Walsall – Page 10 – BrownhillsBob's #365daysofbiking

#365daysofbiking A bit chewy

January 24th – I again had to call into Pelsall on the way to working this time took the cycleway from Station Road up the old railway line to The Butts. The route through the Goscote Valley is lovely and well surfaced, mostly, but up at Ryecroft near the cemetery the surface has broken up and going was heavy and muddy.

I’m not sure who’s responsible for this section, but if its the council I shan’t hold my breath for any resurfacing at the moment.

Best avoided in the wet, I think, from now on.

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#365daysofbiking Back to grey

January 7th – I rode in to work from Walsall along the canal for the first time in a few weeks – it wasn’t;t a bad ride, though I forgot how grey it can be on a dull, overcast winter day.

Nice to see Canal and River Trust litter picking crews out at the birch ills end, and hopefully they can clear some of the mess left by the magnet fishers – what a pain in the backside they are.

At Bently Bridge the view was trying to be green, but it’s heart wasn’t;t in it, sadly. Maybe some sun tomorrow…

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#365daysofbiking I dream of wires

January 4th – A stop on the way home on the North Street Bridge, the crossing point between Walsall’s Butts area and Birchills. The view from the railway bridge to the new college and town has always been great at night.

But sadly, no more.

The welcome electrification of the Chase Line railway below has had an unfortunate side effect of ruining the shot, with the overhead gantry stealing the foreground. But I don’t mind – I’d rather have the more reliable commuter service.

The college anyway was dull and in darkness, clearly not open yet from the Christmas break, and Austin House with it’s peculiar white halo was stark in the darkness.

Ah well, change is what happens while you’re not looking… There are other aspects on this view, I guess…

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#365daysofbiking Trail blazing

December 21st – Summerhill motorway bridge on a dry evening is the ideal place to try long exposure photography, with the opportunity presented by the motorway below and also down the A461 from kerb level.

Today is a turning point: Not just last day of work for 2018, but the shortest day. Today, I have beaten The Suck – the darkening, grim winter commutes when traffic is bad and huge riding concentration is required. From today, the days will lengthen, sunset will get later and later and the driving will actually improve.

Regardless of the weather, the light will return and things will get better. Today was a turning point, and a very welcome one.

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#365daysofbiking Solid air:

December 11th – Heading back to work after an errand into Walsall at lunchtime, the air was misty, smoggy and heavy and caught the weak sunlight in an unusual way.

I could feel the exhaust fumes trapped low to the ground, but the effect was quite beautiful.

Sad to see the old Workhouse Guardian’s Office, listed but still rotting and vacant, marooned before the monolithic Walsall Manor Hospital.

As far as I know its the only part of the Victorian municipal workhouse in Walsall to survive, and is a remarkable building. Cruelly stranded and ignored by the hospital redevelopment, it sits forlorn an lost, waiting for a use to emerge.

Even down on it’s uppers, it’s a gorgeous building still.

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#365daysofbiking Canal dreams:

December 7th – After a long day at work carrying out boring tasks, I left collecting a pal on the way. We popped in passing to Walsall’s Town Wharf, as the Arboretum I was aiming for actually had an event ongoing.

Town Wharf and the waterside here are gorgeous at night. Finally reaching potential after near enough two decades, this place has taken a long, long time for regeneration to happen, but it looks wonderful in the shadow of Walsall’s remarkable New Art Gallery.

Sadly, the state of retail being what it is, the centre of Walsall only 100 or so yards away, remains depressed.

But here at leat, developer dreams seem to be coming to fruition.

#365daysofbiking Not forgotten:

December 6th – In an otherwise unremarkable, workaday wall on a main road in Place, Walsall, one of the UK’s many hundreds of industrial memorials to the lost employees in the Great War.

The fourteen lost souls listed on the memorial worked for the Cyclops Foundry which was near where the plaque is now, and has long since passed into history – but the original memorial was saved and restored by the NHS, who operate Walsall Manor Hospital, opposite, not once, but twice: They refurbished the memorial in 1989, and replaced it totally in 2002.

I’m glad it survived and still stands today, bearing witness to those lives lost, and it’s good to see that 100 years on, people still place crosses here to remember them.

#365daysofbiking Way over the top:

December 5th – A bit further towards home, the lavishly ostentatious nature of Shelfield’s (presumably civic) Christmas lights amazes and delights, as ever.

I have no idea who or why someone chucks a short string of colour-change lights over one single tree on the Four Crosses Road open space every year. It’s one tree in maybe 10. Seemingly random, this minimal festivity always amuses me.

Merry Christmas – but don’t get too excited, kids!

#365daysofbiking Fruitless endeavours:

December 3rd – Spotted in the rain from the canal at Bentley Bridge: Ripe, delicious-looking eating apples rotting off the branches of the tree that fruited them, which is on a piece of edge land between two factory yards on the far side of the canal, both sites derelict.

The tree and the ground out stands on appears unreachable to all except maybe those in a canoe or boat.

Which is a shame, as I bet the crop is lovely.

#365daysofbiking A new muse:

November 30th – Passing Walsall Arboreetum on the way home I noticed that it was open – so I popped in for some night photos.

Sadly, they didn’t work out too well, but it turns out that Walsall’s premier park is now open every evening, and it looks like I have a new muse.

I will return.