April 13th – Back up on the Chase for the first decent, dry ride in what seems like an age. Still the heavy wind, but a joy to fly down Rainbow Hill to Moor’s Gorse.
Note the young bloke who overtakes me. He was absolutely flying. I topped out about 35mph and bottled it. He just floored it. Respect.
Music is Lindsay Buckingham’s ‘Don’t Look Down’ from the chronically overlooked ‘Out of the Cradle’ album. Video is real time.
Videos
April 13th – Up on Cannock Chase. The ears. That’s all.
Sorry for the poor quality – caught by the bike cam, some way off. Heavily zoomed, and slowed down for clarity.
March 23rd – The Chase is still very muddy. This is a normal speed clip, from Castle Ring to Stonepit Green this afternoon. Top speed about 30mph. I was absolutely plastered in mud. But by heck, it was funn.
Soundtrack ‘Ritual Dance’ by Michael Hedges.
March 9th – At Sittles, north of Whittington, a surprise. It’s amazing the things you get overtaken by in country lanes…
February 12th – Tumblr doesn’t seem to allow video and photos in the same post, but here’s the flow at the Clayhanger Overflow in the last post. I’ve never, ever seen it running like this. And all this water will end up in the Tame and Trent.
It makes you think, for sure.
February 12th – a rough video, but it fascinated me. The sign hanging on the inside of the Walsall Wood Pithead sculpture was swinging well in the wind.
I hope it’s attached top the frame better than Bob the Fish was attached to the Walsall Wood Fisherman, which was by the same artist. Bob the fish famously escaped captivity and is presumably still living the life of a trophy fish somewhere in the locality.
Probably best not to stand in close proximity to the pithead during a gale…
February 8th – Chasewater does Whitby. It was certainly the last resort – this is no country for old men. I got back on the bike, and slogged home into the relentless wind, cursing all the way.
From November 6th – Walsall new ring road, Green Lane Junction about 5:10pm, Wednesday 6th November 2013. I didn’t feel it safe to stop as the guy behind was stuck to me like a wet T-shirt. This is far from unique driver behaviour here – get in the wrong lane trying to queue jump, then bugger everyone else trying to sort it out.
More of this run later.
Best viewed large by clicking on the youtube logo, and click on the wee gear symbol and select 1080 for best video quality.
October 20th – I went out in the rain. It was warm, but periodically very heavy. I headed for Chasewater, then to Hopwas Hays Wood to catch the autumn. As I crossed the old ranges, it began to rain quite heavily and my journey through the yellowing woodland was marked by the music created by water rattling off leaves. The track was muddy, and the downhills very fast; I’m still not used to the sudden drop after the gate.
This was a blast, but the mud and lack of grip made it quite challenging.
I have no idea where the dog that appears just before I enter the wood came from…
7th OCtober – Sorry, only just had time to sort this out.
This is a very close pass. He was agressive behind me at the lights, and didn’t appear to care how close he came. The back end was very close indeed. This actually scared me.
I cannot understand the necessity for such an aggressive manoeuvre, particularly at a junction where I have to be particularly wary of traffic from the filter at the left. I had full lights on at the time, and he pulled up behind me at the lights, so he knew full well I was there. Shocking.
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