Galleries

April 21st – I didn’t get out until dusk. A problematic day, filled with frustration, irritations and hassle. I escaped late, and poured myself liquid along the canal to the old railway line trail near the Pelsall Road. Not having tried the new camera in the dark, I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m very impressed. t does well in low light conditions and generates far less noisy images than the TZ20, always that camera’s Achilles Heel. Only meaning to pop out for a short time, I messed around for an hour or more, just enjoying the absence of company. Apart, of course, from my old comrade the fox. He sat on the bridge at Clayhanger, as he often does, then retreated to the scrub to watch the mad human for a while.

April 20th – Again managing to miss the rain, a morning spent in Leicester meant calling in for some shopping on the way home. Heading off the Walsall Road at Leomansley through the new estate on the southern fringe of Lichfield, I was struck, as I always am, by how close and claustrophobic this development is. Consisting of surprisingly large houses interspersed with flats and starter homes, the buildings are drab, square boxes with tiny gardens. Crammed shoulder to shoulder, the sunlight comes through here only in patches, and the sky is a long way up. Odd then, that in the middle, a brook that always flowed here was expanded into a kind of green lung, a ribbon of grass, small trees and water, meandering through the fake Georgian architectural hubris like an unwanted puddle of oil in an otherwise clinically clean factory floor. This place is soulless.

April 19th – I’m fascinated by the machinery of the railways. I’m no train spotter, and wouldn’t cross the road to watch a train go by. However, as a train traveller of a certain geeky nature, things like signalling, communications and the weird and wonderful machines that one sees whilst negotiating the morass that is the British railway system hold a certain fascination. At a wind-blown and damp Nuneaton, there sat an incredibly complex ballast regulating machine. This Austrian made train levels, adjusts and cleans the ballast, the bed of shale under the track, and keeps the track in perfect condition. Usually run with a tamper (the yellow machine parked behind), a train that measures and corrects the sleeper and track positions, this is a very complex machine indeed. While I was admiring it, a General Motors class 66 locomotive trundled through the station; at a little over walking pace, it clanked its couplings, pulling upwards of thirty containers behind. The raw, yet controlled power of that – the noise, vibration and sheer presence – is awe inspiring.

You’d have to be dead not to be impressed by that…

April 18th – A river ran down the A461 Lichfield Road at Sandhills after a moderate shower. Out of all the storm gullies on the Walsall bound side of the hill, only 2 were flowing freely, all the others were blocked with silt. It seems that Tarmac – the contractors looking after the roads for Walsall Council – don’t like to bother cleaning drains. I’m 100% sure that the jobs are passed on, but in four years, I’ve never got a gully cleaned out. I give up, to be honest. Most of the storm drains on Shire Oak’s main roads are blocked.

vwcampervan-aldridge:

This Nuclear Bunker is at Lepe Country Park , Hampshire overlooking the beach and the Solent. For years relatives of mine came here when on their holidays and enjoyed the park right next to the beach. There was an Ice Cream van parked right by this overgrown compound – and there is the Nuclear Bunker. How many folk have been on that park and never noticed it? I have been going there for years and have ran past it every time I’ve been there but never noticed it. 

Hiding in plain sight I think they call this, I got some looks just taking pictures of what looks like a few manhole covers. The ice-cream man nearby knew all about it and said the BBC had been there recently doing a piece on it for local history.

It was in decent condition considering it’s close the sea and gets all the weather blowing in. The brown container nearby is the lifeguard station for use in the summer. Note the white VW van in the top left corner of one of the pictures – they get everywhere!

April 17th – Cowslips are my favourite wildflower, and thankfully, proliferating once more, despite their apparent appeal to rabbits, who devour them with gusto. They are actually a type of primrose, and I love their delicate flowers and hardy, resilient tenacity. These two patches on Clayhanger Common I guerrilla planted a few years ago, from a pack of wildflower seeds bought from a National Trust shop. 

April 17th – I’d been lucky and missed the day’s intemperate, sharp showers. Feeling smug, nature slapped me about the face when I was nearly back in Brownhills. At 4:45pm, the heavens opened and spat down the most violent hailstorm. Sheltering in a bus stop, I waited for it to pass – I’m no fair weather cyclist, but I draw the limit at being pebbledashed. 
Within 15 minutes, the sun came out and the sky returned to the threatening darkness that it had been wearing for most of the day. Inspired, I headed to Clayhanger and the new pool. I noted swans were nesting there, too, and how green everything seemed to be becoming. Dawdling, I was just clipped by the rain as I returned home… going to be an interesting week of commuting, I think.

April 16th – Signage is an interesting thing. Passing the Anchor and Anchor Bridge on my way back to Brownhills I noticed these two examples. Of the dog water, I’d be interested if anyone had actually ever charged for that, or whether it encouraged any patrons.

‘Fancy a beer, Bob?’

‘Not here, we need to find somewhere I can get free water for Fido’

I’m not knocking it, just interested in the thought process. It took effort to do that, to satisfy what the sign writer saw as a market. Curious.

The canal distance markers sprung up like mushrooms when the canal footpaths were rebuilt here about 8 years ago. A fantastic project, it did involve some inexplicable decisions, like closing off access to the canal from the Pelsall Road bridge. Sadly, someone forgot to tell the guy casting these expensive, cast iron signs, and the distance to the Pelsall Road is painted out on every one. Unfortunate.

April 16th – A late spin out after a tough dental appointment provided welcome solace. The wind was horrendous, to be honest, and the weather not really warm, but I had unfinished business at Chasewater, so I headed there. On the way back I returned via Pool Road and trundled past all that remains of Highfield House and farm; the house has gone, the bricks being slowly reclaimed and only a few outbuildings remain. It’ll be interesting to see what gets built and how quickly. This place deserves someone who cares for it and I wish the new owners well.

I love these. So unsettling.

vwcampervan-aldridge:

Driving down to the New Forest last week we stopped off the A34 to visit the Royal Observer Corps Nuclear Bunker nr Bicester. It’s was remarkably well kept , new looking paint and new padlocks. The little compound complete with locked gate was all there – just as it was when it was abandoned with the end of the Cold War. 

Looking at it with the little gated compound ( a bit of a dark photo, sorry) I wonder how many people thought it was just a water or sewage manhole?