Tag: wet

#365daysofbiking The hiss of wet tarmac

October 25th – I seemed to have been cycling on water all day – the rain barely abated until evening. Returning from an errand in Stonnall, I stopped at Shire Oak to record conditions.

It had been raining all day. Everything was sodden. The forecast for the weekend didn’t look much better. We seem to have had a wet autumn (I’m not sure if we actually have or not, to be fair).

After a few good, dry days it wouldn’t be too much to ask for a few more, would it?

Ah well, down the hatch. I wiped the rain off my face, got back on the bike and coasted back home into Brownhills, listing to the hiss of my wheels on the wet tarmac.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/34iE09a
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking New forms

October 20th – Cannock Chase was full of really a interesting – it was the first time I’ve seen coral fungus since I was a kid, and there were a whole range of brackets, toadstools, slimes and balls to keep me interested.

Sadly the light was terrible, so few decent photos.

I’ve never known such a good season for fungus. I’m seeing things I’ve never seen before…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2MZdk7K
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Rainy Chase and Sundays…


October 20th – I set off mid afternoon for Castle Ring. It was spotting with rain, that wasn’t;t really forecast. By the time I got there feeling a bit sad, the rain had set in for the afternoon.

Something happened, though, and I found my happiness in the drizzle, getting wet and finding fungi at Stonepit Green and explored a boggy, muddy forest until darkness fell, visiting places around Beaudesert I haven’t been for years.

You can find peace and contentment on even the most horrid days if you stop looking for it and just get on with finding out what’s over the next hill.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Py1GlB
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Sliding into darkness

October 15th –  Returning in the evening at the usual time is now crossing into the night: My commute now often starts in twilight and just about ends in darkness.

As I passed Catshill Junction on my way to the High Street on a sodden canal towpath, I just caught the last of the light.

Oh how I hate this gradual, inexorable slide into darkness.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2W7XURo
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Turn, turn, turn

October 15th –  Near Brownhills Common, the colours are changing fast now with the full autumn gamut – from the bright yellow-green of shedding birches to the crimson reds and deep golds of more… Exotic shrubs and trees.

On a wet, grey morning they can really perk you up. A delight to the soul.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/31CKNZx
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking A fascinating kingdom

October 14th – A damp morning showed a remarkable range of fungi on the way to work. From what I thought was going to be a very disappointing season, there have been some remarkable displays of this remarkable kingdom.

These specimens were all in one short stretch of cycleway in Goscote and were absolutely fascinating.

One of the few redeeming features of autumn for me is definitely the fungi…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2BDuOje
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Back to black

October 11th – Although technically the next day, it was still my working Friday when I rode back home in a soaking wet, somnambulant landscape in the small hours of the morning.

I didn’t;t trust the few cars that were about, speeding around, so stuck to the canal where the only things around were roosting waterfowl and the odd, dejected and bedraggled fox.

I was tired and mentally dead.

Ah well, it’s the weekend…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2P52yhx
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking The storm’s passage

October 8th – Returning from Birmingham, caught suddenly in a shower on the platform at New Street Station, I was fascinated by the darkening of the sky, then the light catching the buildings as the end was in sight.

In all the mad, frenetic urban landscape, I love the power it still maintains to capture the light beautifully.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/31t5cQI
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Explorations

October 3rd – I drove to work and rode home – sadly I chose a really, really unpleasant evening to do so. Again, drizzle and a punishing headwind – but at least the town looked beautiful in the glistening, dripping night.

I decided to quickly try the camera and the phone for a comparison.

Top, the iPhone 11 Pro Max in night mode, which since a beta firmware upgrade on Wednesday evening seems a whole bunch better. It’s not as hyperreal, but is still very strange, but beautiful I think.

My preference is still to the warmth of the Canon G5X, below, which is altogether mellower without losing detail.

Further explorations to come, I think.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2LKG3wl
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Stars on earth

October 1st – I had to go to have a medical procedure, so I was out in a rainy dawn on a quick spin to get the ride in for the day.

On Clayhanger Common, a first for the year: Earthstar fungus.

This remarkable, almost unreal looking fungi grows quite widely now but was once a rarity, and there are lots on Clayhanger Common from now until Christmas.

They work like puffballs, and the central sphere pops releasing it’s spores to the wind.

They always look like plasticine to me. Beautiful, curious things.

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/2oa8LNY
via IFTTT