March 17th – I was pottering around the canal, and hopped up the bank onto Clayhanger Common to check out the sunset, and I came across these two patches of feathers. Something – probably a sparrow hawk – has had lunch here. Maybe twice. Those look like pigeon feathers to me.
If there’s a birder living on the south side of Humphries House, they’ve a cracking view of this spot. Might be worth keeping your eye out for hunting raptors…
March 16th – You ever have one of those days when nothing goes right? Yes, that. I set out to visit a pal and never found them, cycled down to Burntwood to buy something that wasn’t in stock, and then left my bike lock key on the doughnut counter in the supermarket (there’s a lesson in there, somewhere). It’s only Saturday evening, and already this feels like Lloyd Cole’s Lost Weekend.
Crossing the bypass on my empty handed return from Burntwood, I stopped to look down the road towards the M6 Toll. I don’t know why, but I love this view. The distant, windy sweep of cars on the motorway; the endless points of sodium light; the red beacons of the Sutton Masts in the distance. The air was hard and clear, the clouds dramatic and threatening. Apart from the periodic moan of cars beneath my feed, I was alone.
Then I didn’t feel alone anymore. Something was with me. I turned around, and on the bollard at the end of the footway, perched an owl. We made eye contact, but as soon as I went for my camera, he was gone, into the darkening night.
Somehow, it was soothing, reassuring and beautiful.
March 14th – Monkeying through the back streets of Walsall Wood on an errand today, I traversed Hollanders Bridge, the pedestrian-only canal crossing next to Binary Wharf. Closing the bridge to through traffic years ago cut off Queen Street from the Lichfield Road side of the canal, and created an orphaned stub of road that was of no consequence until a new housing development was constructed adjacent to it, on the site of an old computer business. Somewhat cringingly, the road-stub was christened “Steep Bridge Way’.
Way back in August, 2011, local blogger The Stymaster noted the original sign was badly spelled; then, in May 2012, I spotted that sign had been removed. It seems to have been finally replaced.
One wonders at the cost, and how slowly the gears of bureaucracy can grind in such matters…
March 7th – Meanwhile, on the Walsall Wood-Shelfield border, Green Lane is currently in a sorry state. There is flytipping in various spots, and the litter is building up, too. My contempt for the scum that do this is immeasurable. However, the first undealt-with dumbing begets more; and so it has been. At the entrance to the Sewage Works, the main barrier, which put an end to regular violations of the driveway, has been stolen, and the tipping problem returned there, too.
The whole lane needs a good clean up and the selfish bastards who dump rubbish and drop litter need stringing up by their toes…
March 6th – The guard rails on the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood have been missing awhile. The bridge itself is ageing badly, perilously steep and in poor condition. Following a temporary bodge – cable tying mesh over the missing rails which kept snapping off – locals complained and now, next Tuesday, 12th March 2013, the road will be closed while they are properly repaired. That in itself will be no mean feat, as the supports of heavy angle iron have rusted to dust.
It’s good to see repairs being made, but I can’t help thinking this particular canal crossing can’t be far from the end of it’s useful life. The problem is, it would be so difficult to engineer a solution complying with modern standards, that I can’t ever see it being sorted, to be honest.
March 6th – The warm sunshine and springlike air disappeared today. It was one of those grey, murky days when it never seemed to get light. I had to go to Darlaston for the first time in ages, and I enjoyed the ride, despite the indifferent, drizzly weather. Hopping onto the canal up to Bentley Bridge, it’s a welcome, pleasant and solitary byway through the former industrial heartlands.
This place is still noisy with commerce and manufacture, of course, but as nothing compared to the heyday. I always think of this place a slumbering, one eye slightly open, waiting for the great leap forward.
The Black Country will rise again. In the meantime, the contemplation and enjoyment of it’s placid waterways, even on a dull day, is a wonderful thing.
March 3rd – This is what happens when you ignore your gut feelings. This clumsy photo is my gloved had, turning a bike tyre inside out to show a hawthorn spine pushed right through it. Miraculously, it hadn’t yet caused a flat. I was very lucky.
I’ve been fettling the bike a lot lately, and fitted new tyres I bought last year. I thought them to be my favourite tyre – Schwalbe Marathon Plus. They are tough as old boots, and very resistant to thorns and other nasties. When I unwrapped the tyres, they were just normal Marathons – a lighter weight tyre without the tough protection. Not wanting to waste the purchase, I fitted the skinnier tyres. I rode them for a week, thinking they were OK.
Yesterday, I had two rear-wheel punctures on the canal towpath near Hopwas, both caused by Hawthorn, the curse of towpath cycling. As I came home, I developed a third slow puncture, and resolved to change back to a pair of Marathon Plus tyres when I could next day.
As I came to do the swap tonight, I found the front tyre – which had been OK – had a 7mm thorn through, waiting to pop the inner tube.
Schwalbe Marathon Plus are excellent. Marathons are a good tyre, but they’re just not up to towpath use, as I knew when I fitted them. Sometimes it’s best to listen to your instincts.
March 3rd – I’d had a grim day. Most of the day the weather was beautiful, but I was stuck working and couldn’t get out to enjoy it, and I felt lousy, too. When I finally got free, at dusk, it was cold and the coming darkness uninspiring. I shot up Brownhills, then up to Walsall Wood, but the subject I though of didn’t make a good night picture. I had to pick some essentials up, so I skipped into the Tesco Express at Streets Corner in Walsall Wood. Open a couple of years now, it’s seen off the independent newsagent next door, and given other local shops a tough time. Tables could be turning, though, as a new Co-op is due to open opposite it and I’ll certainly use it in preference to these robber barons.
March 1st – Returning from Burntwood along the canal, I stopped to take a long exposure shot of the A5/Barracks Lane junction at night. I’ve been meaning to try this one for a while. Hammerwich Church looks imperious on the hilltop, and the traffic looks every bit as mad as it usually is at rush hour.
Hard to think that down there, a little to the right, the Staffordshire Hoard lay for centuries, undiscovered. Such an unlikely spot, really.
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