Scotland 2022 - Conclusions

Having just got home after a slowish run back from Dunblane I thought I’d post the usual conclusions from the trip. 

First the good bits! The electrics behaved impeccably, I checked this morning and, having not driven since Thursday afternoon, the leisure battery was still about fully charged so the solar panel kept up with the coolbox despite some typically Scottish weather. The recent additional storage was beneficial, the overhead net carried my suit for a posh dinner and the IKEA hanging pockets were also well used - the one I’ve hung inside the rear passenger door means I can now open that door without loads of stuff falling out! 

Nog so good, I still haven’t managed to fully reseal the roof vents, although the leakage is a lot less they still weren’t proof to heavy rain. My site planning was awry in hindsight; I should have just spent the one night at Whitley Bay, then moved to a site in Northumberland after visiting Cragside. From there I could have done Morpeth and either returned to that site or gone a bit further North rather than heading straight to Edinburgh. 

Part of the reason is that it turned out that getting in and out of the Edinburgh Club site isn’t all that easy, if I’d stopped another night in Northumberland I could have visited the Museum of Flight, spent a night in Edinburgh, visited the Bo’ness Railway then stopped a bit further North. It would have saved a lot of driving! 

I’d pondered over whether to take a bike. Security issues at the Edinburgh site were part of the reason I didn’t but I regretted it afterwards. There were at least two occasions when I could have explored further, at Whitley Bay and Bo’ness, if I’d had even the folding bike. One job over the winter therefore is to work out the best way of carrying the folder, ideally without using the big bike rack. We’ll work on that. 

Beasties and Battles

After the last night in the campervan for this trip I made my way to the Dunblane Hydro for the event that prompted  the whole trip. I did pay a couple of visits on the way though. 

When I was out earlier in the week I’d found a viewpoint for the Forth Bridges, unfortunately they’ve let the hedges grow so high it’s difficult to get a good picture which rather defeats the object. It was only as I was driving out that I realised I only had to walk a few yards down the road for an interrupted view. As I was driving past the same point I stopped again and spent a few minutes capturing some shots. I’ll only know when I get them on the computer how well the worked but here’s one to be going on with. 

I last visited the Kelpies on a freezing cold December day so was pleased to go back in somewhat warmer conditions. For anyone who doesn’t know, Kelpies are mythical horse like creatures that inhabit streams and rivers. The statues were erected as part of the Helix Park development, the initial concept had been that they’d actually move as part of pumping water for the canals but that proved impractical - they weigh over 300 tonnes each! They are a tribute to the heavy horses that worked in Scotland on the land and hauling boats. 

The mottoes alongside are Bow down your strong heads to taste the water,  Stretch up your long necks to face the sun and Echo the great beasts that work among us. I’ll be entering the best of the pics in a calendar competition and I’m hoping I can incorporate the mottoes in the image. 

The final visit was to the Battle of Bannockburn Visitor Centre. I accepted the option of the guided tour, at a bargain price! It should have been £7.50 however she put it though as a senior without checking (if I’m asked I’m always honest, if not it’s their look out) and then discounted it to £3 due to problems with the large screen displays. The guide was American, which seemed slightly odd but she was good and I guess neutral in describing a battle between the Scots and English! The engineer was working on the display technology and wondrously it started working just at the right moment. The presentations were a bit cartoon like in places but you did get a clear sense of his things were and it’s quite spectacular having a volley of crossbow bolts start on your right on one huge screen, shoot across in front of you then hit the Scots on the screen to the left - graphic but it got the point across. 

The guide did talk a little about the difference between longbows and crossbows but omitted a crucial point, even though the presentation illustrated it. The crossbow may be more powerful and need less expertise to fire but the longbow has a much higher rate of fire. In any case the English bowmen were at the wrong end of the battlefield when the Scots attacked and when they tried to gain the higher ground on the flank they were turned off by the enemy cavalry. Had it not been for that they would have been able to fire on the Scots and the result, and history, may well have been very different. One oddity about this battle is there are virtually no relics of any kind, the victorious Scots stripped the field bare afterwards. 

With the weather being very variable, sunshine and drizzle with intermittent heavy rain, I decided to head straight on to the hotel at that point. Thoughts of a peaceful afternoon were somewhat destroyed by a large and boisterous wedding party but gradually the friends assembled ready for a couple of days of fun and frolics. 

Planes and Flags

I did warn that today would be about aeroplanes and it is, amongst other things! Apologies for a lack of photos, they’re refusing to publish but I’ll try and rectify this. 

The National Museum of Flight’s iconic image is Concorde as it’s the home of one of the few remaining examples, it would have been natural for me to include a picture but it’s nigh on impossible to photograph it due to how it’s displayed and the fact it almost fills the hanger so I photographed a Vulcan instead. 

The only problem with Vulcans is they’re fairly common, that’s the third one I’ve photographed in the last few years. I think that’s partly their status but also by the time they were taken out of service the museums were established and able to take them on. 

The museum does a good job of displaying, and telling the stories of, both civil and military aviation. It’s not all planes, either, there’s a section of interactive exhibits for children to learn about engineering and the theory of flight. 

