BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking

On a bike, riding somewhere. Every day, rain or shine.

Posts tagged ‘trail’

#365daysofbiking Down the tracks

May 17th – At the other end of Brownhills, since the weather has dried out, the McLean Way is looking and riding rather well at the moment, I must say.

This is the new trail created by volunteers on the trackbed of the defunct South Staffordshire Railway that ran from Walsall to Lichfield.

It’s alive with wild flowers like vetch, birdsfoot trefoil, buttercups and all manner of rarities. There are birds from wrens to buzzards, and you even get foxes and deer down here.

With people taking exercise during lockdown, it can get quite busy but when you do catch it quiet, it’s a lovely spot.

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#365daysofbiking Wet and quiet

March 8th – I pottered back down the canal to Brownhills. Thankfully, the toads seem to have disappeared, leaving behind wet, muddy and rather unpleasant towpaths.

The old railway bridge near Pelsall Road looked imposing and solid in the gloom.

One of the very few listed structures in Brownhills, it rots gently without the railway that once crossed it – now a cycling and walking trail called the McLean Way which is being created by (mainly elderly) volunteers and is a truly wonderful, community effort.

I guess we’ll never get the railway back – but McLean Way is certainly a great replacement.

In the wet and silence of a miserable Sunday night it was a warming thought.

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#365daysofbiking A thoroughly good job

March 2nd – I had to be at an appointment in Brownhills in the morning and left for work in bright sunlight. Passing down cycle route 5 from Engine Lane to the old cement works bridge, I noticed the folk from Back the Track had done an excellent job of edging and cleaning the trail, making it much nicer to ride.

I’m told the council will now maintain this properly and the volunteers will not have to – as it should have been when first laid in 1998.

This is a fine job on a very under appreciated asset to our town.

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#365daysofbiking Step right up

January 1st – Happy new year you guys!

A short spin out and up the McLean Way – the former South Staffordshire Railway line that’s gradually being converted to a walking and cycle route, extending the current one from Pelsall to Newtown, Brownhills.

Back the Track, the group doing the work entirely under their own volition have sought funding for gradual improvements, and working with Sustrans and others, a new set of steps with a handy-dandy cycle wheeling channel is now nearly complete at Bullows Road, just off the Pelsall Road, making accessing the trail much, much easier for walkers and cyclists.

My compliments to the team – it’s looking great thank you!

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#365daysofbiking The kindness of strangers

December 2nd – Again on the far side of Hortonwood in Telford, I was returning from a meeting using the Silkin Way national Cycle Route 81 that runs along the A518 between Trench and the massive industrial park I had visited.

On a cycleway that I would have thought might have been almost forgotten, and some way from houses or nearby factories, a makeshift bird table at the side of the track, apropos of nothing.

On it, a selection of fruit and seed – all fresh with a nearby audience I’d disturbed of birds and squirrels.

Someone tends this lovingly, regularly. It’s well kept. It’s a thing of dedication, love and kindness for them.

Stranger, I have no idea who you might be, but for looking after a small corner of your world so beautifully, I wish you the very best my friend.

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#365daysofbiking Laurel and hardly

October 29th – Also on the Priorslee cycleway in Telford, a new hazard that caught me by surprise – but thankfully, didn’t have me off the bike, but it was close!

These slimy, goopy squished berries are I think, laurel. They are falling from a tree next to the cycleway, and are gradually being crushed by the feet of walkers and wheels of cyclists into a greasy pulp.

Its really fiendishly slippery on narrow tyres, and seems water resistant too – heavy rains seem to have made it worse rather than washing it away!

Take care, folks.

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#365daysofbiking A decent buy

August 7th – I’m always interested when I spot a new bike in any of the client’s facilities I use. This Halfords Carrera is a typical, mid range trail bike. Competently designed with mass market but decent looking equipment, including suspension forks with crown lockout and hydraulic disc brakes, this was obviously a new steed for someone.

It’s a nice bike and shows why Halfords sell a lot of bicycles despite the variable quality of their shop staff – particularly as regards technical knowledge.

I did, however, wince at the way the bike was locked. That really isn’t a great way to use a D lock and extension cable…

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#365daysofbiking Backtracked

July 1st – A better day, and a decent commute. I had to head up to Norton on my way back so I took the old railway line trail from where it crosses engine lane up to the A5.

Trains haven’t been here for near enough a century and the common here has now recovered well from 200 years of mining. It’s now peaceful and rather beautiful.

Could do without the off-road motorbikes tearing everything up though…

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#365daysofbiking Churnet up

June 29th – Since it was to be the hottest day of the year so far, I went for it again: Another ride out.

I rode up over Chorley to Armitage, and then up through Blithbury and Abbotts Bromley to Denstone, then up the Churnet Valley Trail to Alton, which always gives gorgeous views of the castle at Alton, evoking Bavaria or the Loire Valley.

From Alton to Oakamoor on the wonderful valley-floor lane called Red Road, then a quick break in the village and up Star Bank for a drink at the Old Star pub to cool down/ From there a loop round Windy Harbour and Caldon Lowe over the Weaver Hills, and back home through Ellastone, Marston Montgomey, Sudbury and Yoxall.

A fantastic ride on a perfect day.

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