Another Wonderful Dales Picture

 This has appeared today on Facebook from Point and Shoot photography.  Click on the image to enlarge.  It shows Pen y Ghent mountain and the Helwith Bridge area of Ribblesdale taken from the Stackhouse road to Settle.   The bonus, from the left is a southbound steam train, almost dwarfed by this stunning landscape.

Do please click to enlarge

Cabin Air 'Filter' Blocked!

The otherwise (now) magnificent Mitsubishi Shogun's air conditioning was not operating at all well during this roasting hot weather.  I follow the Facebook pages of the UK Shogun Owners Club where fellow Shogies share their problems and solutions.

Turns out that like all cars nowadays there is an air filter for the cabin air - hot or cold.  On the Shogun it lurks away behind one of the passenger side glove boxes and it is a right fiddly job to get at it.  YouTube to the rescue - again.  Here is the extracted filter.  Possibly it last saw the light of day when the car was built in 2003:

Replacement is on its way.  Apparently replacement of this item is ofter overlooked during servicing . . . . . 

Beware.

The Weed Garden Prospers - and Doesn't Look at all Bad

 Just a few pictures of our north bank where weeds are encouraged to do their thing along with well established intended shrubs - including roses:

Jacobaea Maritima and Dock

 By far the most successful plant on our near-vertical and infertile south end 'garden' is Jacobaea Maritima, otherwise known a silver ragwort.  Here is a specimen, full of buds and about to burst into bloom with bright yellow daisy-like flowers:

And a day later the flowers are out.  The bottom picture shows a huge great dock plant behind.  Dock is a weed in anybody's book - or was.  It too is about to burst into flower.

And take a closer look at the dock ?flowers:

Latest on Gladys

 Nephew David has really got to grips with our old 1914 Ford Model T, now in his very competent custody in The Fylde, Lancashire.  He's gone almost the whole hog and got himself a hat and waistcoat that befits the motor.  Not only that, he's set about polishing the brass.  There's a lot of it on these 1914 cars.  Less brass after WW1when brass was prioritised on ammunition, tragically.

Afternoon Thunderstorm and the Morning After

 We are in a drought just now and a heatwave - ideal conditions for a thunderstorm.  Well, here we are enjoying one high and dry on the Terminal 3 terrace under the marvellous sunshade / roof against the rain.

After half an hour or so of thunder and lightning approaching from the south, the rain came.  Not a lot but enough to wet the nearby bit of road.

Next morning, things are back to normal - hot sunshine.  This is the security view from one of our tower-top cameras.  Unremarkable until I noticed that you can actually see the shadow of the camera itself - centre screen in the close-up final picture.  

How it Was

 Found this pre-restoration picture on Stephen Craven's website.  Stephen did the detailed architectural drawings prior to the tower's restoration.

Besides showing the basic completeness of the tower it is particularly useful right now as it shows areas where rainwater still penetrates below the drip cornice below the tank.  That is very useful right now as work is about to begin which addresses, and hopefully cures, the problems.

What an improvement in the appearance of the stonework eh?  People sometimes ask if we had it stone cleaned?  We didn't - so why the great improvement?  The sunshine helps of course but the individual stones appear cleaner.  I wonder if it has something to do with the tank itself -  rusty at the start and now painted so there is not an almost constant stream of rusty water coursing over it?  That plus clean country air perhaps?  Anyway, it is indeed a great improvement.

Gates

 Be it known that on Facebook I am a follower of the Gates Appreciation Society.  There, I've admitted it.  I am also a member of the British Water Towers Appreciation Society and the Baths in Fields Appreciation Society.  Added together I think that may make me unique among men snd something of an eccentric even.

Anyway, gates have been on my mind for a while, especially the very long gates that form our entry/exit onto The Sidings.  They are rarely used but are incredibly useful when needed.   Over the 12 or so years since they were new they have sagged - inevitably.  They are heavy and from time to time they get swung on by children and young adults, putting them under immense strain.  They had finally sagged to the ground in the middle making opening them somewhere on a spectrum between tedious and impossible.

This week, and after much thought, I have faced up to the problem.  They now have substantial castors to take their weight and revision of the ironware means they can now close properly and be locked.  Not just that, the circular 'stop' sign facing The Sidings has been reversed and painted railway gate red.  It had faded to pink and was neither use nor ornament.  So I reversed it.  Viola:

Steam Trains Taking Water at Settle Again

I was quite alarmed yesterday when I heard that the southbound Fellsman was to stop and fill up with water at Settle rather than Appleby.  Hadn't they heard the Settle water tower had been decommissioned 55 years ago I wondered?  Needn't have worried.  LSL of Crewe had arranged for a road tanker to do the job.  

Turns out the Appleby water tower system, dating from 1991, has been deemed too dangerous because somebody must climb onto the top of the tender to open the tank tops and insert the hose - a process that has happened for a couple of centuries but must now stop - at least at Appleby (of all places).  The tender-top person must now have a safety harness.   Presumably this will give heritage lines something to think about.  

I got a chance to speak to the LSL crew.  Settle appears for now to be ideal for trackside lorry access and  facilities in general.  They said that Settle would be used for up-line watering for the foreseeable future.  The pictures are self explanatory I think.

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The Weeds are Doing Nicely

 The wild roses are spectacularly good this year.  They smell good too.

And here's the same subject viewed from Settle station car park yesterday evening, showing our beautiful weed bank.  Pity about the dustbins though but it's probably a worldwide visual problem.

Gladys Emmanuel Out and About Again

 Our lovely 1914 Ford Model T, now with nephew David Kay in Lancashire is actually out and about on the roads of The Fylde - and very fine she looks too.  Even casually parked on the roadside in Lytham (bottom picture) she is a sight to behold.   Well done David for overcoming the undoubted challenges involve in getting her started after a very long hibernation and for learning to drive her.  Two upper pictures are at David's house in Singleton.

The Geest Auto-truck Hits the Road to Booths

Saturday was the first official 'proper' journey for the now road-registered and insured Geest - to local supermarket Booths.  Here's Booths in Settle - a place of gastronomic pilgrimage from all over the Dales and beyond.   We are lucky enough to be so near to Booths that it acts as a gigantic pantry for us.  Notice the shaded area at the near end of the building - right by the main entrance and a good place to park up the Geest truck in hot weather.  Today's petrol tends to boil and vaporise if it gets too hot.  How thoughtful of Booths.

On Saturday I forgot to take a picture of the Geest at Booths but I made up for it today:

It is immense fun to drive and with enough trips to Booths and back I shall feel confident and competent enough to drive anywhere in Settle at least.   Somewhere between a motor cycle and a tractor I suppose.  Three forward gears means she purrs along at quite a pace on a smooth road.  You have to avoid bumps though as it has no suspension at all.  Number one rule of driving a Geest is that the front is narrow but the back is wider than you think.  And yes, I wear a cycle helmet.