WHAT TO WEAR? (28/09/10)

What to wear in Weardale, pronounced weer as in queer  or rear. A big anorak is de rigour for today. A misty, wet, rainy day. We pulled onto a small camp site before noticing that a sign proclaimed couples only. It wasn’t a problem, as the warden said. “You are about big enough for a couple.” Cheeky minx! No anorexic herself!

We had a quick wander around Westgate a small village and very picturesque it looked in the gloom.

They have built us a footbridge over the river Wear. It didn’t really save my feet from a soaking, they were already on the wet side of damp. The ford and it’s weir, pronounced like the River not like where……..We’re at the weir on the Wear, wearing wellies. On a wet Wednesday in Westgate Weardale…..just my luck…. it’s Tuesday!

I’ve no internet so it could be a Wednesday!

  It is a lovely river, tranquil one minute….

  Flowing the next……………

Now bubbling merrily down the valley. This is the road bridge in Westgate on the left is the bridge over the old railway. Someone using it as a caravan garage, which was and is a slight irritation. I should have cloned it out…….too late now.

A rather unusual and pretty church St Andrews, for life to really swing it should be dedicated to St Winifred.  It’s not looking it’s best as it has started raining again.

  This shed caught my eye. If Clothes maketh the man then Doors maketh the shed.

  Though not marked on my map Weeds is I hope the small hamlet you can see a couple of houses of and not the vegetation growing on the track.

Now the sun is showing itself in a watery sort of way so I am minded to take a wander up to the site of an old castle. There may or may not be anything left of it. We’ll see.

There isn’t or none that I could find so we came back home and adopting a recumbent posture I had another go at the ford.

    This image has been flipped horizontally. It leads the eye neatly in to the focal interest in the picture…..the road sign!…… it says ‘Try Your Brakes.’ I had to try with it, you would too… were you daft enough to lie in the public highway…………a wet and slimy public highway.

Tomorrow we are going up to Killhope and Park Level Mine. I was there last year on a bright and sunny day and had a grand time so we will see what we can make of tomorrow.

 

BIG BOYS TOYS (TWO) (27/09/10)

First the answer to the poser, it was unusual in that it was a prize quiz. The thing about that bit it was a prize quiz without a prize.

     It is a mangle. A Bakers Patent Box Mangle to give it it’s full title. If you look carefully then you can just see the towel above the machine bed, the weighted box is supported on wooden rollers an traverses the washing squeezing out the water. Yes the drum in the foreground does look like a butter churn but I suspect it is the washing machine. Wonderful. A little scary though. Had I invented it and been called Baker I would have borrowed my neighbours name.

  It is not without it’s quirks and foibles. Poor chap was coaxing it to perform every time I passed so I couldn’t glean anymore information on it.

A painful method of locomotion.

   Portable saw bench, hardly Black and Decker but a vast improvement on the saw pit especially for the chap in the pit.

I really can’t decide who was better turned out or the more interesting the owner or his Monowheeled Mower.

    Steam always steals the show for me and these miniature traction engines are superb.

The extension on the smoke stack is temporary, he is just getting up steam and will discard it once he has enough to spare to inject into the base of the chimney.

     They are works of art.

       A Ferguson with caterpillar tracks.

       A Case with mower on what  I belief are called spade lug wheels.

      A Fordson Standard. The owners must love this one, a cracking example. There were almost two hundred tractors on display and no I didn’t photograph them all! Had I known how extensive this rally was I would have gone for the complete weekend. It would have saved much head scratching.

We are of up into Weardale tomorrow so I’m hoping the weather improves.

BIG BOYS TOYS (26/09/10)

Today was the day of the Thirty Sixth Annual Working Rally for Vintage machinery at Tancred Grange Scorton. You will get more of this in ‘Big Boys Toys Two’ tomorrow.  Today I will paint the picture with a broad brush. If this doesn’t rock your boat you can then safely forget tomorrows post.

I’ll start with a teaser…………………………

I would never have guessed what this was…………………Anyone know?……….The answer tomorrow.

To say there was a bit of everything here would be an overstatement but there were an awful lot of things to admire and be fascinated by.

  There were bikes……………………………

   Birds……………………………………………

  and Busses.

Tractors large

    Medium…………………………….

    And small.

Traction Engines came either large……

   Or small.

Trucks in every size imaginable.

Models.

   Stationary Engines in variety to boggle the imagination.

  Finally cars and motorcycles by the dozen.

All in all an excellent day out and dog friendly too. Molly enjoyed herself, lots of dogs to chat to and the odd dropped sausage as a bonus.

All in all wonderful day so many thanks to the North Yorkshire Vintage Machinery Society for all the hard work entailed in a show of this magnitude.

