Happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all my readers!

Among the sunflowers near Albi in France

Roll on Summer!!

Although extremely cold.......

....I had to make the effort and get 'Nellie' out for a run regardless of a temperature that seemed to my weak and frail body to be more akin to the tundra rather than Lancashire. 

Preparing to leave.

It is so important that cars that are used infrequently during the winter months are taken out for a drive as it is easy for tyres to develop flat spots when they have been standing for a long period and the Morgan suspension is basic enough without having to drive with square tyres!!

Another remedy for this eventuality is to increase the tyre pressures,  the other option being to get it up on axle stands and take it off the road which I am not prepared to do.

Fleetwood seafront with the Lake District mountains clear across Morecambe Bay.

Another view towards Morecambe.

Anyway I gritted my tooth,  no,  my teeth aren't that bad really,  lowered myself into the machine,  dressed rather like Roald Amundsen or Scott on their forays into the Antarctic and drove off to Fleetwood,  jewel of the Fylde coast of Lancashire.

The Morgan dwarfed by Pharos Lighthouse.

Thank goodness for the magnificent heating system in the Morgan which kept me warm.

The small lighthouse at Fleetwood which, when lined up with the large lighthouse, get seafarers safely down the Wyre channel and into harbour.

The sun shone ,  the wind whistled passed my ears,  the tears poured from my eyes but apart from those minor inconveniences it was a great drive....and my conscience is now clear.  Another winter drive will take place in the not too distant future to keep the car in good shape.

Ted's first Morgan drive!

Ted is five and was a little apprehensive about his first drive in the Morgan.

Sophie and Max,  with daughter looking a little apprehensive!

I was given very strict instructions both by my daughter and Ted not to travel too fast.  In fact his brother Max told me during his drive with me that his mother almost expected Ted to return in tears.

On your marks....!

Not a chance!  As soon as we were on our way,  with side screens off of course,  it was clear,  above the wind noise and  the cacophony from the exhaust,  that he was finding the whole experience very exhilarating.

Big smile after our drive.

Like the rest of us,  after our first drive in a Morgan,  he returned with a smile from ear to ear!

In between.....

.....adventures in the Morgan,  we have enjoyed two great holidays in September.

The first was a visit to the North Yorkshire Moors railway,  something I have been hankering to do for some time.

The Horseshoe Inn,  Levisham

We stayed at a delightful pub with rooms, 'The Horseshoe Inn',  in the equally lovely village of Levisham,  chosen because of its close proximity to the station.

Levisham Station

The line runs from Pickering to Whitby on the North Sea coast,  somewhere else that we hadn't visited for many a year.

Whitby

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and the weather was glorious.

Whitby Abbey from the train window...inspiration for Bram Stoker to write 'Dracula'

Our next holiday took us back to one of our favourite destinations,  Puerto Pollenca and its old town,  on the north west coast of Majorca.

Puerto Pollenca and the end of the Tramontana mountain range.

We have stayed in villas previously but on this occasion it was a hotel,  the 'Uyal Hotel',  architecturally splendid in the true Spanish tradition.

Sunrise from our balcony

Our room looked out over the Bay of Pollenca and we gloried in a magnificent view of the sun rising across the bay each morning.

The Old Town square in the shadow of Puig de Maria Monastery

The beauty of visiting again,  places that you know well is the fact that you don't have a desperate and pressing desire to explore the place when you arrive and can just relax.  Which is what we did,  enjoying a fabulous breakfast at the hotel,  taking it easy during the day and then sampling local restaurants for our evening meal,  which was always followed by a coffee and a brandy on our balcony.

Our Sunday lunchtime restaurant...fabulous!!

Fire Drill

What a life!!....and we have more holidays lined up as we are busy SKI ing!   (Spending the Kids Inheritance!).  

'Full tank of gas.....

.....and back on the road again!'

A couple of days ago we drove to Life's, the Morgan dealer in Southport, Lancashire to collect our repaired car.

What a joy it was to get her back although we emerged from their office a few hundred 'quid' the poorer!......ah well, such is life and owning any car, never mind a Morgan.

The new radiator.

A quick clean and 'Nellie' was ready for our next trip.

Parlick Fell in the background.

For the last few days Britain, along with most of Europe has been sweltering in record breaking temperatures, hot enough to put off the keenest Morgan driver so we decided to wait until there was a slight reduction in the temperature before we ventured off for another drive....no air conditioning in Morgans!!

Chipping Church

This morning was ideal so we set off for another pootle around the Bleasdale Fells an area just half an hour away from home.

Picnic at Dunsop Bridge

All was well with our new aluminium performance radiator, but sadly the potholes remained the same causing massive shocks to the Morgan's antiquated front suspension,

We did find some quiet stretches of road, free from aggressive white vans and tailgaters and on one occasion we were almost overtaken by a cyclist!

Reflections!

Our ultimate destination was the inn in Slaidburn, named the 'Hark to Bounty', a very pleasant establishment indeed where we savoured a welcome beer.

The 'Hark to Bounty' in Slaidburn.

Cloud rolled in during the afternoon, causing us to wonder whether or not it would continue and blight our proposed BBQ this evening. Touch wood!  I think that the sun will return.

Regardless, I do believe that we will avoid the blizzard that has caused 1 of today's stages of the 'Tour de France' to be cancelled!!

A fishy business!!

For all of my readers with garden ponds this may be of interest.

