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15th July The landfill operation at the former Vigo Utopia marlpit, in Coppice Lane, Walsall Wood, is nearly complete, which must be a relief for nearby residents who’ve endured two decades of smell and nuisance. What many people don’t know is that this site generates 2MW of electricity and feeds it back into the national grid. That’s enough to power nearly 4,000 homes. Bores are drilled into the decaying landfill content, lined, and the gas of decomposition is pumped out and employed to power two gas engines driving generators. The gas would otherwise be wasted. 

When I passed the site at 5:30pm on a Friday, the plant was humming away. I believe a similar operation is planned for Highfields South landfill, opposite Jockey Meadows.

July 14th – Sneaking out late evening, I headed for Chasewater. There was a delightfully liquid golden hour afoot, and the light was honey, heavy and ever-changing. The view along the canal over Lanes Farm and Hammerwich was awe-inspiring. Wake up people, this is Brownhills…

July 3rd – Later in the afternoon, I cycled along the track next to the canal from Tamhorn to Hademore. Crossing the brow of the hill, a patch of set-aside land had been sown with an assortment of wildflowers. An absolute riot of blues, reds, purples and yellows all mixed with whites. In many ways this was far more impressive than the manicured gardens of Footherley Hall.

July 3rd – The fete was in full swing when I rolled past at 2pm. I decided to take a look – organised by and held in the grounds of the Sisters Hospitalers ladies nursing home near Shenstone, the Footherley summer fete is a typically English concern. The nuns of the home mingle with residents, families and villagers. The grounds of the former hall are gorgeous and beautifully manicured.

July 2nd – Heading for the canals again, I hopped on the cut at Coalpool, and followed the waterway north and westwards to Wolverhampton. The towpaths were good, and the canal surprisingly clean and green – even in the worst bits of the inner city. Heading down the mainline, I came through Coseley, Tividale and hit the Toll End loop under the M5 at Oldbury, near the old Chance Glassworks. From here I crossed Brindley Place and headed from Salford Junction under Spaghetti out to Minworth and home via MIddleton. A pleasing, easy 60 miler.

I never tire of canal rides.

June 29th – Popping into Pelsall for a spot of lunch whilst running a few errands (the border security at the principality is clearly suffering budget cuts of late, I entered unchallenged), I spotted this highly unusual bike parked outside the bookies in the High Street. It’s a Christiana cargo bike. These Danish utility bikes are a common feature of continental life, along with their competitor Bakfiets. Such bikes can carry a huge load and are often used to transport kids to school. It’s very unusual to see one in the UK and I’d love to know who owns this fine steed, why they chose it and what they do with it. A fine thing indeed.

June 25th – Nipping into Walsall early afternoon, I returned on the cycle track down the Goscote Valley. Leaving the Butts at Mill Lane, I spotted this flytipping. Clearly thrown or tipped from the back of a truck, it would have fitted in a domestic dustbin. There is nothing anyone can do about this opportunistic, heartless vandalism: such a crime is over before it starts, and blights us all.

Some people are scum, and that’s all there is to it. I just pity the poor folks charged with cleaning it up.

June 22nd – The renovation and conversion of the Hussey Arms into a Greene King family pub seems to be fairly racing along. The pub is already looking better than it has for years – I just hope they’ve noticed that rickety, tilting chimney and do something about it before it ends up through the roof. Or even on some hapless punter’s head.

June 17th – This is, to put it simply, the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. Minding my own business – whilst being generally as nosey as ever – I was cycling round Brownhills and spotted, through the noise and fence wobbling, this swarm of what have been since identified as honey bees. There must have been thousands of busy, intertwined insects massed in this clump. It dripped small knots of the creatures like liquid. It was, quite simply, mesmerising. They were no threat, some lazily settled on my jacket, but they were far more interested in the swarm.

Apparently, the bees mass like this and send out scouts to check for suitable food sources. If that’s successful, they start constructing a nest. I’ve seen beehives close up, but this was totally new to me. This is in Brownhills, on a dull Friday afternoon. Nature is all around, just trying to impress us.

Who’d have thought it?

June 15th – I’ve still yet to catch the linesmen in action, but work to install the new overhead lines over Mill Green continues apace. I’m not clear here if the cables in this shot are being pulled through to the ground drum or the other way around. Up near the pylon hanger, there seems to be the remnants of something attached to the lines, which is possibly the scars of a pair of Stockbridge dampers, so I think these are old lines being wound to the ground. This work continues to captivate me.