During World War One East Fortune Airfield was home to both planes and airships, used to try and spot enemy shipping and submarines and as part of the defence of Edinburgh. Unfortunately they weren’t successful in the latter role and the city was bombed by Zeppelins L14 and L32 in the night of 2nd/3rd April 1916, leaving 13 dead. One of the bombs failed to go off and is now in the museum. 

This has personal significance because the night before  L11 had dropped bombs on Sunderland killing at least 22 but potentially saving my grandmother’s life. The family story is that the raid brought on premature labour and had the pregnancy gone to full term Nan would have been still-born. The dates fit so it’s quite probably true that without a bomb like the one displayed I wouldn’t be writing this now. 

The weather was very variable, bright sunshine one minute, miserable drizzle the next with the occasional downpour so having seen everything and just about stayed dry I had a very nice toasted ciabatta in the cafe before departing to play Brown Sign Bingo. 

On the way to the museum I’d noticed a brown sign for the Flag Heritage Centre which intrigued me so I went there after leaving the museum. The story is that the Scottish Saltire, a white cross on a blue background, was created after a battle between the Picts, led by Angus mac Fergus, and Scots against the Angles and Saxons under Athelstan. The area was under Northumbrian rule and the former had been on a raid when they were caught and made a stand near what is now the village of Athelstaneford. 

King Angus feared the outcome and led prayers for deliverance, being rewarded with a cloud formation of a white St Andrew’s cross against the blue sky. The Scots won the day, the saltire became the flag of Scotland and St Andrew became their patron saint. 

The Heritage Centre is housed in a 16th Century doocot (pigeon loft to the English) at the back of the church where there’s also a memorial. These buildings were fairly common and have been described as the “medieval deep freeze” since the pigeons provided meat when nothing else was available. At the time only breeding livestock were generally fed through the winter as there wasn’t enough food available, the meat animals were slaughtered in autumn contributing to what’s known as the Hungry Gap. Pigeons took minimal looking after and were self feeding so filled in the lack of meat but the advent of turnips and other root crops for animal feed largely solved the problem and they became less popular.

Railways at Borrowstounness

Yes, Borrowstounness is the full name of Bo’ness, you can see why it’s generally shortened! 😊

The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, and adjacent Museum, have been high on the visits list for ages - that’s the theme of this trip, crossing off some of the bucket list! Like many places they’re struggling a bit to merge old and new technologies; you’re asked to book online and either print out the email or have it on your mobile so they can scan the barcode, total waste of time as the barcode scanner won’t work at all with phones and struggles with any printed version that’s been folded (the barcode is right in the middle of the page!) So as the queue built up, the one prebooking is supposed to prevent, they resorted to finding people on their printout and crossing them off when issuing tickets. 

Motive power for the day was an ex-NCB Hunslet tank engine:

Post-COVID you’re allocated to a coach, which was no problem except it was full of railway photographers -see the anoraks! 😀 I had a bit chat with some of them, all friendly, and got a few photos of the journey. It’s quite a scenic line in some respects as you’ve got the sea one side and woodland the other, but then you also go past Grangemouth oil refinery, albeit at a distance. The line runs up to a terminus at Manuel (Que?) which also has their link to the mainline, quite important as they’ve been working with companies developing battery and even hydrogen powered units, although typically these arrive by road! 

The museum was interesting enough, a few locos, wagons and coaches but very little memorabilia, this probably reflects the fact it’s all part of the SRPS - Scottish Railway Preservation Society. Being able to get very close to some wagons gave me more idea of brake mechanisms and a wooden hopper wagon also helped - several planks were missing so I could see the inside hopper arrangements. I rounded off the visit with a decent lunch in the buffet. 

I’d have liked to visit the Bo’ness Motor Museum but it’s only open on weekends so instead I called in at a farm shop I’d spotted for supplies - Ayrshire Bacon and Lorne Sausage will sort the next couple of breakfasts nicely. 

Small Pipes and Not So Small Pipes

I didn’t rush away this morning as the first target was the Chantry Bagpipe Museum in Morpeth. In hindsight with the way the trip worked out the site I was on wasn’t ideal as I first drove much of the same way as I did yesterday but that was partly down to a change of plans, I’d have been better stopping at a site a bit further north. It didn’t really matter, it’s nice countryside anyway! 

Problem one in Morpeth, how to pay for the car park. There seemed a dearth of ticket machines, so I assumed it must be free, on the way out I found the one single machine and yes, the sign said 24 hours free parking so that was a bonus. I was ready for a coffee so stopped off at the bus station cafe/deli (yes, it really is a bus station deli). I realised I’d been oop North long enough when I said, “Thanks, pet!” to the waitress. 😊

The Chantry Museum has been on the visit list for a few years now, ever since I went to Woodhorn Colliery Museum. I do have a liking for the Northumbrian Small Pipes, which are very different to the Scottish Highland Bagpipes in several respects, the main one being that you can listen to them close up (the latter are best heard from an adjacent mountain top to the piper 😀 ). The small pipes are the last surviving English pipes but it’s likely they owe more to the French Musette than the other British varieties, although they do have similarities to the Irish uilleann pipes. The museum does cover other pipes, including the Scottish Half Long Pipes, which I’ll confess I’d never heard of. 

