Sept 2025 Rushall Canal

 After lots of hits and misses another post 

When walking Henry, the dog, I prefer to stay away from roads especially main roads. So the Rushall Canal is ideal for both of use. The only downside is dogs coming the other way. Henry is nervous of almost everything. However most days it is quiet with the occasional jogger and cyclist passing to disrupt the quiet. 

We walk down Park Hall Road to 5 Ways Bridge  and then turn North onto the Canal. The buzz of children in the playground often accompanies the first hundred metres or so.

 

When I say walk, I should explain about the stop start nature of our journey. Henry needs to stop and check the smell and taste of seemingly random objects lining our path. He will then, lift his leg to mark his passing before moving on. 

 

As you can see from the picture the canal and its surrounds show the green of summer with the grass in places brown from the lack of rain. This year has been hot and dry, Though now September is here, it has cooled and the clouds and some rain has returned.

We walk, north to Moat Bridge, the Mallards are just emerging from eclipse. There is a a family of swans, this year three cygnets have made it this far. As we walk past they are starting tentative flying lessons. 

Dragonflies and Damselflies abound though the latter are seen less as the summer has gone on.

Well I did need an excuse to put this picture in.as I like it

 

So we walk up to Moat Bridge and then head back home 

This is day 2 of Autumn 2025, maybe this year I will be present to see it all
 

  

 

 So PinkAl packed up and made sure he took everything he would need for the journey and while he was on the ship. He was going on a cruise.

 PinkAl saw thick parkas and warm coats

But where was he he going to?

He was off to South America, Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctica. 

So we needed something to keep use warm.

 

 

PinkAl took his fur and his best scarf just to make sure.

It was going to be a long journey

First he was going to drive to Heathrow, here he would catch the KLM flight to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. 

 

PinkAl had never been to Holland before so this was definitely an adventure.

 Hello Again

I went on holiday earlier this year, We took PinkAl with us

He had lots of adventures, some of which I can tell you about

 

 

After a long time

 After a ling time, well that is what I typed first, my typing is still as bad as it ever was and I have to go  back and correct it on  a regu;ar basis. 

So i am a lot older than before, especially given it is 2023 and the last time I put any thing in here it was when I had just been pushed out of the door by APM. This was probably a good thing though it did not feel like it at the time. Redundancy, voluntary or not is never a good process. 

I am never really sure about this and have felt I needed a purpose to write, who am I telling and what am I telling. Much of what has gone before is me trying to say what I have done on a particular event or walk and describe that. 

so I have something to talk about, I am going to South America, in particular Argentina and Urugauy. It is a cruise and won't be until next year, Jan 24. but it is booked and I have even paid for the insurance cover, I never realised that getting old cost more money. So that is done and I have started to look at just how much things will cost on the boat. 

There are only 2 of us and well what the hell.

Next is to get my stuff together, clothes to take camera and lenses, boots.

back soon

Day Two (and a bit)

So Day two and guess what it did not rain all day. to behonest after yesterday when it seemed never to stop I had sort of given up hope.

So what happened then, well I spent some time going having a look at the Job boards and trying what was new and play the game of seeing just how many times jobs I had applied for were being advertised through different agencies. I had a good conversation with a recruiter, he seemed happy and will talk to the company about me today or tomorrow. (fingers crossed) Apart from that I updated various profiles I have, Linkedin, Reed etc. My Cv will need to amended slightly based on some feedback, I need to make sure that it does show I worked for one company for nearly 9 years. That is a long time.

And then I managed to go for a walk. Just down the hill to the Rushall Canal at Five Ways Bridge  and then up towards the Lock One

This is pretty much the view from Five ways Bridge. I try and glance up every time I drive past. My eye is always drawn to Gillity Bridge, and beyond. It is always a glimpse.

Fore me it is something although familiar it always changes. The Season, the light and time of day, the weather.

So I walk up the tow path, even though it it the middle of the day it is quiet. Then as I walk slowly up the volume from my left increases dramatically. It is dinner time and the children at the school are out to play. As I walk the spike of noise disappears behind me and I can hear the birds in the trees. Various small birds including great and long tailed tits, goldfinch and sparrow flit through the trees ignoring me getting on with their lives searching for their next meal.

