Galleries

September 4th – A short run out on a day that didn’t go well and on which I felt groggy and ill with a bad stomach, with the exertions of the previous days taking their toll.

So just a spin on an errand to Walsall Wood, but I did finally get to meet the Chandler’s Keep eyebrow cat, who was sat on the bridge embankment and came to say hello.

I was also interested in the dozing grey and white tabby in a canal garden in Walsall Wood. He looked very inscrutable.

Any day in which you see cats at leisure is a good day.

September 3rd – Shooting through Weeford on my return, expecting the rain to start again, I noticed these mushrooms growing on a verge. They were huge, and their presence reminded me that now we’re coming on Autumn, watching out for the fungus could be productive.

Wondering in the rosy earthstars and orange peel fungus will be back on Clayhanger Common this year?

September 3rd – A very wet morning washed out the Whittington Country Fair, which was very sad as it was a lovely, quintessentially English event with plenty of food, interesting stalls and animals.

There were a whole range of good food stalls, things to buy and see, and it was all bracketed by. that wonderful British stoicism that we were going to have a good time despite the mud and weather.

Some of it was so wonderfully Wallace and Grommit it was beautiful. A great day, and I bet on a dry year this fair is buzzing.

September 2nd – Pleased to see the vegetation has been cut back, restoring the fascinating view of Cloud Quarry from the Cloud Trail, near Worthingdon on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border.

It seems like a well run quarry, mining limestone for a variety of industry. Everywhere you look machines are busy moving, breaking or grading stone, and some of the driving on the shelves and roads is very impressive.

I could watch this for hours.

September 2nd – The oncoming darkness made me crave a century, and with improving fitness and a day off I went for it. The rain mean a late start, but the sun soon came out, and I headed from Whittington to Linton, then Donisthorpe, Packington, Newbold Verdon, Cloud Quarry, Breedon on the Hill, then into Derby on cycle trail 68. From there, I followed the trail out through Mackworth to Egginton, then through Burton, Drakelow, Croxall and home. 106 miles, and a nice night ride from Burton was exhilarating too.

I made a healthy pace, and wasn’t too tired when I got back. A satisfying ride.

August 31st – The willow herb is going to seed now, I noticed the fluff as I rode the cycleway through the Goscote Valley. Filling the air at the slightest provocation from the breeze, the seeds this dweller of the margins produces float and dance on the wind.

When I was a kid, we called the little floating seeds ‘fairies’ and it was considered good luck to catch one. These days, I just tend to catch them in my mouth while riding.

My grandad called this ‘old man’s beard’ and you can see why.

This is a real end-of-summer occurrence and so a little bittersweet, but no summer would be complete without it, even if it does make me spit!

August 30th – Something in the climate of this day was perfect for the cats of North Walsall. They lazed in the shade of cars and lamp-posts, relaxed, just watching their world go by, making sure all was in order and nothing was untoward.

It’s nice to know they were on guard, these sunshine sentries of suburbia.

August 30th – Today was a great day to be zipping about the Black Country on my bike, seeing people I needed to see, The streets, the urban architecture, the market at Tipton.

 It all glistened like a jewel in the sun.

I said there would still be fine days to come and I wasn’t wrong. Yet again, my beloved Black Country lifted my spirits and filled me with a sense of belonging.

These are the places I love.

August 29th – Not a fan of August Bank Holiday. The day off is nice, but it always feels like I should make more of it than I do, this Monday always feels like summer’s last breath, from here on autumn, cold, dark etc.

Of course, it’s rarely that – we will have more warm and fine weather before the darkness returns but I find this milestone sombre and sad.

It also reminds me of all the plans I had for the summer that never got done.

Today I was tired, having trouble with my hips, and recovering; so I stayed home, and did jobs on the bike and enjoyed the company of family. A short dusk spin up to Chasewater and back along the canal was enjoyable on a freshly tuned, fast bike, and painkillers had shown my aches the door.

It hadn’t been a bad day. The weather was good. Much needed jobs were done. And there are still fine, warm days to come,

August 28th – Staunton Harold is a beautiful reservoir, created in 1966 to supply water for the growing conurbations of Derby and Leicester. Unlike its partner Foremark which is a creation of the 1970s, Staunton is more secluded and in rolling countryside – and the construction is architecturally more engaging with a surprisingly ornate pump head. 

From the south, one can descend the steep banks to a secret-seeming beach shore, which gorgeous views of the lake; from the north, a nice visitors centre with playground and other facilities overlooks the water from a high position. In-between, the impressive dam.

I hadn’t been here for a very long time. I forgot how lovely it was. I must come back soon.