The museum is combined with the tourist information, gift shop and poetry library. You’ll be pleased to know I didn’t buy a set of pipes (they don’t have any and I know my limitations) but I did add two books to my North East Steam collection, both of which may help with the current model build, especially as unusually  one of them includes colour plates - it’s difficult discerning liveries in black and white!

After a quick stock up in Morrisons I took the coastal route North with the intention of stopping off somewhere, unfortunately given that it’s August and the time of day I couldn’t get parked in either Seahouses or Bamburgh (or at least not near enough for it to be worthwhile) so I continued on. I’m not sure why but the SatNav brought me in to the Edinburgh  site, which is West of the city, along the waterfront instead of around the bypass. We last went that way about 45 years ago when a truck driver led Dad, towing the caravan, to the Forth Bridge. It was Festival time and they’d had a conversation in a lay-by short of the city, apparently everywhere else was gridlocked. I did get a glimpse of Britannia in passing but with road works and bizarre lane markings* I was having to concentrate. 

Checking in at the site was as smooth as usual, it’s not somewhere I’d choose normally but it’s in the right place! I’ve found a pitch at one end so at least I’m largely undisturbed by the traffic, with 148 pitches that can be a problem. Although it’s a city centre site it is well surrounded by trees but security is an issue, they provide secure bike lockers for example. 

 

*At one point there were bus stops on the left, the lane had a straight on arrow then suddenly became a right turn lane and you had to make the vehicle jump 10’ to the left! That caught three of us out. 

Cragside and Slag Alice

The weather, coupled with a slightly later start than intended due to general lethargy, dictated a swap round in the day’s planned activities so the first visit was to Cragside. I’ve been wanting to go to the estate for many years but it’s not worked out previously so this was an ideal opportunity. 

The house was initially built as a hunting lodge then extended by George Armstrong, the armaments and engineering pioneer. Whilst providing the means of conquering and controlling the empire may be a bit dodgy these days there is no doubting his vision and innovation. He was actually trained and practiced as a solicitor before his interest in mechanical matters took over and he founded the manufacturing dynasty that built the mechanisms for the Low Level Bridge in Newcastle and the slightly more famous Tower Bridge amongst many other marvels. . 

The house itself is spectacular, perched on the side of a crag (hence the name) but isn’t all that grand in itself,  it was mainly a holiday home and place to entertain visitors, once the Armstrongs had purchased Bamburgh Castle they’d a much grander residence! In any case I wasn’t there for the house itself but to see the innovations introduced such as electric lighting (first incandescent bulbs used to light a room), a hydraulically driven lift and kitchen appliances, etc. it was also the first house powered by hydro electricity, something they still do when there’s sufficient water having installed a Reverse Archimedes’ Screw a few years ago. 

The electricity came about partly due to Armstrong’s friendship with Joseph Swan, one of my heroes. Most people will tell you that Edison invented the electric light bulb, however he didn’t! In fact several people were working on it independently at the same time. We do know for a fact that Swan demonstrated a sustained light (ie more than a second or so) before Edison. This lead to a patent dispute which was resolved by Swan holding the patents in Britain (and hence the empire) and Edison for the rest of the world. I understand that in reality Swan’s bulb wasn’t suitable for bulk manufacture so they set up the joint venture EdiSwan company to make and sell bulbs in the UK. The original table lamps are still in the house, although these days they have LED bulbs in and have been fitted with modern switches, originally they were turned on and off by lifting them in and out of dishes of Mercury. 

Armstrong was a visionary in that, at the height of the coal powered industrial revolution, he was already propounding the need for sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, not for “green” reasons but the fact that the coal would  eventually run out. 

I’m not sure just how far I walked, probably about three miles and much of it was up and down and on some rough ground, so I reckoned I deserved lunch at the tearooms. One notable thing is that, for a National Trust property, they’re quite blasé over health and safety. As examples, the steps down from the house through the rockery are steep and very uneven but you can still use them and to join the 6 mile carriage drive (and it’s well worth doing so) you drive through the archways and across the main courtyard of the house where visitors are wandering about. It would be difficult for them to do anything about either of these but it’s refreshing that they haven’t just closed them off. 

The second visit was to Northumberlandia - The Lady of the North or, as she’s generally known, Slag Alice! Many years ago the doyen of North East newsreaders, Mike Neville, did a parody report about a Northern Arts project involving digging holes in the ground and piling up the the waste, well it’s now true, sort of. The pit waste was readily available so Charles Jenks designed a huge sculpture of a lady made by piling it up. Photographically the visit was a bit of a waste of time as I didn’t have a helicopter handy and frankly even looking at aerial photos I have difficulty recognising it for what it’s supposed to be. 

If I didn’t know better I’d say it looks more Iron Age than modern day. 