Today is the the first day of Winter, well if you count Sept Oct and Nov as Autumn. It is a bit blowy. but I had wrapped up.

From Gillity Bridge

Most of the trees have some leaves left though not many, any sign of green is long gone it is mainly yellow with some orange. Standing out are the few evergreens in people's gardens.


As I walked, I felt slow and not quite up to speed. It has been a while since I want for a proper walk or even got some exercise.

As time passed legs stretched out again  muscles and joints almost sliding back into some sort of rhythm.

The whole walk took much longer than I thought.

Floating By

On the water the Mallard swim around as if the owned the place. Coots and Moorhen keeping to the usually the far bank.


I saw a leaf floating by well I overtook it at my great of knots. I liked the colours, the yellows, oranges and browns contrasting with the red of the stalk.


So by the time I have finished this it is now day 3 and I have to work out what to do today.

See how it goes

Day One ?

Why day one Its Monday 30th November 2015 and so today id the first day of not working. Okay so not being paid to work. I think there is a difference. APM/PPDG as was in their infinite wisdom have let me go. So I took the package on offer I jumped just before they pushed me. Last Friday was my last official day. but I have been like the proverbial headless chicken been running around in search of a replacement, for the last couple of weeks. I have applied for lots of Software trainer type jobs and have got some interviews. One on friday one today. both made me realise that I don't really have a coherent story, as a trainer, to tell. I have to go back and look at the training I have designed and put together over the last few years. Pull it together and make sense of it. Yet what do I want?

So there is this idea of doing bits and pieces, some training and some writing and taking photos. This could make me a living, I won't be rich, but I may well be happy. It may be an illusion, but it is my illusion.

So back to day one. This is the journey and day one of that journey. I would like to spend more time getting out walking taking photos. This morning I had an interview, I waited for for them for so long. "10:00" they said. "Sorry", they said, some one "was ill", they started late. This afternoon it rained lots, and the man from the water board came to fix the water meter. Time goes by. It is the last day in November and it is dark before you know it. So tomorrow, The forecast says cloudy, but no rain.

So what will day two bring. Walks Fresh air. Pictures, Instagram and updates to website.

Good night

So it is a long time since I wrote anything on this.
I have been thinking about doing something, what I don't know. Writing and putting down what is in my head. Keeping going really. So just to touch base. A beginning of a project. The canal down the road where I walk and take pictures. The Rushall Canal.


So this is it a picture from under Guility  Bridge. this is the picture I take most often. the same picture,but it is different every time. the position is the same, time is different

This is the heron who let me get close, though not that close, he/she (sexing herons is not one of my skills) flew off to the lock 



and as I walked towards him he decided discretion was the better part and flew off behind me, but I caught him/her   as he/she took off

So that is it for this time

Shell Island, A Day Out

So where to start, at the beginning I suppose. I left home in a rain storm, it was pouring.  First stop the petrol station, Morrison’s to fill up. Standing in the line to pay, a voice, pleasant and smiling “Mr L. what are you doing here”. After a blank, its Anne Marie from work, and relief, “Going for a walk on the beach.”   Her turn to be puzzled for a moment, then a shake of the head and a smile. 

On up the M6 and then across the M54 and then the A5 to Shrewsbury. Although the River  Severn is high, I have seen it higher. On into Wales towards Welshpool, the rain has stopped, but the clouds are still heavy and there is lots of spray thrown up by the traffic. After stopping in Welshpool to get a sandwich to eat in the car it is time to head into the hills, westwards towards Dolgellau. There are fewer cars now, often there is just me speeding along. The road rises and winds through the hills and small towns of mid Wales. Finally one long steep incline, higher and higher we climb, towards the clouds. At the top a sense of relief, we made it up the hill, but also we are almost there. down the other side, just as steep, towards Dolgellau and the beginnings of the coastal strip and the Mawdach estuary. On towards Barmouth and then up the coast heading for Harlech and its castle. Before the castle we turn left in Llanbedr and head towards the sea and Shell Island. 

I always park up at the start of the causeway and the walk up the path to the dunes. Today I had some company, at least part of the way. Three sheep ran in front for a hundred yards or so. 

