July 10th – Nice to see the rowan, or mountain ash berries ripening well, adding a welcome splash of orange to hedgerows, verges and thickets.
A useful berry, it can be used to make jam or wine, and birds love it.
Can’t help feeling a tinge of sadness hough that this new arrival signals a notch further towards late summer and the fruiting season.
July 9th – I shot down the A5 to Tamworth, heading for Atherstone, because I was late. Just at Streetway, near Weeford, a field of stunning light purple flowers I mistakenly thought were flax. They were absolutely gorgeous.
Alive with bees, I counted 15 species. The flowers themselves seemed to be a lavender-white with purple stamens, and I’ve not seen the like before.
It turns out the crop is phacelia or purple tansy, a crop that’s grown to rest the land and attract pollinators between productive years.
You can find out more about phacelia here. A remarkable and beautiful thing.
July 9th – In a canalside garden next to the aqueduct at Newtown, Brownhills a small black cat was watching me intently.
I don’t think it’s very old. It wasn’t by any means a bruiser, but it did look so very black.
A lovely inquisitive puss that clearly takes their security duties very seriously indeed.
July 8th – At Hammerwich earlier in the ride, a disappointment. Flax had flowered here in characteristic blue a couple of weeks ago, but now it was over and I never managed to catch this stunning crop. But I had been told it was currently redeeming itself by showing a riot of poppies.
Well, it was and it wasn’t.
In fairness, in real life it’s gorgeous and well worth popping to look if you’re passing – but somehow, I just couldn’t capture it with a camera. Whatever I tried, the shots came out dull.
Oh well.
July 8th – A bit of a recovery ride I suppose took me out and around Lichfield late in the day. Noted hazelnuts in profusion near Darwin Park, but what really stole the day was the sunset. From the cobwebs eerily lit on the gorse to the sundog that shone to the south of the sun, it rendered everything it touched utterly beautiful, none less so that the oceans of ripening barley.
What a beautiful end to the day.
July 7th – I’ve been up the Wrekin before, but never on a bike. And it was a great, if tiring experience. The view is as stunning as ever, and the views of Telford, the Welsh Mountains and even the Malverns are commanding. Even the idle and closed power station in the gorge looked tiny.
The ride up (about 85% ridden, 15% pushed) was tough but not as hard as expected, despite rock and loose gravel making the way treacherous, and the descent was easy too (although scary in some parts and it ate a pair of brake pads).
Two things of note – it was chilly up there, and the crows seem very tame and will actively try to take your snacks while you’re eating them.
The many dogs up there seem to enjoy it too.
July 7th – A trip to deliver a vehicle to Telford from work presented the opportunity to ride from the new town into Ironbridge Gorge, then after breakfast at a lovely cafe, up through Coalbrokedale to the Wrekin. After riding and climbing to the top, a ride down, and then around the town in the surrounding countryside, through Wrockwardine, The Dukes Drive, Kynnersley Moor and Lilleshall. The ride onwards took me through Wheaton Aston, Pekridge and Bridgtown to home.
An excellent long ride with some challenging climbs (not least the Wrekin itself) and some great countryside and weather.
What summer is all about!
July 6th – This is terrific. Coming from Walsall down the Wednesbury Road and through Places, I happened to notice the tenement house over the road, with the absolute riot of flowers in borders, tubs and baskets.
All this in a part of Walsall often considered to be less than beautiful.
My compliments and thanks to the householder, a beautiful and wonderful thing – all crammed in to a very small space.
This really brightened my morning.
July 5th – Returning, I came down the main road, and by the old people’s flats, a familiar grumpy, curled up ball, sleeping in the communal garden: it’s the old gummy cat I featured here a couple of weeks ago.
Always nice to see the old lad, and I particularly like his truculent, just-woken-up air here. Such a lovely old cat. I’m sure we share many common traits in our parallel dotages.
July 5th – I needed a break mid morning to have a think; so I slipped out of work on an errand and headed to Kings Hill Park, where I met this fellow.
This park has it’s share of cheeky grey squirrels, but this one was definitely posing for me. What a little star he is.
He didn’t help me with my train of thought, but he did provide some amusing light relief from it.
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