LOCK DOWN TRAVELS

Bumble Hole Netherton to Merry Hill 3.5 miles BY ROBERT DAVIES

- ROBERT DAVIES

The old saying rings true, even during lockdowns. If you can’t beat em, join em. And that’s exactly what my wife and I did during the dark days of March to June.

It changed everything, well almost everything. We bought bicycles to tour the Black Country Canals, after all everyone else was doing it.

As a matter of fact, if ever there was a renaissance year of the bicycle, then this was it. Sales of new and secondhand bicycles, and bicycle components during the spring and summer went through the roof. And the bicycle shops, that had mostly moved onto the internet, couldn’t supply enough stuff. Secondhand bikes that previously sold on eBay for £50, were now going for almost double. Never mind, clever me, I already had a very nice classic – yes I repeat classic, not old- Raleigh.

We purchased a very nice secondhand Claud Butler for Jane for £100. It was June – flaming June – and we all know what that means...wind and rain.

Sadly, the beauty of May, with its warm days and blue skies had retreated into the distant past. Nevertheless, even in flaming June one can find a decent day if one looks hard enoughand this was one of those. Blue sky, 50-50 clouds and coolish 18C, perfect for walking or riding. And of course the perfect month for wild flowers.

Now I don’t know where you are but here in sunny West Bromwich, bang on the Birmingham-Wolverhampton Main Line Canal, bicycles singly or in family groups were merrily cruising the towpath with a frequency greater than the local buses.