Apart from the sheep I did meet a couple of other visitors, but they were leaving as I headed towards the dunes and the sea beyond.

I was wrapped up and warm, the Mayo and Kermode podcast chattering away in my ears. 

The dunes were higher than I remembered. Many of the spaces full of water from the recent rain. I had my Wellies on, but, there were many places too deep even for me. 

Eventually  after what seemed long hard slog, though, in reality, it was 10 minutes, if that, I trudged down the final face on to the beach itself. I was the only person there.

I looked up and down the beach, to my left the sand  stretched away and merged into the shadows at the base of the distant hills. The only signs of life being the occasional seagull standing around  waiting for the tide to turn I imagine. The clouds that had lifted during my journey west, now were beginning to break apart  allowing the sun to show through. I ventured towards the distant hills across the still damp sand. 

There are all sorts of bits and pieces washed up on the sand, this time there were few if any man made objects. Most were marine in origin, there was alt of seaweed of various species, but every so often a piece of non marine origin stood out.

To be honest nothing much happened for the next while, I walked, the sun tried and mainly failed to breakthrough the cloud cover, the wind blew and the waves rolled up and down. Mayo and Kermode bickered gently in my ears. I eventually turned around and retraced my steps northward.

Continuing past my original start point I walked on up the sand. In the distance I could see the sand ending and the rocks  taking over. A cormorant, flew towards me, heading south. 

Abruptly the sand ended, replaced by rocks and stones, ranging in size from full blown boulders to pebbles and grit. On the seaward edge the gulls ignore me and continue to watch the sea. Standing looking at the rocks I could see they are covered with seaweed, mussels and barnacles. After a while I catch a couple of flashes of unexpected movement in and on the rocks. Standing still and waiting, not my greatest attribute, gave me a chance to search the nearby rocks more thoroughly and eventually I caught sight of the culprit. In fact there were three of them, Turnstones, 

They deigned to stop their foraging  every so often and occasionally there would be more than one in the same place, all three, not a chance. I moved slowly closer, to get better pictures. On the whole they ignored me scurrying around the rocks searching for food. However they managed to keep their distance so I left them to it after a while  and continued on.

The rocks are easy at first to clamber through, it just means you have to spend so much more of your attention on watching where you are going and planning out your route. So less and less time is spent looking at the scenery and or contemplating well, life, the universe and my navel. After a while Kermode and Mayo have finished and Melvin Bragg and his friends are telling me all about the South Sea Bubble. It is time to head back to the car. Through the deserted camp site and back along the causeway catching site of flock of Shelduck foraging in the salt marsh and a couple of Redshank running around in the channels.

Eventually the car and a sit down. It has been a while since I have been out on my own for any length of time and the thought of just getting in the car and heading back home. It was still light so I drove back down to Barmouth and spent another hour wandering around on the beach.  Here I was not the only one dotted around the expanse of sand were small  groups, and occasional individuals, getting out into the fresh air while it was light and the rain held off. 

As the light finally faded I headed back to the car and then back through the hills to Birmingham and home 

again

I thought I would write something, as I have not for a long time I think this is the seconmd time this year. My Camera broke,my ipod broke, so in time i got new ones, but in a way it is not the same, I have found it harder to sit and write stuff down. Maybe it is writers block, more likely needing to go to bed. So this is Sunday morning getting closer to 1:00 am and I am sitting here killing time before i do go to bed, Yes, tomorrow is another day and I do need to keep putting stuff down.

I know I am beigning to ramble, we that is what I feel I am doing. So until next time

A year with my Father

I was going to write something about the year gone by and, well see what happened. So far all I can really think about is this year and my Father and my time with him. So maybe if I can put this down I can begin to move on,. Maybe?

The beginning was as always his return in January from Columbia. He and Marina usually missed the worst bits, but this year took longer than most to warm up. He always came back with something or other wrong or needed fixing. This year it was his teeth, he had got some sort of infection before coming home, how long he had been in pain or suffering he would never admit to, half his face had swollen up and he had waited to come home to get it sorted.

