berkswell mill

After the dentist at about 4:00 pm I took the 590c bus to Marston Green station
BHX apron glimpsed from an old centro train
and I changed trains at Birmingham International to get to Berkswell Station
(unlike the county pronounced BURKSWELL)

I alighted there from the new Centro rolling stock no logo and in use between Walsall and Coventry
shock horror - the level crossing has gone within about a year

the old gatekeepers house on the right is boarded up and available to rent

looking east at the new bridge

across the road to the right was a right of way - a footpath - see the green lane on this google map leading east just below the level crossing
I must have closed the phonecam too quickly and lost a lot of photographs

My useful boyhood knowledge came back - I had to cross three fields full of cows and calves - no bull - but mother cows can be tricky if with their calf.

walk carfully here Yellow Dung-fly
Scatophaga stercoraria in USA aka Golden Dung Fly


brand new oak leaves
and this is exactly the sort of environment I used to go out to play in as a child in Widney Lane

this little chap stopped browsing the fresh new hawthorn leaves to look at me

the footpath shows as wear on the grass, and the cow on the right is standing right where I need to get over the stile

looking back at part of the herd having safely made it up onto the stile

bluebell time makes my heart leap with joy

new duckweed on a pond

on google maps

cow parsley after I turned left into the lane

oak tree waking up after the winter sleep

Barrets Lane turns left to the farm and I contiued straight on the footpath

mind your ancles
rabbit warren

The Windmill, which was built in 1826, is located in Windmill Lane, Balsall Common, Solihull metropolitan borough but with a Coventry postcode CV7 7GY

AND ON THE GOOGLE MAPS

A Colebridge News article inspired this walk

opening hours

the sails have not driven the mill since 1927 when a diesel engine was installed and that lasted until 1948 when it was closed.

the overgrown narrowed footpath by the Kenilworth Road

Balsall Common seems now to be fully enclosed

this farmer is now more of a trader - huts and tack (as in tac room) and french chic

this grey horse was lonely and came to the gate to say hello to me.
SV SV on danish email headers this means re- re- here STOP VALVE for the mains water supply
The White Horse another two for one offer at this village pub - and the only white horses are those made of chalk the rest are all GREYS
the sound of bat on ball village cricket

Roman Catholic chapel I could see through the next window two candlea were lit on the altar table and the priest was speaking to at least two members of the congregation, evensong was being said,

and the next field is owned by the Arch Diocese of Birmingham so they have space to build a school too. Blessed Robert Grissold Catholic Church

Meeting House Lane, Balsall Common
Robert Grissold (born circa 1575 and hanged 16 July 1604) was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

this cat came to me to be stroked when I stood still
missed the cat just my danish shoe size 13 - I posted this because like all my snaps it could be used as raw material in photoshop and there is an excellent texture of the road which could be adapted as a background to a web page

A boy aged about nine or ten was on the pavement with a glass jam jar and I called out "That looks very scientific" and he came and walked alongside me and told me he had some red ants and had put a lady bird in with them and the ants cut its legs off, and took it down into the nest.

I said just like on TV and he said "no, not British ants." He walked alongside me and chattered away but with the current hysteria about pedophiles I did not stop and photograph him at work. In the end I felt it wise to say "Your parents don't know me, better go back now"

The only pedophile, that I ever met, who ever made a decided approach to me, was in about 1950 was a well spoken schoolmaster at Temple Balsall, my mother said OK for me to go for a drive with him at his suggestion, whilst she chatted with my aunty Kitty in the alms houses there. NOT my way then or now.

the pillar on the left is mirrored out of shot to the right twin scopes with an invisible beam height measuring - not to protect the low bridge but to restrict traffic by the forbidden large vehicles

and at 8:06 pm I was happy to see the sign 330 metres to the low bridge - and station and the end of my walk - by now my feet are really hurting