Galleries

June 8th – I hopped off the canal at Bentley Mill Way to check out the work on the aqueduct from ground level; as the road is still closed, I was curious; it seems there’s work on the north side that can’t be seen from the canal. 

I’m sure whole canals were dug by hand faster than this project has limped to completion.

One of the first things I noted was the new towpath surface ends at the top of the steps here, so I guess the intention is you get here using the shared-use path, then hop on the canal for Walsall. 

Only a non-cyclist could have thought this was a good idea. The steps, even for a fairly strong bloke like me, were a nightmare with a bike. There’s no handrail. No wheeling channel. The steps are at an awkward pitch, and overgrown. This is lousy, and I strongly advise cyclists not to use it.

Off the bridge, the roadway has been lowered considerably to accommodate taller vehicles, but I’m not sure that’ll help much as the width is very restricted.

As I said before, I hope the pumps hoovering the water from those drains are reliable.

I don’t want to dislike this – but this has cost millions, for no real improvement and it stinks of being someone’s pet project.

Dire.

June 7th – I spotted this proud fellow in central Walsall, watching the world go by. He regarded me distastefully, then posed helpfully for a photo before sauntering off. I love how in summer, the cat population awakens, stretches, and takes the air on summer days.

Oh, to be a cat.

June 7th – Yellow is the colour of the canals at the moment, as the flag irises and water lilies are out and forming a beautiful accompaniment to the greenery around the banks and towpaths.

Even after these last few years I still can’t get used to seeing such flowers on canals – the ones I grew up with were so filthy and dirty.

Not all change is for the worst…

June 6th – Well, we had the large cocks last week, and now I found a pair of balls.

There I was, cycling up the Mellish Road (some way from the golf club and driving range) in the early morning, having picked up some components from Aldridge, when I spy an egg in the road. 

It wasn’t an egg, it was a golf ball. A little further on, uphill, I found another. 

A curious find. 

dry-valleys:

Slight return to the Two Saints Way, Friday, with a detour on the Heart of England Way to Castle Ring  from which can be viewed Pye Green (5 on Friday, 6 in March 2016), which I suppose is a fortress itself in its own way, built like the imposing Sutton Common for telecommunications during the Cold War.

 And the famous Rugeley Power Station, now closed as a consequence of “libertarian” “free market” “reforms”. (3,8,9) in April, unless otherwise mentioned on Friday.

My girlfriend was born and bred in Rugeley and though she lives in Birmingham she happened to be on a visit to her parents at that the time. We were thus able to visit the excellent, recommended museum and learn about the hardships that occurred last time a conservative government came to town in the 80s and 90s.

June 5th – Over to Middleton Hall for cake, and a weary return through Tamworth up the canal. Although it was a gloriously hot day, I just wasn’t feeling it and my energy was low, but the scenery really perked me up.

Everything is so green at the moment – from the barley in the fields to the gorgeous limpid canals – and that view of Middleton over the fields never gets old.

A lovely ride, even if I was knackered!

June 4th _ I came back past the Dunstall and Catton Estates. At Dunstall, they’re farming deer, and it’s odd to see these graceful creatures enclosed in such high fences, but they do have a huge amount of space and seem happy. 

Near Catton, the coos were fascinating, and a reminder of how dangerous they can be. I first spotted them wading into the Trent to cool off, but on seeing me, the entire heard made for the hedge where I was standing. Gently insistent, they crowded round, presumably to see if I had food. They are gorgeous animals, but I’m glad the hedge was there!

June 4th – I went to the steam fair at Draycott in the Clay, near Sudbury, and photos can be seen on my main blog here, but on the way back I took a route through Rolleston on Dove.

I haven’t been here for ages. The church is lovely (though impossible to get a good photo of at that time on a sunny evening!) and the village, still resolutely separate from Burton although perilously close, still retains a wonderful atmosphere with some great buildings and the river running right through it.

That lych gate was the site of me repairing a puncture at 7pm one Christmas Eve (I think in 2010) on my home from a chilly century in Derbyshire – it has a light in which proved very useful.

June 3rd – A ride out to Abbots Bromley and Hoar Cross on a lovely afternoon. Right now, the meadows are full of buttercups and absolutely delightful. The Needwood Valley was as beautiful as ever, and Hoar Cross Church as imperious as it ever was.

Great to see the bugle flowers still so prolific in the churchyard.