Soon after his return he started on a new treatment for his prostate cancer, this he had admitted to 2 years earlier, but apart from news on his PSA levels had not really affected the rest of us since he had told us. He had had problems with his heart for several years and had been taking various concoctions to keep this under control. I knew he was not 100% and was rationally of all the things that could happen. However I gathered them all into a corner of my mind and glanced at them every so often to check that they had not escaped and stayed with my Micawber inspired view of the world.

So at first the Chemo therapy was no great trial. After a few days he was a bit sick, though thinking about it he probably would not have mentioned it to me any way. It was about this time I began to call him more often it was the middle to the end of February. We would talk a couple of times a week and most Sundays we went to the Lyndon House Hotel for a couple of beers and a bap.

The Chemo actually knocked him about a lot each cycle getting progressively harder and harder on him. Every three weeks he had a dose. His hair thinned rapidly and he just looked frailer and frailer. He said he felt “rubbish” and it was “killing him”.

The end of March, the 30^th to be precise was important. His 70^th birthday, he and Marina organised his party bringing together his friends from his extended social circle, His brothers and sisters in law, and his children, even Dan came. I managed to impress him with a present from his children, a bottle of 1941 Armangac. He told me it was good and he was able to impress the French club members who had some. One day I will get a glass.

He still played golf a couple of times a week, and had his bacon sandwiches. He bought a motorised trolley for his golf bag.

He went back to his oncologist in April or maybe May, how looked him over looked at his test results and decided to stop. The Chemo therapy was not working, he needed a plan B. There was a new treatment, but it had not been authorised yet, probably later in the year, October.

Slowly it seemed at the time my father seemed to improve towards his old self, but not quite. yes many of his old symptoms were there. He still had odema in his feet, but that had been there for at least a year, His breathing especially in the mornings was a problem. As the summer progressed his hair grew back, but his shoulders and hips seemed to belong to someone else half the time. He could still swing a club, drive his car and hold a pint.

I went on holiday and he made plans to go away at Christmas as normal and maybe to have his step children over and to take them to Europe for a holiday.

He found mornings worse, being able to get his breath after doing strenuous things like getting out of bed, having a shower. I knew he was in trouble when he asked me to take him to the hospital one Saturday morning. They checked him out and by the time we got to see a Doctor he was much better. It was then that I understood that he was terrible at telling Doctors what was wrong with him. He told them only bits and pieces and what he thought they needed to know. He would tell one thing to one person then something else to another. It made sense as I spoke to his wife, to my sister and brothers. By the time they let you out after chest X Rays and heart monitors and shrugs of shoulders, you walked back to the car, much improved.

Marina kept him going, I kept in touch and spoke to Marina who would tell me things that he never quite got around to. I talked to my siblings, kept them up to date, what did people do before mobile phones?

More unplanned visits to the hospital followed over the next month or so, and by October he was really struggling. Even going to the Pub was beginning to be hard work. I watched and realised as you nursed a pint, I took you home early that night.

After that he was finally admitted to Hospital with a chest infection, double pneumonia to be more exact. Your kidneys decided that they would have a rest and your heart felt the pressure.

After 2 weeks he had had enough of Hospitals, as ever my father had made up your mind and no one was going to change it. We took him home, where after the initial euphoria of escape wore off he declined. After another night in A & E we brought him back home, you had somehow convinced the Doctor not to admit you.

Just under two weeks after he got himself out he was back in. By now he was deteriorating rapidly and he died.

So now my father has gone I realise I have thought about him more in the last weeks than in years gone by. For over half of my life he spent Christmas in Columbia and did not come back until middle or end of January.

So where am I now, apart from sitting here on what was when I started New Year’s Day 2012? I don’t know how I should feel or think. At the moment I feel fine, though increasingly I am getting cross and frustrated. If life was simple and I could work out what was going to happen and well … I would feel a lot less frustrated. But other people are involved and that always complicates things no end.

My father did as he always did, left it to the rest of us to fill in the details and get things sorted whole he moved on to his next adventure.

A Day Away

So it is almost the end of the year and I am sitting down and writing something. I just have not done very much for a long time. So back again? I have missed my bit of bleak and today I got it in spades.

