Killybegs

We were down in Co. Clare at the end of last week so had a very pleasant ride around the Burren and down to the sea at Fanore. There's an easy ride back up alongside the Caher River (see below) but to make things more interesting we took a detour along the Burren Way to get back to Ballyvaughan. It was a tad steep and loose. This is the only time in three years that I have had to use the highest level of assistance and the lowest gear on the e-bike!

No, the frame wasn't really designed for mountain biking and the welded joints started to show signs of stress after a couple of years. My daughter then used it to potter around on her grandfather's farm for a while before it was stolen.

Here's my 1985 Peugot MTB, similar colour scheme. Halfords in Cheltenham didn't know of the existence of MTBs at that time but found this one and ordered it for me. I've been into mountain bikes ever since. Sorry about the picture quality, scanned from an old small print.

Last time I cycled through there was doing Lands End to John o'Groats. It was the only really wet day on the whole ride. What was worse was that the pub in Hesket Newmarket was closed so no lunch!

I find sunflower hearts go soggy when it's wet.

Probably morphine based. I had something similar when I had shingles, very good for the awful pain but only allowed to stay on them for 5 days.

I had a through axle seize and the mechanic had to make a tool to get it out. I now check them regularly and re-grease them from time to time.

Correct!

With Worseter shed in the foreground, Black 5 45038 heads South with a stopping passenger train to Bristol while Pannier 3643 heads North on a pick-up freight.

I have been converting a rake of Bachman BR Mk1 coaches to P4 using Bill Bedford bogies and Masokits gangways. Here they are heading South behind my Black 5.

Thanks Phil, I had the same pic sent to me by my friend Chris who I believe you met at the show. Hope you are well.

70018 Flying Dutchman coasts down the embankment on a Worseter to Cardiff service.

As it was a nice sunny windless day for a change, I took a few locos outside for the camera.

Another beautiful day so out on the bike, that's three times in a week! 60km and 1200m of ascent/descent. Headwind on the way back which I could have done without. Fortunately I was going down the hill in the pic below not up it. Much loved by roadies who, strangely, like cycling up it. It features on the Tour of Ireland most years. They have recently resurfaced the bottom third so I was able to come off the brakes after the last blind bend. A max speed of 76.4km/hr broke my previous record on the bike!!

That's fabulous, you can almost smell it!

The crew arrived to take 5945 over to Worseter where they went on shed to get some coal in the tender.

5945 Leckhampton Hall reverses up to the coaling stage at Worseter.

Leckhampton Hall chassis now painted and loco and tender bodies weathered.

Very wet and windy here. Just like most days this month! Gales forecast for the next couple of days. The bike is tucked up in the garage!

Crikey, it's a long time I posted anything. My latest project is finished and ready to be dismantled for a visit to the paint shop. The loco and tender bodies are Bachmann, the loco chassis is Martin Finney and the inner tender chassis is Brassmasters. I bought the loco some time ago to run on an 00 layout that I was building for a friend and also because, at the time, Brassmasters were considering doing an Easi-chas for the Hall. That never happened. I had a Finney kit in my stores but it didn't cover the later Halls with the fire iron tunnel, so I decided to combine the two. The body isn't perfect, there's a slight twist on the footplate and because of this the cab tilts forward a bit (it look worse in the photo than it is). It has a CSB suspension (rather than compensated as designed in the kit) and the bogie is sprung with a pair of Alan Gibson sprung pickups. I had to hack the plastic coal out of the tender and make a new support structure for real coal.

I learnt to drive on St Andrews Road back in the early sixties in my Dad's Humber Hawk. What a beast!

I'm thinking of getting a new emtb but scrolling through the various suppliers (who list a wealth of models) in Ireland. I found that pretty well everything was out of stock. I wonder if it is the same in the UK?

Like you, Tony, I think my supply of dressmakers' pins will outlive my modelling career. In addition to valve gear, I also use them for brake hangers as the head soldered against the inside of the frames gives a stronger joint than with wire.

That's just up the road from my daughter. Dumfries to Glasgow line in the valley. Travelled on that line many a time.

Well, the sun that was promised for yesterday finally arrived, clear blue sky all day. Just a quick 30km ride around the lanes this afternoon. Very glad that I had my flashing red light on the back as I spent quite a lot of time riding directly into the low sun. Even on the bike it was difficult to see where I was going at times. At one point there was a screech of brakes behind me followed by a stalled engine. A mum collecting her kid from school had nearly missed taking a bend and ended up inches from a ditch. They were all fine. The sun put on a good show this evening as it set over Donegal Bay.