The Scottish Trip 2020 - A Late Start

Yes, the title is confusing, this trip should have taken place two years ago, but then COVID hit so it’s a very late start! The plans I made back then were a bit ambitious (particularly with the rise in fuel prices since then) so I’ve simplified them considerably.

It was actually an early start this morning as I wanted a haircut, the barbers I use open at 7am so having done that and had a coffee and sausage inna bun I was still on the road from Market Harbotough by 8. I’d largely loaded up the ‘van last night, trusting the fridge would stay cold, which helped. Not having the cycling kit gives me a bit more storage and the overhead Net worked for its intended purpose of being somewhere to put my suit (we have a posh dinner next weekend). 

It was as good a run up the A1 as I’ve ever had, despite warnings of doom and gloom with rail strikes and holidays, so I reached the first destination by 11:20. I’d been debating what to do on the way up but once I confirmed that the Bowes Railway was open that made my mind up. I’ve been before but I was hoping to get some decent photos of hopper wagons for the current model layout build. I wasn’t disappointed, I’ve got some good pics of three different hoppers and the Jubilee 5 plank wagons as well. At least two of those will be transferred to the 3D modelling program I use and printed on the resin printer. I also got some photos of various underground locos and wagons for a possible future project, although that will be some way away. 

You’re guided round most of the site and the guide we had was good, although I will say some of his tales were rather tall and he muddled up some facts, none the less he was entertaining. Having been a miner, fireman, mine rescue, etc. he did dwell on the loss of life, understandable when he was involved at Flixborough and various pit explosions. 

From the railway it was a quick trip through the Tyne Tunnel, they’ve gone over to pay on the ’net instead of at toll booths - I’m sure it took longer to sort that later than it had to actually get through! The site for a couple of nights is the Club one at Old Hartley near Whitley Bay; I’ve stayed here a couple of times before and whilst it’s not very spacious it’s ok. The view makes up for it though, helped by the fact it slopes down towards the sea, this was taken from the ‘van side door…

The phone camera was at maximum zoom so there’s a foreshortening of perspective, the ‘vans aren’t actually as close together as they appear.

Once pitched* (which consisted of putting out my Pitch In Use sign) and having had an ice cream from the reception I decided to go for a wander. One of the reasons I’m here is to try and get some decent photos of St Mary’s Island and the lighthouse. The sunshine died on me a little but I think I got some OK shots from a couple of locations, I may try again tomorrow afternoon if it’s sunnier. I walked back towards the site but then carried on past it to Seaton Sluice for a pint. I followed that with fish and chips overlooking the harbour, surprisingly it was a blackbird trying to mug me for the chips not a seagull, before walking back to site and settling in for the evening. 

*After my fridge works (see previous blog post) I decided I’d run it just on battery to see how well it holds up, if I have problems I’ll plug the mains cable in but otherwise it’s one less thing to unpack and pack away. 

Woe, Woe and Thrice Woe

I’ve been sorting some ‘van issues, some have gone well, others not so much. 

The buzzing from the audio was very quickly diagnosed - I could see daylight through the driver’s door speaker so with a little fettling, and some 3D printed spacers, a new pair of speakers were installed. It would have been a good idea to turn the volume down before testing though, the bass response is fantastic. 

I also fitted a new DAB aerial as it’s been showing No Signal for quite a while, unfortunately this hasn’t fixed the problem. I’m disappointed, especially as it took a couple of hours, but there’s not much I can do about it. 

The coolbox problems proved a lot more complicated! 

Back in 2021 I found the coolbox wouldn’t run off the battery overnight, but was OK during the day when the solar panel is charging. No real problem, I’m normally on hookup anyway but I diagnosed a dying leisure battery, probably from lockdown. Move on to 2022 and I installed a new battery prior to a weekend away without hookup, all worked perfectly, problem solved, except it wasn’t. A few weeks later I had a few days camping followed by a few days in a hotel, during the latter I found the coolbox wasn’t staying down to temp again. The compressor would fire up, run a short while then cut out, with no error showing. 

Possible issues were the wiring to the coolbox socket, another dodgy battery or the battery wiring. The first I tested by wiring in a direct feed from the solar panel controller. All seemed ok briefly but then the coolbox started cutting out. The useful thing was that having it on the controller I could see the voltage pulling down to 11.9 volts, sufficiently low for the battery protection to kick in. That eliminated one bit of wiring but strongly suggested the battery was faulty. Now you do occasionally get a duff battery but it’s unusual so my worry at this point was it had been “cooked” and I had a charging system fault. 

The next test was to remove the battery, which was showing fully charged, and test it off the ‘van. The green indicator was showing, a good sign, and a quick check showed no shortage of fluid, which suggested it hadn’t been overcharged. After a minor bit of faff I hooked the coolbox up directly to the battery with a multimeter attached and it all behaved. The battery voltage steadily dropped to 12.4v with the coolbox running, 12.6v without which is about perfect. It came down to temperature as well. 