HIGH NOON (25/09/10)

Or as was the case today High Half Past Ten.

Despite two walks this morning I have yet again returned virtually empty memory carded. The one image of minor interest was this……………..

      A Noon Fly here seen taking a post prandial nap on a fence post. It is pretty, unfortunately it’s eating habits aren’t so edifying. It favours horse or cow muck for lunch, dinner and tea.

Let us hope that tomorrow inspiration returns. The weather here is bright and sunny with a bitterly cold northerly wind. No sign of rain so that’s a plus.

A DOGS LIFE (25/09/10)

We are parked up behind The countryman Inn, it’s situated in a village between Darlington and West Auckland. Nothing wrong with the pub or the area but it’s not ringing all my bells. I suspect you are either in for Macro shots( promise no pens or eggs) or nothing for a couple of days.

For your Edification and Delectation here is a chimney reflected in a muddy puddle…….As a child I can remember the expression Edification and Delectation. I always thought it delightful……..Old Time Music Hall, I think, may have been The Wheel Tappers and Shunters Club then the Muppet show came along and consigned it to history. Then Spitting Image, all brilliant. Showmanship…It’s gone and a pity…….Nice to watch a good pro, a good puppeteer, or even……. I could go on for ever…. All we get now are producers working the ratings and idiots who are whanabees. I am a showman…here is a muddy puddle.

          We are here………………………

          The Countryman, if you have a really good peek you can see the truck behind the gate on the left.

          Here it is with Alfie waiting for my return and a run.

         Acres of grass to run in and not a smell to be left unsmelled…………………..

         They are happy here and it’s only for a couple of days then back to wild country.

          Hawthorn and Ash in between….. freezing showers.

Have a great weekend wherever you are and whatever you are up to.

OH DEARY ME! (23/09/10)

Guess what the weather is doing today?

   Should you be interested then this wheel belongs to a Citron-----Citrone------Citeron…….Beggar it! A motor car. A wet motor car. A wet French motor car…….One more go and I would have got it right……elimination is a wonderful process.

You must have guessed by now. Yes it’s raining, not continuously but regularly.

    There are only so many depressing images I can post…………………….Or I thought there was a limit. I’m not there yet….. by a long way.

   Even I can see I should be………….

    Why  can never find a carer when I need one? The last two images…… I will own up to switching the lights on……..otherwise as shot. The concentric rings in the fore to mid ground are crop circles……the water drops are rain          and I am Gordon Brown or Michelle Obama, the gender dependent on the clothing I found whilst dressing.

Tomorrow we move to a tiny village called Bolam. If it warrants it I will do a map and some pictures. If it doesn’t then we are off to the seaside Sunday. Then I am undecided between the Northumberland coast somewhere, Weardale or Swaledale. No doubt guidance will manifest itself tangibly in one form or another.

That’s all………..I’m a busy man…………something for you to be thankful for!

SELF PROMOTION (22/09/10)

On our way down to Barnard Castle for a few days I stopped to provision, for a few days. Purchased some lambs hearts and pork chop. The hearts were great but I delayed cooking the chop as I had forgotten to buy an apple. Whilst out walking I came upon these so all is well. Almost………..No I can’t finish the crossword. This image is split toned . For anyone interested here is the link to a ‘HOW TO’.  SPLIT TONE AND OTHER THINGS TOO.

Takes me ages to do them so have a gander. Please.

All the best normal service should resume tomorrow.

SPLIT TONE TUESDAY (21/09/10)

This was going to be Mono Tuesday but I think you must agree Split Tone Tuesday has a better ring to it. The main reason I’m even messing around is that I’m back in after a couple of hours without one picture. Not even one bad picture, never got the lens cap off………..never switched the camera on. So here are a few images I converted to mono and then to work within the constraints of the title, split toned.

   Bolton Castle in blue and yellow……….the blue is for Bolton and the yellow is for……..nothing really! Can you think of a colour beginning with ‘C’ for castle………Cyan, but that's as near as damn it blue.

  A view over Wensleydale in Wellow an Dorange…………Cracked this job now…I’ll just invent the colours. Saved a lot of soul searching has that!

    Hardraw Bridge in Blue and Red…………….Things are looking up again…………..Blue for bridge and Red for Raw ………..we will just have to forget the Hard bit………….Don’t even dream of going there!!…….people let children see this blog.

  Swaledale North Yorkshire………….in Scarlet and Yellow…………..I’m there again……………Yellow is for Yorkshire. This one also has some of the original colour image Bled through….Bled is for Barn.

That’s all for today, I’ll see what tomorrow brings………..hopefully sanity! Don’t wager the house on it though.

You will have to let me know but I do think it’s better than last Tuesday’s post that was all about a Biro.