Today I took a deep breath and went to the seaside. I had been promisinging myself a trip like this sine we came back from Germany in August, unfortunately events had conspired against me. Finally today I managed to get out. I drove from Walsall along the M54 and on toward Shrewsbury. After following the ring road I headed toward Welshpool, stopping off for a bacon sandwich at Dinkys Dinah in it village of Ford. Sited on one of the laybys at the Welsh end of the Village, they do a mean bacon and egg sandwich and I was set up for the day.

I drove on into Wales and headed first to Welshpool and then on towards Dolgellau. I realised that my car a small engined Ford Ka really was not as happy with climbing steep hills as I had hoped, but it got me there. From Dolgellau I followed the Mawddach estuary to Barmouth. I love driving along these roads, I have to think and even change gear occasionally as you go along. From Barmouth it was a short run up the coast to Llanbedr and the left turn that takes you to over the railway line and passed the RAF station to the end of the causeway leading to Shell Island. You can go and park by the camp site, but I like to park up and walk across the causeway.


I suppose I should mention the weather at this point. During the drive, showery, was probably an optimistic turn of phrase. However as I had come down into Dolgellau and beyond it had brightened and the cloud base had lifted.

So having parked, I walked up along the causeway towards Shell Island and the beach. The causeway runs through a salt marsh and on this occasion the tide as high as I had seen it and channels on both sides were full of water and in places took the short cut across the road rather than flow through the drainage below.

Having made it along the Causeway and through the closed campsite, I reached the beach and sea beyond.

So I think this just about sums up the view. The wind was roaring in off the sea, though it was not very cold. The breakers were great and if I had been a surfer I might have looked further.

I start to walk along the beach and quickly realised I was the only person I could see. It was a calming realisation there was only me.

There were a number a birds scattered around almost oblivious to my presence, as long as I stayed out ot their way they were far more interested in the sea and what it could bring than they were in me.

After another couple of mins and at least one heavy down pour courtesy of the wind. I came across one my favourite birds a sanderling, and once I got my eye in I saw more bombing up and down on the surf line. I am always impressed by the way they just seem to keep going no matter what.

As I walked on I realised that the last shower was still going on after what seemed like an age. so when does a "shower " turn into just rain. So I carried on walking, all wrapped up warm and dryish inside. I eventually decided to head back and get the other side of me as windswept.

On way back I did pass and very determined man with a ruck sack going along the beach, and in the distance I saw a couple and their dogs. On the whole this was about me and blowing out cobwebs and getting back in touch with my " bit of bleak". By the time I got back the car, I was begining to get cold and I knew there were parts of me that the outside coverings had not qite protected from th eelements. It was time to leave and go home. "until next time"?

To My Father, Antony Levesley 1941 - 2011

What follows should explain itself.

To My Father

So where to start about Antony Levesley, my father. I suppose where I first remember him reading me stories tucked up in bed. Telling me of lands far away, how Odysseus outwitted the monsters and came home. We lay and listened and usually interrupted.

As I sat down to write this and reflect on how I knew my father 2 things came to me. My father liked his patterns, his routines, especially if they involved beer wine and family. For as long as I remember he played chess every week with his brother Fran. I understand his bacon sandwich at the golf club was a major weekly landmark also.

On the other hand he could and often would decide to do something. Why, most of us who followed on behind never quite understood. Recently he decided that Sky did not offer the service he wanted so he switched to Virgin.

How many cameras did my Father go through, let alone the ones he misplaced. He did like his gadgets.

One Easter Sunday many years ago, as the children lay sprawled around after Sunday lunch, he decided that we would all go to Beacon Park and play golf. He dragged us complaining all the way to the first tee. I would like to report that he showed us all how good he was and was able to pass on to his children his golfing wisdom and skills. Well once we had all hit a ball once or twice it became apparent that he was as rubbish as we were.

There is a thing about my father, it did not matter how good or bad he was at something, he would have a go and enjoy doing it. He did not care if he got it right. He would do his best and enjoy it whatever it was.

He did many things did my father. His job took him all over the world and when he came back he would tell us of what he had seen and done. My father had many adventures, few to be honest involved life threatening moments or true heroism. They were funny and warm accounts of the places he had been and they almost always involved the almost missed flight, missed boat, missed train.