That left me with the battery wiring. I’d used the original wiring from the ‘van conversion so rather than try and fault find it I decided to just replace it. I had some of the 4mm2 cable left over from the solar panel installation so I used that and kept the runs as short as possible. I decided to take the battery feeds directly to the solar controller and then feed from the controller’s Load output to the lights, etc. There was a minor hiccup in that having bought new battery clamps they’ve got M8 screws, and I didn’t have terminals that large, so I had to use the old ones temporarily. With everything reconnected I tested it all, first without the solar connected, and bingo, it was all fine with no noticeable voltage drop. The final job was to wire a new feed to the tap and water pump as that was tapped of the redundant battery feed, a quick 15 minute job. 

The End-ish

That’s the camping part of the trip over as I’m now in the hotel bar with a pint of Thatchers Gold watching the ceremonials on the telly. 

Nice touch when I left the site this morning, they have a drop box for the loo keys and Mrs Warden was just coming to empty it as I was leaving. Of course it’s well known that all Club wardens are fierce, grumpy, little Hitlers, so all I got was, “Oh, Mr Peckett, are you leaving us? Hope you had a lovely stay and do come back and see us soon!” I know I, and my unit, are distinctive but the site is very busy and it’s a few days since I checked in so bonus points for remembering my name! 

Overall conclusion from the trip is that, unusually, I didn’t really do enough planning. The trouble was the Tarka Trail isn’t as easy to follow as they claimed, and the online information is sparse as they want you to buy the guide. No matter, I’ve had a few good days and I’m looking forward to a few more now. 

The answer to yesterday’s quiz by the way is that it’s an RNLI Maroon launcher, used to signal call outs. It came complete with an instruction poster that basically said don’t lean over it while pulling the string! I know there were some complaints when they retired these in favour of pagers as everyone knew to keep out of the way of the crew, hence some stations now have sirens but they only cover the immediate area. 

Mostly Ships

I decided a lazy day was in order, my knee is fine after yesterday’s minor accident, but a little sore and stiff (wet paper towels help!) I did find later on that my back was aching but that may be completely unrelated, it does that. 

One of the reasons I have a paper road atlas in the ‘van is for just these sort of days, particularly as I made sure it’s one with attractions clearly shown. The one that caught my eye was the North Devon Maritime Museum, near Bideford. The downside was it meant driving back out the way I’d been the last two days, past Barnstaple, but not much I could do about that. 

I started with visiting Bideford itself, just wandering round and grabbing a coffee in the Pannier Market. These, and Butchers’ Row seem to be a feature locally as there’s a huge one in Barnstaple. They were, as the name suggests, where people brought produce in panniers on pack horses to be sold. I had a brief chat with a cyclist whilst there, he was recharging himself and his bike battery! The cafe had kindly let him plug his charger in, he was heading for Plymouth and reckoned he’d need two more charges to get there. 

Unfortunately one of the town’s  model shops, Osborne’s, went solely online due to COVID and haven’t reopened but there was another smaller one that distracted me for a few minutes. It’s always worth looking round these places as they might just have that accessory you need, possibly from a supplier that’s long been out of business; sadly that wasn’t the case here. 

I then headed round to Appledore and the Museum, fortunately there’s a car park almost right outside, even better they weren’t marked spaces so the length with the bike rack on wasn’t an issue (I parked next to a much larger motorhome). The museum is a reasonable size and worth the few pounds entrance fee. We tend to forget just how much maritime trade there was in and around the South West and the level of boat and ship building. 

Quiz time, no prizes, does anybody know, or can guess, what this is? Answer in the next blog if I remember! 

Something I did find slightly strange is that one of the larger Appledore based shipping lines had all their ships built in the North East when it seems there were local yards capable of taking on the work. The museum shop suffered from a common problem, an obligation to stock self published books by local authors! They’d got a couple very heavily discounted, one of which was a very nice hardback but was basically a copy of the Lloyds Register entries for every ship associated with the place, even at £5 (down from £25) it would have a very limited appeal. 

That’s about the end of things for the camping part of the trip, I’ll wrap up tomorrow after I’ve moved on to the hotel I’m at for the rest of the week. 

It’s a Little ‘Otter

Another day of ups and downs, but it could have been worse. 

I could have cycled from the site to Braunton but it’s about 5 miles of narrow roads (the off road route is strictly footpath only) so I drove instead. Parking was easy, plentiful and not too expensive, and I looked forward to visiting the town on my return. 

The Tarka Trail from there to Barnstaple is great, it follows the old railway along the edge of the Taw Estuary and is a good hard surfaced path, it’s almost too good! Unfortunately that’s where things then went wrong. The sign said to follow the way marks for route 27 through the town, I would have if they hadn’t suddenly just stopped appearing! I was able to follow the Tarka Trail on the map until it became a footpath that I couldn’t cycle on. I used Route 3 until I hit the main road to Exeter which would take me back to where I needed to be but then missed the turn, again no sign post.

Having realised I must have gone wrong I decided to turn back, unfortunately having waited for a gap in the traffic I hadn’t noticed the back wheel was on a very slippery bit of mud, with the bike on an angle and the front turned it just slid out taking the bike, and me, down. It could have been a lot worse, I ended up with a grazed knee and the bike a grazed brake lever, neither of which will take too much fixing. 

