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#365daysofbiking Going down:

September 26th – Crossing Cathshill Junction and heading up to Anchor Bridge, I caught it on the cusp of day and night, and realised that soon, I would be doing this once more in darkness.

I don’t know where summer went this year; it seems barely days since I was riding the roaches, eating ice-cream at Blithfield or riding in short sleeves around North Warwickshire.

Time passes so fast these days. It was a good summer – I doubt I’ll ever see one with such consistently fine weather again.

#365daysofbiking Bugging me:

September 26th – The unexpectedly fine, warm weather has been bringing out some great examples of bugs looking for a last yahoo or somewhere to hibernate until spring. 

On my way to work, this lovely shield bug decided to drop in and say hi.

What a great little creature it is!

#365daysofbiking Squaring the circle:

September 24th – Returning via Shenstone from an afternoon trip into Birmingham, I noted that the recent days, having been sunny and comparatively warm, were bringing out the joy of Autumn, and I was feeling more positive.

At Footherley Lane the old bridge was beautiful as the sun went down.

Soon these trees will be golden, then bare once more, but it’;s all part of the circle and the circle must be round.

And as long as there will be some fair weather, I think I’ll survive.

#365daysofbiking – Not dead yet:

September 23rd – I said the other day that there were not many flowers about at the moment, and I hold my hands up: I wasn’t looking hard enough.

Coming into a second flush of flowering now, the dead nettles on Clayhanger Common are having one last yahoo before winter.

Absolutely gorgeous as only they could be. Such a cheering sight.

#365daysofbiking Ample shroom:

September 21st – The fungi are appearing thick and fast now, with the damper, cooler weather as is normal for autumn. Spotted near Clayhanger when homeward bound, this shaggy ink cap was a decent, large specimen and had there been more than one, might have been decent eating.

Used to see loads of these when I was a kid, but in recent years they appear to be rarer, which is a shame. They’re nice lightly fried.

#365daysofbiking Welcome to The Suck:

September 20th – It started with a bang: The Suck, the gradually darkening, menacing and psychologically hard commuting journeys from now until Christmas began today with a twilight, torrential rain soaked journey from Darlaston to home. 

Drenched in spray, nearly left hooked twice, perpetually on guard for bad driving this was the worst journey I’ve had in years.

At one point I just stopped and took refuge in a bus shelter to calm down. The sheer hard work of concentrating and being aware enough to survive in this conditions is a gargantuan effort.

But I made it home, and as I once again get used to this, it’ll be less of a trial.

Winter sucks you down.

#365daysofbiking Portal:

September 18th – Still surviving and developing is the fascinating green tunnel over the desire-path behind the canal overflow at Clayhanger. Now completely overgrown and just the right size for an adult to squeeze through, it’s a fascinating product of what I suspect is a regular dog walking route.

I hope this continues to be used – it’s such a lovely, happenstance thing

#365daysofbiking Sparser:

September 18th – The flowers are getting sparser now, and soon the only real blooms will be the gorse, and the odd winter stragglers. On the grass verge outside work, the birdsfoot trefoil – egg and bacon – is still going strong, and you can see well how it found its name: the seed heads look like bird’s feet.

#365daysofbiking A bitter pear:

September 17th – The pear tree in Clayhanger has had a good season, against my expectations.

I had thought the crop this year would be poor due to the dry summer and ravenous birds, but it’s been heavy and the fruit are large and softer than the usual small, bitter offerings. And mercifully free of bird-pecks.

But oh my goodness they’re sharp!

A lovely thing to see.

#365daysofbiking Still hanging on:

September 15th – Back on the canal in Brownhills on the way back home, the autumn was far more subtle. The hawthorn hedgerows are very, very crimson this year with hawthorn berries showing a particularly heavy harvest,  and the reed beds, grass and waterside trees are still pretty green. 

If I tried hard, I could just forget the oncoming season and still convince myself these were the end days of a great summer.