I love to ride a bike. Most readers will be well aware of that – I don’t ride it to make a point, or be green, or to prove anything. I ride because, well, I enjoy it. It connects me with the environment I adore and keeps me fit. It also fits well into my life.

However, like things you do all the time often do, cycling sometimes becomes workaday. It’s getting about, a means to an end. I do it, I enjoy it, but it’s mechanical, automatic, a function. I know when I’m at that stage because I climb big hills without registering them – I haul up Shire Oak or Pipe Hill, perhaps, without thinking. Fragments of journey are not remembered.

At this point, something usually happens. I’ll go for a ride or two in just the right conditions. Rain, shine, winter or summer, something will be right about the light, the atmosphere or the environment. I could be in the urban depths of the Black Country, or the tranquility of Cannock Chase. But it happens. The bike feels smooth and working well, I have power in my legs and fresh air in my lungs. I fall in love with cycling again.

It’s just happened in the last few days. I think the sunshine has woken me up, just like the tress, flowers and wildlife that   are clearly enjoying the weather so much…

i make no apology for the second photo post this weekend. It’s bloody lovely out there. Staffordshire and Derbyshire are beautiful counties. If you haven’t, please go and explore them.

Poppy growing from the wall of the long lost Fisherwick Park Estate near Hademore. The Marquis of Donegal had a handsome place here, with grounds designed by Capability Brown. But the Howards of Elford bought it, and trashed the lot to turn it back into farmland in 1810. As you do. This wall is one of the few remnants of a handsome country seat. Hademore, Staffordshire. 5:16pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

Harlaston village and it’s remarkable church, Staffordshire. 5:52pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

The White Lion, Harlaston, Staffordshire. 5:54pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

The Catholic church of St. Michael and St. James, Haunton, Staffordshire. 6:02pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

Roadside cornflower, near Clifton Campville, Staffordshire. 6:08pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

The elegant spire of Clifton Campville Church from the Lullington Road. Reader Peter ‘Pedro’ Cutler will appreciate this one, good in any season.Near Lullington, Derbyshire. 6:24pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

Coton in the Elms church, from Lad’s Grave, Derbyshire. 8:17pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

A field of young potatoes, near Sittles airstrip, near Whittington, Staffordshire. 8:46pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.

St. Giles, Whittington. Never been fond of very ‘square’ churches like this, but it looked lovely in the golden hour. Whittington, Staffordshire. 9:02pm, Saturday 26th May 2012.