I came back to Walsall and married and settled down. My father was always there for me, even when I did not need him and occasionally when I did not want him, but he was there. He was involved.

He always had an opinion and usually a story to go with it. He was very proud of all his grandchildren and wanted to be a part of their lives.

My father was to be honest rubbish at some things. He found it very difficult to be wrong, once he had made up his mind, he had decided and that was that.

Secondly, he was rubbish about telling people that he was unwell or hurt. I suppose if you think of the Black Knight in Monty Python, that was my father.

When he told me he had cancer, on top of his heart condition. I was brave and he carried on. He still played golf, he still went to Columbia for Christmas.

He wanted to be normal, to carry on. I saw him more and more of him, well he did offer to buy some of the beer. I became part of his routine.

It was when he said, he could not go out that I was really worried. I went around to his house and we sat and talked.

Two nights later he went into hospital and this time he stayed.

I sat with him on the Tuesday night and we talked and told each other stories. I held his hand while he lay tucked up in bed.

He was asleep when I left.

Visit to Pfander

Cable cars are splendid things, you float high above the ground, as you glide up and down mountains with little if any effort. They take you from one domain to the another, from lake side to mountain top. Today was the turn of Pfander, just inside Austria on Der Bodensee.

This was my first visit to Austria, another country ticked off the life list. The transition, from Germany, barely noticeable. We drove into the town of Bregenz from Lindau and followed the signs to the cable car. Once we parked the car we walked into the station, bought our tickets and waited for the next car to come down the hill. The walls of the station were full of pictures and text describing the history of the cable car in Pfander/Bregenz. The next car arrived and disgorged its outgoing cargo and we were ushered on board. There were 25 or so people on board and although it was full it was not squashed. Getting everyone on took about a minute and after another 30 or so seconds the doors closed and we were off.

The car travelled took us gently up the mountain passing over the houses of the rich and possibly even the famous of Bregenz. Away to our right the Rhine meandered along the valley from the high Alps to east and south towards its meeting with the Bodensee, linking Austria with west and north of Europe.

Pfander station sits just below the peak of this particular Austrian Alp and I even managed later on to walk up the path to the top and its small café come restaurant. Just out side the top of the cable car was a gift shop, a restaurant, a children’s play area, and lots of places to walk or just generally enjoy the view. A stunning view could be had looking in almost any direction. South into the Alps of Switzerland and east into Austria and so I am told Liechtenstein. North lay the high village and farms that conjure up images of Heidi and Johann Weiss. To the west lay the expanse of the Bodensee and the towns and villages clustered along its edge.

As I looked out across the mountains to the south and to the east from our vantage point the air is clear and crisp. The mountain tops are sharp, the temperature is slightly cooler than down in the valley by the lake but we are still warm. As I look down into the valley and across the lake, here is a haze, a slight blurring. I can see Lindau and Freidrickshaven on the German side, and it is like reading without my glasses, yes, I am getting old and I need to wear glasses to read. Is this the result of the proximity of the lake and the water evaporating off it or is it pollution or even a combination of both, I have no idea.

Just below the summit was a small, wildlife park, with examples of mountain wildlife such as Ibex and Moufflon that us tourists who pay such fleeting visits to the higher mountains would never see in their natural state. There was also a display of birds of prey. Unfortunately for us this took place in an arena surrounded by a high wooden fence and you had to pay extra to get in. As we arrived 20 mins after the start of the show we decided not to pay to see 10 mins. However as we went passed the enclosure a huge Griffon Vulture drifted up and out in a circle passed us and over the lake before returning to home, a reminder of what we had missed. Fortunately I had my camera out and got to take some pictures.

Once we had explored the shop and the wildlife park there was only one real option left, the restaurant and Ice Cream, Cake and coffee. So it was over priced, but the view was to die for. We could watch the tiny boats hardly moving on the water below, ever so often we could see a plane below us, turn and make its final approach to the airport.

It was all in all an afternoon well spent. All of us got plenty of exercise, well what do you expect walking up and around the top of a mountain. Tomorrow would be our last day before the long drive home.