Having found where I needed to go I rejoined the path along the river, only to find a mile or so later it split again with bikes being taken back on to the Exeter road a few hundred yards from where I’d turned back! I carried on for another mile or two, had to do another double back, and thought enough is enough. That stretch is a mixture of road and trail with poor signage so I headed back into Barnstaple.

As it was past 11 o’clock and, as there just happened to be some nice substantial bike racks outside, I called in to Tea on the Taw for coffee (yes, I know it should have been tea). Having studied the menu and ordered coffee I decided I’d have brunch and asked for the Vintage Welsh Rarebit, a dish I’m particularly fond of. All I’ll say is it’s highly recommended - much better than the one I last had in Wales! There was a cool breeze for the few miles back to Braunton but I did take the opportunity to photograph some remaining Railway artefacts. 

Back in Braunton, and having locked the bike back on its rack, I explored the countryside centre and town museum. The latter has another model railway - this one built to show the layout of the station. It’s not the finest modelling I’ve seen, and there seemed to be some confusion between whether it should be GWR or SR (it was the latter), but it serves a purpose. For 20p you can see the train run which seemed a reasonable deal. 

By that point I was feeling thirsty so popped into the London Arms for a glass of cider, it went down well but I still had to drive so couldn’t have a second one. ☹️ However I wanted some shopping for tea so put a bottle in the fridge to chill! 😊 

Tomorrow’s activities will probably depend on the state of my knee. I banged it as well as grazing it so it’s a bit sore however it survived the cycling today. 

In the end I did 19.33 miles, so just short of my planned minimum of 20, with 1600ft of ascent. Just a note on that, the OS app may have over estimated the ascent on Sunday, it doesn’t know about tunnels! 

Rain, Rain, Go Away…

and stay away! 

Despite the weather forecast saying less than 5% chance of rain it started just as I was getting sorted out for the day. At first I thought it was only a brief shower but it then got heavier so I decided to abandon the cycling plans. 

I’d intended to go into Barnstable tomorrow to visit the museum there and do a bit of shopping so I just changed things round and went today. It was still quite heavy when I arrived but did eventually clear later on. My first port of call was the tearoom for coffee and a toasted tea cake, very good they were too. The museum is fairly typical of the genre, covering the town and North Devon in general, for once there wasn’t too much I recognised from my lifetime! 

The bonus however was that it has a model railway, an old exhibition layout inherited from its owner. The current keeper was in attendance so we had a good chat. The layout is partly of the town station with non-prototypical additions, including the goods shed and turntable from Ilfracombe; it’s a shame they don’t have the length to fully assemble it though. The modelling is generally excellent and he’d done a good job of the cameo scenes that can make or break a layout* such as having an overturned milk churn with a dog after the spilt milk. 

From there I had a wander round the town and had some lunch. It was a good job I’d put plenty of parking time on the ‘van, a simple Brie and Bacon baguette took a very long time to arrive then had to go back as they’d messed up the order slightly; it was very nice when it finally arrived though. 

I always take the front off the radio when I’m parked and stow it on the shelf above the windscreen, I doubt it’s much of a deterrent to people breaking in but it may help. This time I couldn’t find the blooming thing again! It was there, of course, it had just buried itself somehow in the space where the courtesy lamps are. Having found that I forgot the other important task when pulling off, disable the tracker alert for the bike! I know it works, I’ve tested it three times already this trip. 😀

I set the SatNav into eco-route mode for the fun of it rather than go back on the main roads, fine until I came up behind a tractor with a wide harrow on, the local Devon lanes weren’t built for such traffic so good job I wasn’t in a rush - at one point a van coming the other way had to back up 100 yards or so to find a wide enough spot to pass. I’d noted a farm shop near the site so decided to pay it a visit, it was rather disappointing though on the fresh salad side, just a few items obviously from the wholesaler, so I’ll have to try and get something tomorrow. Close to the farm shop was a car park by an old railway line so I stopped off, very briefly as I realised I’d cycled past there yesterday, I’d forgotten I was that close to the caravan site. 

As an aside I’ve been reading a book by an ex railwayman who started as a signaller then went though various control roles. He spent some time in Northampton and mentioned something I remember well. Carlsberg had a huge advertising hoarding there but used it for local fun, not naming the product. Mentioned in the book is when they had an image of a railway totem sign saying Northampton, then below in small letters, Probably! After that they had Wilkommen Til Northampton (sp?)  I often wondered what strangers to the town thought of these. 

*No, not every church needs a wedding or funeral cameo! 

I Get my Kicks…

On Route 27 - doesn’t really work!

The day started with a minor success, I finally got a decent cup of filter coffee from my AeroPress. The first time I took it away I forgot the filter papers, last time the milk had curdled (great for cheese or curd tart, not good for coffee); very enjoyable it was too. I’ve also discovered what I’ve forgotten, the plastic bag for the dirty clothes, but I can improvise. 

