#stonnall

#365daysofbiking Season of the sunset:

Sunday 6th February 2022 - Returning from Lichfield on an errand, I caught a good sunset - not a brightly coloured one, although those always occur this time of year sooner or later - but the sort of dramatic, moody, muted skyline that bristles with what Simon Jeffes might have termed surface tension.

The skeletal trees of Home Farm looked stark and beautiful on the skyline of Sandhills, as did the trees meeting the sky in a garden at Lynn.

Winter does have it’s compensations, but they can be few and far between if I’m honest.

#365daysofbiking Mothering:

Monday March 1st 2021 – Good to see the spring lambs are being born and growing well now - this playful pair of siblings were spotted near Stonnall on the daily working from home exercise ride. I’m always amazed at the attentiveness of the mother, and their ability to locate their family in a flock.

And of course, they’ve got cute in shedloads.

Such a wonderful, joyous sight at this time of year.

#365daysofbiking That’s more like it:

Tuesday December 29th 2020 – The snow again came in in waves. Contrary to my expectation, it had become cold and clear and yet previous day’s snow had not melted away, and new falls in the morning - quite intense, as it happened - topped it up. It still wasn’t much, but it kept the fun up on the bike and I enjoyed riding in it more than the day before.

I went to Stonnall, once more calling at the church, then around Hilton (avoiding the flood), up to wall and down into Lichfield, returning up Cross o’ th’ Hand Lane which was gorgeous, as were Farewell Church and Stonewall.

It looked like I missed driver of the year at Bulmoor Lane, and one tends to forget the hardiness of sheep. I particularly enjoyed the tree growing from the remains of another in Farewell churchyard and the lovely flowers on Shute Hill.

More, please. I love real winter rides like this.

#365daysofbiking Climbing, slowly:

May 1st - A ride down into Stonnall and the lanes. It had been a rollercoaster of a week emotionally, but at least we seem to be getting the virus under control. Things don’t seem as terribly threatening as they did.

Winching my way up Castlehill out of the village onto the Chester Road, the lanes here - severed by the straightening of the Chester Road many decades ago - are leafy and peaceful, and diverge oddly.

But in the quiet of a lockdown spring evening, with birds singing and soft sunlight coming through the leaves, this was close to heaven, and like my body, my mind was climbing, slowly.

#365daysofbiking The stars of spring:

March 15th - It feels like Narnia’s winter melting. We didn’t have the cold, but we had the grey and endless, endless rain: But at Springhill, some youngsters put on a performance for me that chased the winter away.

These are the true stars of spring, and how welcome they are. 

Gorgeous.

#365daysofbiking Country roads, taken me home:

March 15th - The first real ride out for the hell of it in a few weeks proved to be a real tonic. Not far: Just up over to Walsall Wood, Lazy Hill then around the lanes of Lower Stonnall, Hilton and Warrenhouse, but a delight all the same.

I hadn’t been in these lanes for the devil of it for so long. It felt like coming home - and the flowers, views and rain-sodden landscape made me feel at once refreshed and home again.

Whatever happens in coming months, I’ll always have this, my spiritual home.

#365daysofbiking A complex question:

May 1st - Not far away, just a few tens of yards up the Chester Road, the new nursing home, built on the site of a former quarry and clockworks seems open.

Castlehill Specialist Care Centre seems to cater for people with quite marked dementia and it seems to be intended to serve a growing market - and it’s a very decent looking building, which now appears staffed, and open.

I found myself wondering if they were admitting residents yet, what with coronavirus being so pronounced in such places.

But it’s a fine looking place and I wish all concerned with it - residents and staff - well.

#365daysofbiking Solace in an unusual time:

April 12th - And of course, the flowers continued to captivate me. Magnolia, various blossom, primroses, forget me nots, pieris (is that a flower? Don’t know) and green alkanes all entertained and gave me solace in this most unusual of rides.

You can stick the coronavirus where the sun really doesn’t shine but I can handle countryside to myself like this for as long as possible, please!