under an apple tree, with no pines or conifers in sight.
Perhaps the grey bushy-tailed fellows commute a long way these days.
This year’s apple crop is looking healthy, though…
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 25th – So many new flowers to notice every day, and in the warm sun of this perfect early morning, bright yellow coltsfoot was showing wonderfully well by the roadsides and in the hedgerows.
Such a beautiful, summery weed. Absolutely gorgeous.
May 19th – A gentle afternoon amble into Birmingham along the canal was a lovely trip – but I did get drowned on the way home. I went from work, along the Tame Valley canal and down the Walsall Canal to Aston. It’s nice to see the route to Birmingham now smoothly surfaced all the way from Rushall Junction at Ray Hall, a real improvement that will see me coming this way more in future.
On my way I saw cats, geese, and my nose noted that the flag irises were out, which although gorgeous – in this case growing around an unexpectedly beautiful pond in the shadow of a huge recycling plant in Saltley – always set off my hay fever.
A lovely canal ride on a grey, showery day that still showed the best of urban Birmingham.
May 5th – One of the reasons I haven’t been this way much in the last few months is that the canal aqueduct over the railway between Leamore and Harden has been closed so the structure can be refurbished, and has only just reopened.
I do hope that this loose, non-compacted shale isn’t the final preparation for the towpath surface – it’s uncomfortable to walk on, dangerous to ride on and just a plain shoddy job.
Take care if you’re riding this section – the loose nature of the surface steels wheels.
March 24th – I had to visit that cowslip in daylight, so I made sure I passed by in the sunshine.
I hope I did it justice this time.
March 22nd – A terrible photo snatched in the dark: but spring is here – THIS IS NOT A TEST.
The first spot of my favourite flowers, cowslips on the side of the canal towpath at Clayhanger.
I adore these charming little yellow flowers. Their appearance for me confirms the end of winter and the brightness of a new spring. After the rain and misery of the day’s riding, areal pick-me-up in a dark, wet ride home.
March 11th – Unusually for a Saturday, I was at work all day, and returned on a pleasant ride that started in daylight, and finished in darkness after a trip to the supermarket.
Hopping on the canal at Bentley Bridge in Darlaston Green, I noted the resurfacing of this section of towpath was well underway, and a nice job it is too – although more beneficial than the previous stretch, the towpath wasn’t that bad here and I don’t really see the point – but it is nice and I’ll use it more.
The sweep over the derelict arm bridge near the Anson Branch rolls wonderfully and will be fun at speed.
At Pleck I was puzzled by the graffiti sprayed on the wall behind the wine warehouse – anyone any idea what this is about? I feel it’s genuinely historical rather than just being the work of some addled stoner but can’t put my finger on it.
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