Things then went downhill and uphill, both figuratively and literally. I’d noticed when I loaded the bike that there seemed to be a bit of brake rub on the front wheel which I put down to having the handlebars turned though 90 degrees. When I set out for the day’s planned ride it was still there; I’ve had a few issues before and it usually wears off, but this time it didn’t. 

My suspicion was that the brake pads were out of centre (being a posh bike it has hydraulic disc brakes). I tried adjusting them but it didn’t help so it was back to the site for a longer ponder and consult of the ‘net. I took the calliper off, checked the disk for warping, put it back on and the problem persisted. I then realised it was actually the mudguard that was the rubbing! A two minute fix, recenter the brakes and I was ready for the off again. Whilst all this was happening I’d also taken a few swigs of Doombar, having accidentally grabbed and opened the wrong can out of the fridge. 

The ride is along the old LSWR Barnstaple - Ilfracombe Railway. It’s a hard surfaced path so easy enough riding but is quite narrow which could result in cyclist - walker conflicts, fortunately all was fine in my encounters. I’d already had a chat with another rider on the earlier aborted ride, he was in full touring mode but welcomed a stop and a few minutes break (I’d guess he was into his 70’s and had a stroke three years ago, I’ll be happy if I’m as fit at his age!)

The railway was opened in 1874 and upgraded to double track in 1889. It survived less than 100 years, closing in 1970 having survived Dr Beeching but falling to Barbara Castle. Attempts at preservation at that time fell into the same issue as we had a few years later with the Market Harborough line, BR wanted the full commercial value for the line which was too much. Invariably they ended up with next to nothing as the lines were handed to councils.

Now anybody who has been to Ilfracombe will know that it lies in a deep narrow cleft in the coast. The caravan site lies at about 600’ above sea level and the gradient out of Ilfracombe is 1 in 36, one of the steepest double track sections in the country and reckoned to be the steepest out of a terminal station - and that station wasn’t at the bottom of the town! That meant it was a great ride down into the town with minimal pedalling but getting back required all my efforts and the maximum output from Mr Bosch’s finest! It was good to see the sea though, what there was as the tide was out so the inner harbour was dry.

 

The main focal point of interest at the end of the pier is Verity, a Damian Hirst statue:

Apparently it’s “a modern allegory of truth and justice" and has been loaned to the town for 20 years by the artist. The building on top of the hill is the Chapel of St Nicholas, built in 1321, which from the Middle Ages maintained a light to guide ships. It ceased to be a chapel following the dissolution of the monasteries but continued as a light house, as it does to the present day (it’s thought to be the oldest working lighthouse in the country). 

Overall according to the OS track I rode 10.29 miles with 2,068 feet of ascent, plus there’s about 4 miles to add for the initial bimble. Not a huge distance by any means but satisfying. I was interested to see, in the short time I was in the town, that motorists seemed to be being more careful around cyclists. It’s not easy with narrow streets but a couple of times I had drivers who were clearly impatient but did wait for a safe place to pass, so it looks like the new Highway Code is working!

A Bit Late…

I’ve finally made it back to Devon, only two years late! Little did we know what was going to hit us when, back in 2019, we booked for 2020. I’m having a few days in the campervan, mainly to do some cycling, before joining friends at the activity hotel we go to near Okehampton. 

I generally break my journeys somewhere interesting, this time it was the Swindon and Cricklade Railway that caught my attention. In the end it was a slightly disappointing experience as, due to a shortage of volunteers, the Museum and cafe weren’t open. There’s another slight issue, the full journey time is just over an hour, but actually consists of just 24 minutes travel and 44 minutes sitting in the stations and halts! The train of the day was an old 2 Car DMU set:

I suppose it makes a change from steam locos! 😊

Hayes Knoll, the “station” at one end of the line is an oddity, it looks convincing…

but if you look carefully through the windows you might be able to see that it’s a facade behind which is a loco and carriage shed. That’s an idea that will go in the memory banks for a future model. 

The drive to Swindon was pretty easy but unfortunately that didn’t last. I’d have been better finding somewhere to visit a bit further along the journey and, despite the SatNav’s best efforts and avoiding the M4 and M5 until I was in Somerset, I probably lost 40-50 minutes through weight of traffic then following a wobble box for much of the last 30 miles along a narrow road - I thought he might be coming to the same site but he turned off a mile or so short. That all combined to make it a near five hour drive from Swindon to here, with only a wee break at a service station on the way. 

I’m now ensconced on a Club site not far from Ilfracombe, all being well my first target is to cycle there tomorrow as there’s an old railway line that goes across the back of the site with a gate on to it. The line is part of National Route 27 which runs from Ilfracombe to Plymouth; I’ll be doing more of it as part of the Tarka Trail over the next few days

A Bunch of Berlingos

The first trip away for 2022 was to meet up with other Berlingo and Peugeot Partner camper owners just outside Northallerton, a repeat of an event I went to last year. It was a bit mixed, the people were lovely as always but the weather didn’t really play nicely. I’d taken Friday off work, partly to carry out some family duties which fell through, so had all day to travel. 

