Galleries

June 29th – I went somewhere I’d not explored before today. I was in Tyseley again, and needed to go to the bank, so just after lunch I headed to Acocks Green. I’ve passed through before, but never studied the place. I rather like it. Busy, varied, with lots of greenery and nice architecture, I found the church, that of St. Mary the Virgin, fascinating. A J.G. Bland design of 1864, it lacks a tower or spire, although it was designed to have both. Opposite is a school, one entrance to which has an ornate lintel with the legend ‘Cookery’ carved upon it. I found busy shops, and a place with identity and heart. I’ll certainly be back.

June 28th – Time for a bit of cycling knowledge. After heavy rains – like we had today – the roads are way more hazardous than usual. If it’s the first rain after a dry spell, the surface water becomes greasy and slippery, due to tyre rubber detritus and diesel being washed into the sludge. This makes white lines, ironworks and junctions really nasty. After heavy rain, silt washes of fields and gardens, bring with it loose gravel. This gathers in bands, hollows and dips, often just where cyclists cross junctions. The silt when wet is slippery, but when dry, will steal your wheels from beneath you. The gravel – known as ‘marbles’ to motorcyclists – gets progressively polished by vehicle wheels, and is like cycling on ball bearings. Take care – the hazard continues in the dry, too, and can last for weeks after a storm.

Councils don’t really understand the menace of this stuff to folk on two wheels. I wish they did.

June 28th – An odd day with freak weather. I left for work in Darlaston early, and it was warm and quite sunny. At work for a couple of hours, the sky blackened and a real storm developed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rain so hard in the UK. Rivers flowed through the streets, causing flooding and chaos. Then, it ended almost as quickly as it started, and we returned to a nice, sunny day. In the afternoon, I had to go to Tyseley, and due to flooding, the trains were seriously disrupted. Arriving on time due to a freak of happenstance, I left late in the afternoon to find serious delays. I rode back to Birmingham through Small Heath, and got a train back to Blake Street. Traversing the back lanes of Stonnall and Little Aston was an interesting and somewhat wet experience.

June 27th – A few people have remarked to me lately about the landfill site at Highfields South, behind Baron’s Court in Walsall Wood. The operators – Cory Environmental – are actually working to a defined plan here. At the moment, only half the void is full of waste, piled to some height, as you can see. this mound will be monitored, tapped for gas for use in a generator set, and with the weight on top, gradually settle to an agreed level. While this is taking place, waste is dumped in the to he half of the void, and the same process occurs. When the hole is full, the whole lot will be sealed with a layer of marl and topsoil, and parkland planted. The same kind of plan is in operation at the Vigo Landfill, on the other side of the canal. That one is now full, constantly generating electricity from landfill gas, and settling. In a couple of years that too, will be landscaped in public open space.

This is big business. There’s nothing so valuable as  a hole in the ground.

June 26th – Catshill junction has a complex history. A three-arm junction with roving bridge where the Daw End Canal meets the Wyrley and Essington, it was a major toll point for the canal system. The ‘narrows’ here (there are a pair, a third isn’t needed) were where toll masters in the long gone Tonnage House would record the weights of the boats and their cargoes, and charge accordingly. Now, there are nice footpaths, limpid, soft waters and greenery. It’s a lovely, peaceful spot. As teenagers, we challenged each other to jump the narrows here – not seen anyone do that for a while. 

Overlooking it all is a sculpture, placed here when the towpaths were upgraded in 2007.  Sadly, it’s completely inaccessible to all but the most fearless bushmen, and the fine detail in it is lost from afar. Another bit of ill-judged, pointless public art.

June 24th – I have’t a bloody clue what’s going on here. In one of the four culverts that make up the new dam spillway bridge at Chasewater, someone has piled up the limestone rock ballast into a neat wall. It’s clearly the work of kids – but would have been serious effort, particular bare-handed. It’s oddly admirable, but will have to be removed. Makes you wonder what they could do by applying themselves to something useful…

June 24th – Pottering up to Chasewater for the vintage festival, it turned out a pleasant, warm afternoon, so I had a gentle trundle round the park. It was good to see that after weeks of complaining by concerned wildlife enthusiasts, notices have finally been put up about the Little Ringed Plovers nesting on the shoreline. The delicate, fragile little fellows are often disturbed from their ground nests by dogs and walkers who don’t know they’re there. It seems very difficult to get the park management team – still from Lichfield District Council until 2014 – to do anything much these days. A complete change from previous regimes.

Coming back along the canal, another avian issue: the swan couple, who abandoned their nest of eggs earlier in the year are back. I have no idea what’s going on here, but it’ll sure be interesting to watch…

madoldbaggage:

Thought it was about time I made the effort to document my rides. There have been long periods when I haven’t been out. This has been for various reasons. I don’t like riding in the rain, I didn’t have the target of the charity rides to train for and well, it’s been hard cycling on my own without the prospect of sharing with Aiden. I hadn’t realised just how much the prospect of sharing with Aiden had entered my psyche, become part of my thought process until it was all taken away.

I’m coming to terms with all of that now and feel more able to go out, cycle and just enjoy the ride and have been making more regular forays.

Today I popped down the Walsall Rd to Longwood Bridge, joined the towpath to Park Lime Pits and then rode via Rushall to NCN5, up to Pelsall, around Ryders Mere (very, very wet, muddy and worse) and then up along the old railway track to the canal, through Brownhills and then return to Aldridge. A nice and easy 11.5 miles.

The pedestrian crossing lights at the place where the junction box in Station Rd Rushall used to be have been out of action for quite some months now. Every time I cycle down that way the lights have suffered a little more damage. I’m not holding my breath that they will be repaired soon. Just 20 yards away from the vandalised lights along NCN 5 are the most beautiful sweet peas in full bloom.

The bottom two pictures are taken from the old railway line and are of the same view towards Walsall.

June 22nd – Moon daises are doing well this year. A relative of the more common lawn variety, and also of the ragwort from earlier in the week. The buds, if picked when young, are peppery and hot. This patch are on the canal towpath at Catshill Junction, Brownhills. I tried to get a picture from the banks of the M54 in Telfoed this week, but couldn’t get a good angle; they are carpeted with these delightful flowers. 

June 21st – Another very common but sadly overlooked wildflower is cow parsley. Tall, with flat, creamy-white flower heads, it’s a staple of the British hedgerow – which is where I found this specimen near Stonnall. Considered edible, it has a very bitter taste, and is related to the carrot and hogweed families. Cow parsley is often confused for Hogweed, which is very toxic and can cause severe burns, so don’t pick either if you’re unsure. Cow parsley is also colloquially known as Queen Anne’s lace, and you can see why when the delicacy of the flowers are studied closely. An unsung beauty.