Tag: Walsall Wood

February 9th – At the junction of Coppice Road and Brownhills Road in Walsall Wood, the junction is being remodelled for the new leisure centre, now nearing completion. It’ll be interesting to see what the finished road layout looks like, and how it functions. This is a horrid junction for pedestrians, cyclists and small vehicles, and it seems a bad one for corner cutting and being cut off from the right – particularly when turning left into Brownhills Road. 

I’m watching this one with interest. I hate this junction and I hope the changes improve it as much as possible.

January 30th – Further up the canal on the Aldridge/Walsall Wood border, the canal was also looking good from Northwood Bridge, over the marina there, and in the other direction, up past the brickworks at Stubbers Green. 

The canal here looks so serene and peaceful, that only a vague chemical smell in the air and low background susurration would tell you that nearby there was a toxic waste handling facility, a large landfall, marl pits and two brickworks.

Impressions can be deceptive sometimes.

January 19th – A beautiful, hazy an sunny winter morning – chilly, but not bitter. It was dry, and the pleasure and speed of dry roads seemed alien to me after so many wet weeks. Jockey meadows were beautiful, as were The Butts in Walsall, with those gorgeous terraces. Even Darlaston’s 1930s factories with their stark, monolithic walls were a joy in the mellow January sun.

All this is great for my heart and soul. More, please!

January 17th – Recently had a new fridge or freezer? Left the old one out for the scrap man to collect? Well done, this is where the bits they couldn’t weigh in ended up.

This is the ditch running beside Green Lane at Bullings Heath, Walsall Wood.

If you leave stuff out for tatters and scrap men, you aren’t recycling, and it’s not out of sight, out of mind. We all have to pay to get this stuff cleaned up. The rubbish fairy doesn’t exist.

Leaving stuff out in the hope it’ll disappear as if by magic renders you no better than a flytipper, which is, incidentally, the way it’s considered in law.

January 13th – And there you go, it can’t even manage 24 hours dry at the moment. Another soaking on the way home – and it was cold too, with the temperature hovering just above zero degrees.

I stopped to adjust my scarf at Maybrook Road and took two quick shots. They look wet, cold and desolate and that’s just how it was.

January 2nd – This is the fourth year to the day of continuous cycling. As of today, I’ve ridden a bike every day for 1461 days. I can’t believe I’m still doing this, that I’m still here today.

Of course, the fifth anniversary of the blog comes on April 1st, but the first new year of this journal (2011-2012) I was very ill and missed two days, so I started the counter again.

It’s been a long way, but I’ve enjoyed it, and still do. If you’re still up for it, I’ll continue, but if this is tired or dull now, tell me.

Of course, it’d all be a lot more interesting with decent weather, but it was very poor again, with continuous rain for most of the day. It stopped briefly, and I nipped out on errands. As I passed by Walsall Wood Bridge, a narrowboat passed beneath. In an impetuous moment, I wondered if I could catch it from the other end as it approached Hollanders Bridge. 

Turns out there was bags of time.

December 30th – I had to go up to Walsall Wood all day. The weather – in complete contrast to the day before – was dreadful. More heavy rains and high winds, as if we haven’t endured enough.

I finally got down to it and called in where I had to after darkness fell. When I arrived, the rain had been soft and drizzly, but when I emerged, it was heavy and harsh once more. 

Glistening in electric light, it did at least look beautiful.

December 3rd – So enjoying the tailwind, I let it blow me to Walsall Wood, where I noted they have an excellent Christmas tree again this year, which I think is funded by local Tory councillors.

I’m by no means a Conservative, but respect to them for this act of generosity.

When I see the tree at Walsall Wood, I know Christmas is just around the corner.  It’s one of the milestones of the season for me. A lovely thing indeed.

November 24th – Working very late, I returned sapped of mental energy. I got as far as the Black Cock Bridge before realising I’d not taken any photos. So, as an excuse to have a breather probably more than anything, I quickly took this.

It was indeed, a bright moonlit night. But the source of the curious light was a car on the far side of this precarious bridge.

I was glad to be homeward bound.