As is my habit I looked around for somewhere to visit on the way to the site. I’ve recently been rereading a book called Bollocks to Alton Towers which gives details of alternatives to the big theme parks; one of the places mentioned is the Workhouse Museum at Ripon, along with the Courthouse Museum and the Prison and Police Museum. I have a general interest in social history and criminology and they seemed like interesting places so that settled that. Due to opening times I started with the Workhouse, it was enjoyable, although I know quite a bit about the setup of these. I’d noted a Fish and Chip restaurant nearby so that provided lunch before I continued walking round to the Cathedral. My timing was possibly impeccable as it was the first day of their 1,350 year anniversary celebrations, the crypt being part of the original church dedicated in 672AD. I find that quite incredible really, that was less than 300 years after the Romans left Britain and was closer to the Iron Age* than it is to today! 

The Courthouse museum is the smallest of the three and, incidentally the only one where the volunteer guide wasn’t talkative. It wasn’t a long visit so it was quickly on to the Prison and Police Museum. After a lengthy chat I had a look round. The building was an extension to the House of Correction and later served as a Police Station until the 1950’s. Again, lots of stuff I already knew but interesting to see the artefacts and actual rooms - you don’t realise just how small the cells were in Victorian times. I ended the visit with a bit of shopping for essentials, mainly bread rolls, before the short drive to Northallerton and the Sentry Circle campsite. 

I think there were about 27 Berlingo or Partner campers there, plus a couple of interlopers in other vehicles. We were on the site’s smaller field as there was a Beltane festival on the main one. That suited us anyway, enough room to spread out but all in one place. The weather during the day had been great, with sunshine, but as evening came on the temperature dropped a lot. We still sat around the fire pit drinking and chatting but I’ll admit that when I got back to the ‘van I needed to warm up. As there’s no electric hookup I had to fall back on older technology, the hot water bottle! Once in the sleeping bag with that at my feet I quickly got cosy again. 

Saturday was another day of good weather so I decided to walk down to Northallerton itself. It’s a bit under 3 miles which I’d reckoned overall would be on my limits but doable. By the time I got there a pint beckoned, the first pub I looked in was heaving, due to it being the May Day Fair, but I noticed a sign for the Stumble Inn. I’m not that keen on shopping arcade micro-pubs but they advertised a good range of craft ales and ciders so I decided to give it a go. 3 Pints of Leeds Brewery’s Yorkshire Gold later, and a chat with the bar staff and customers, it was definitely time to stumble out! I had a wander round the fair, and Lakeland, before the walk back up the hill to the site. Unfortunately the weather then deteriorated with rain coming on and setting in for the evening so the fire pit session was shorter than it would have been and I had an early night with the Kindle and hot water bottle for company. 

The rain continued Sunday morning and the day didn’t brighten up until late afternoon so I settled on a quiet day in the van. We did have a much better evening though, chilly again but it stayed dry and the conversation was varied and enjoyable. 

Coincidentally to my trip the Wensleydale Railway were holding a model show which I thought would be worth a visit. Had the weather been better I’d have gone on Sunday but I called in today on my way home. I didn’t have high expectations, and wasn’t disappointed, but I’m glad I went. As an adjunct to their train services and the fact they were formally reopening the Leeming Bar Station House it was fine, with a few layouts, a couple of traders and a couple of demonstrations. I had a chat with someone about electronic control, he gave me a couple of useful ideas and I may have returned the compliment. Due to the drive home I didn’t have time for a train trip, I’ve traveled the line before and will try and do so again before too long as it’s one of my favourites. 

The drives both to and from Northallerton were fine, with only minor slowing down a couple of times, so that was fine. I was fortunate in my timing as I heard there were problems on the A1 later on Friday. I’ve given up on the Garmin satnav now and I’m just using the TomTom app on the phone - the traffic is far better and that helps with the routing. The downside is I’ve lost the reversing camera which was handy with the bike rack but there are options which I’ll explore.

Only two things didn’t go quite to plan, I took the bike but it didn’t get used, again a victim of the Sunday weather, and the milk would have been handy for making cheese (or  Yorkshire curd tarts) but it wasn’t much good in coffee. 

All being well the next trip is Devon at the beginning of June so not too long to wait. 

I’ll add some photos when I’ve downloaded them from the camera. 

*Using the convention that the Iron Age ended in 500BC. 

Spring Update

Before I blog the first trip of 2022 here’s a quick update on the winter. 

The ‘van was serviced and MOT’d without any significant problems so hopefully we’re good for another year. I’ve now replaced the failed leisure battery, I did consider a lithium battery as I could get more useful energy and less weight in the same space but at the moment they’re still 3-4 times the price per Ah so stuck with the old technology. By the time I’m looking for a replacement ‘van I’m hoping the price will have fallen considerably. 

The unexpected job was fixing the water - when I tried it lots of water came out, just not from the tap. Access is a pain, involving lifting the whole cooker/sink unit but the fix was simple, the hose spigot had detached from the tap as it was just a push fit. A liberal amount of epoxy should prevent a recurrence. 

I’ve been experimenting with adding storage and improving the inside arrangements, with the aid of the 3D printer, but things haven’t worked out yet so I’ll report more later.