While the Morgan is away, I thought that I would tidy my pond topping it up with water and removing duck weed and some of the sub-surface weed.

The fish are delighted, having a beano in their larger and brighter environment.

The pond with the rods arching over it.

However, the main purpose of this post is to bring readers attention to the method that I have used to keep herons at bay. The proof of my system's success is the fact that the pond has not been attacked by herons for a number of years.

Hole drilled at an angle to accept the rod.

Mine is an 8 x 4 pool so I bought some lengths of 1/4 inch diameter steel rod, eminently bendable, drilled holes at an angle in the York stone paving and fitted the rods as shown in the picture after first painting them with black 'Hammerite'.

I bought some black coloured mesh from the local aquarist shop and fixed it using 3 inch nails with both ends hacksawed off and then bent in a vice to a 'U' shaped configuration. Holes were then drilled once more into the paving at appropriate places to accommodate these and the netting is firmly anchored in the paving by the insertion of these bent nails.

Holes drilled and bent nail

Netting fixed

That is how it was done and frankly I don't think that it looks offensive to the eye and has been hugely successful

.

Oops!!!

Looking forward to a wonderful drive around the Yorkshire Dales today, I backed the Morgan out of its garage and was informed by my wife that there was water dropping from underneath the car.

Oh joy, I thought as I opened the bonnet to find it dripping vigorously from the junction where the top hose joins the radiator top.

I didn't have a ratchet small enough to fit the nut on the clip connecting the hose to the radiator so I phoned my local garage and he said to bring it down for inspection. Only a mile away, we drove there almost without any water in the engine.

Therein lies the problem!

It did not take long to be informed that the junction, where the top hose meets the radiator had completely broken off.

Note the water on the floor.

There was only one solution. Contact my breakdown recovery firm, Nationwide, who speedily and efficiently arranged for the car to be transported to Lifes Motors in Southport, an hour away, to have a new radiator fitted.

Paul, my very excellent local engineer.

Excellent service from my local garage, highly efficient service from Nationwide and a similar response from my Morgan dealer, who are ordering a brand new bespoke aluminium radiator to be supplied and fitted

How embarrassing!!

Sadly this will mean a long delay before we can once again enjoy the benefits of Morgan ownership to the full. Ah well, such is life!!

A fond farewell!

It was after I returned home that my wife told me that our neighbour had spotted the car looking gorgeous on the above trailer and thought that it might have been heading for a show....if only!!

Skiing again!!

Too old for actual skiing but not for Spending Kids Inheritance, this time on a return to Menorca which we last visited in October 2018.

The view from our balcony

We stayed once again in the very traditional Hotel Port Mahon overlooking the busy harbour of Menorca's capital, Mahon.

A regular stop for cruise ships

Said to be the largest natural harbour in the world, around 5 kilometres in length, it was a view that we feasted on every morning as we drew the curtains in our sea view room.

The centre of the city

The fish market...fabulous!

Menorca and Mahon is steeped in around a century of British tradition, the British having conquered and occupied the island three times in the course of history. The influence is plainly seen in the style of architecture and the homes of famous British residents who have lived there.

Lady Hamilton's home.

Just across the harbour from our hotel is the former home of a certain Lady Hamilton, who Lord Nelson spent the odd evening with during his visits to the port and opposite is  the former residence, now a hotel, of Admiral Lord Collingwood, second in command under Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Collingwood's house

No Morgans to be seen, in fact we didn't even hire a car but relied on our feet and completed six good days of walking. At least it kept my weight in check which is a vital necessity for a Morgan driver as there ain't much room in the cockpit. As it was, regardless of the exercise, a few extra pounds joined me on the flight home which I thankfully have now lost.

Es Castell

We can certainly recommend skiing as we already have three more holidays in the bag before February 2020!!!

Reunion in Bowland

After our recent visit to our favourite butchers in Grange we noticed that a tavern that we had frequented when we had a property in Lindale had been demolished. This sort of observation demands attention and I contacted our former neighbour to inform him of the sad loss.

Bridge over the M6, looking north.

He lives in Derbyshire nowadays and whilst shocked at the news, suggested that after a gap of around six years it was about time we met up again and what is more he would meet the cost of lunch....never ones to miss an opportunity we leapt at the offer!!

Parlick Fell and Beacon Fell in the distance.

So arrangements were made and off we went in fabulous weather to meet at the Parkers Arms in Newton in Bowland.

Blackpool Tower on the horizon!!...

Once again we had a glorious drive through the Duke of Westminster's garden, spotting a couple of his grouse en route through the Trough of Bowland whilst basking in the delights of both the sun and the 4/4, as we made halting progress caused by me taking photographs every few miles.

.....and there it is!!

What a beautiful area this is, we are so lucky to have this sort of countryside within an hour of home.

In front of Chipping Church.

Anyway, we finally arrived at the chosen venue and as our friend once owned a beaten up Kia, a car he said that he didn't need to worry about, I must admit that I was looking out for a beaten up Fiat 500 when our chum swept into the car park in  his 3 years old Fiat 124 Spider, with the top down of course.

Dunsop Bridge

A very desirable vehicle indeed with that unique Italian styling that is so appealing.

The River Hodder at Newton in Bowland

After a good lunch and a beer which allowed us the opportunity to catch up and reminisce about the past, a habit that I am all too readily slipping into, we said our goodbyes and headed home.

Starting the climb through the Trough.

Let it not be too long before we arrange a similar meeting.

The winding road to the top.

A lone tree on the fellside.