. . . Or at least it is now that the thorn in my bicycle's hide has been removed. My bike is now a roaring lion again, ready to take on the mountains of the Midlands. What, no mountains? Oh well, I'll go charging down the A roads instead. Thanks for all your repair suggestions - I may try out the 'slime' if it happens again!
The gentle land of Wales has transformed into the gritty panorama of the West Midlands, where rugged farmland gives way to multicoloured breezeblocks. I genuinely like graffiti and there's only so much quaint farmland you can absorb at once, so this new landscape is a refreshing change. It's also a stark reminder of just how much of Britain is rural. When you travel through like this, the cities are the exception, little islands in the middle of the patchwork of fields that the country is made of. But for people living in the cities none of this exists; instead they have little islands of greenery nestling in the middle of their patchwork of housing and roads.
Even here spring is edging its way in, but the signs are more subtle and more human. Bunches of daffodils still squat on the roadsides, in dusty cracks of building sites and in neat little front gardens. Primroses and coltsfoot are also trying to make a show of it, but are lost among their more showy neighbours.
The less said about Redditch the better, really, and the Travelodge could have been anywhere, but afterwards we travelled to a little strip of greenbelt land in a corner of Halesowen called Lutley Wedge. Here we met Craig, who I first got in touch with through the marvellous medium of Twitter, and who gave us a guided tour of the springtime delights of this lovely spot. Craig spends most of the year working in Scotland but travels back down here every year during the spring and is the perfect nature guide.
It's surprising to find such a wild spot so near Birmingham, but it's not the only place where spring is making itself felt. We spent the night in the city itself, where I was lucky enough to catch up (beer, award-winning pies and great company) with an old friend who lives on a canal narrowboat. We ended up interviewing one of her neighbours, Dave, about his springtime experiences aboard ship.
We then followed the canal towpath north-west towards Wolverhampton, where we've spent the day involved in more prosaic matters such as planning the next few weeks (finding accommodation for Easter is a big concern) and trying to find a laundrette.
We really have been powering it along over the past few weeks (regardless of the occasional suggestion that we're doing the Land's End to John o'Groats trek very slowly) which seems to reflect the sudden burst of speed in the springtime flora and fauna. This means that we can afford to take the next few weeks easy, mileage wise, but it comes at a time when I'm feeling much fitter anyway. The feeling of managing to get up a hill that I was sure at the bottom was unachievable is a satisfying one - to do it without great pain in my legs is fantastic. I do have plenty of great interviews planned, however, so we'll still be busy as we travel to Manchester and Leeds in the coming weeks.
I'd like to take this opportunity to say that if you're enjoying following our story then please pay a visit to http://www.indiegogo.com/Chasing-Spring where we're looking for people to donate a few quid to the editing of the final film. We're collecting a mountain of great footage as we go but we really need your help to get this film realised. All donations are very welcome and all donors will be get a thank-you credit on the final film. There are also some neat perks to entice you in!
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