Into the Fells

What a glorious day! One of those days when everything slots into place and brings with it a great sense of wellbeing. You may well ask...is this really my hero writing this or is it someone acutely sensitive to life's rich tapestry of pleasures, a poet perhaps?

Just so that you can rest easy, it is me that is writing this and what is more, it truly was that sort of day, until I ventured on to my newly seeded patch of garden and found that the next door cat had paid it a visit during the wee (literally) small hours, having circumvented my elaborate defences and planted a moist unpleasantness amongst my little grass seeds!

This demanded severe measures to prevent a recurrence, so I spent an hour erecting further comprehensive defences while putting out of my mind vile thoughts about placing a saucer of milk laced with 'warfarin' out for the beast.

Parked in Great Eccleston for our Dental and Confectionery appointments, Beacon Fell is in the distance.

But enough of this. The day started with a visit from our new Chimney Sweep who proved to be a first class chap who conducted himself in a very professional manner, even providing us with a certificate at the end of his labours. Excellent, and he will return to attend to the new home that has once more been built by our resident jackdaws. They are raising their young under the cowl on one of our other chimneys and once the young have fledged, he will return in order to place some sort of restraining material so that they will find another place in which to raise a family!

Almost there.

New arrivals

Then it was off in the Morgan to our Dentist where we always arrange consecutive appointments. We both thankfully received a clean bill of health and after treatment, with that ghastly de-plaquing device, we made our way to the delightful Confectioners in the village to pick up a couple of pies etc., for our picnic.

Coffee stop. Parlick Fell on the left, along with a very useful table/seat provided by the Council.

We then aimed for Beacon Fell Country Park, in the Bleasdale Fells, about half an hour from our home and enjoyed a really first class drive in full sun, under a cloudless sky and very little wind.

My lovely navigator

The views from this 873 feet high hill are absolutely tremendous and you can literally see for miles, hence it's use as an ideal spot for a beacon in ancient times. My photographs will tell the story.

The less lovely driver

The return trip was equally satisfying, until I ventured into the garden after putting the Morgan to bed, but you know all about that!....bl..dy cats!!!!

If stones were magnetic....

......I could have hired a huge electro-magnet and removed the lot of them easily from the soil, in preparation for sowing my old vegetable plot with grass seed!

Alas, they are not, so on my hands and knees, following careful raking of the soil, I collected what I could and reinstated them in the gravel path from where most of them had originated.

With my increased decrepitude, and with contemporaries falling like flies about me, I decided that intensive agriculture was not for me, so, with some sadness, the vegetable patch had to go and would be replaced with lawn.

Before

After

Regrettably, the area concerned does not warrant the purchase of a 'sit-on' mower,( oh how I'd love one of those!) however, even in the absence of such luxury, mowing a lawn with the electric mower I already have will be easier than crawling about exterminating weeds and digging the area, regardless of what Monty Don says about the joys of growing your own! In any case, it's easy for him to say these things when I suspect he has an army of serfs to assist him on his huge plot.

The wonderful aspect of this reorganisation is that it will give me a lot more time to play with that little 'Le Mans Green' vehicle in my garage!

The banks and braes of bonnie Scotland are calling!

During the first week in May we have rented a cottage for a week, just outside Irvine in Ayrshire.

It is now a few years ago that we took the Morgan to Scotland (see my post of 27/10/11 or 'Miscellany', July 2010 edition) and we are looking forward to another dose of Scottish life in Ayrshire the county in which the great bard, Robert Burns was born and lived. We shall of course be visiting the Burns Museum in his birthplace, Alloway, near to Ayr.

We'll visit other Scottish National Trust properties while we're there, one being Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran which we are looking forward to tremendously, but whether or not we pay the £70 ferry fare to take the Morgan for the day, in addition to our foot passenger fares, is open to question.

I must admit that I am getting quite excited by the prospect of a week away with 'Nellie' and will shortly be getting things together for the trip, suitcase, luggage straps, checking levels, final polishing etc., etc., or to put it another way, all those 'desperately important' things that are imperative and get me out of the house and into the garage.

Yippee! can't wait. Just hope that the weather is nice.

Mothering Sunday drive.....then back for the Liverpool game!

What a lovely day! The sun was shining, temperatures not bad for late March, and with newly born lambs frollicking in the fields, roads were lined with daffodils and the Morgan running sweetly after its service, yours truly felt absolutely 'top-ho'!

All set to go!

Our destination was the Lake District, specifically Sizergh Castle in the southern lakes area, just an hour away and a good opportunity to give the Mog a good run following the Winter.

A short stop by the Deer Park at Beetham

Sizergh is a National Trust property and apart from being a very interesting house to visit, with lovely gardens and good walks leading from it, the place is a great stop for thirsty Morgan drivers yearning for a hot chocolate and a warm scone or indeed something more substantial. Since I had consumed a Manx kipper for breakfast some two hours earlier I stuck to the scone and chocolate.

Sizergh Castle, home to the Strickland family.

It's a short drive to Windermere from there, so we took the back road from the Kendal by-pass to the Hawkshead Ferry. thence to Bowness, seething with day trippers and then back to Ings where there is a delightful tavern called The Watermill Inn with its own brewery

En route to Windermere

The landlady suggested 'Collie Wobble', one of their own ales, a suggestion that brought an immediate response from me along the lines of, 'I hope that it doesn't give me the collywobbles'!!!! Anyway, it didn't and was an excellent brew.

After the beer and a bag of crisps we left and headed for home....allowing plenty of time so that we wouldn't miss the Liverpool versus Tottenham game on TV

.

It's a boy!

My wife and I are delighted to have another grandchild, this new addition brings the total to four. His name is Ted and he will be yet another candidate for a drive in the Morgan when he is bigger.

I suspect there will be quite a lot of demands on our time....well that's what Grandparents are for aren't they? However, I am sure that they will not be such as to preclude many drives/days away in the Mog this year.

Ullswater....not todays drive, but just to remind us all of glorious Morgan adventures!

The car is booked in Lifes at Southport on Tuesday for it's annual service so, just to make sure all was well with the machine, I took it out for a quick spin today, in glorious sunshine. Sadly, judging by the weather forecast it is not going to be particularly pleasant for our drive to Southport, but it will be nice to see everyone at Lifes again, always good fun.

I spent the morning weeding and digging over my vegetable plot which I intend to make over to lawn, frankly I am getting a bit fed up with weeding and this will be a good way of resolving that, albeit it will mean no lovely vegetables and more mowing.

Spring has sprung!!.....

Well, we hope so, as these photographs show.  They were taken this afternoon in the churchyard of our local church, St Chad's, Poulton-le-Fylde.

The church of St Chad...there's always scaffolding when I get the camera out!

They were shot following a lovely short drive in my newly polished and greased 4/4, just to check that I'd fitted the newly cleaned wires correctly! Nothing dropped off, so presumably all is well!

Always a gorgeous sight , every year.

This afternoon was really quite pleasant, sunny and warm, conjuring thoughts once again of picnics by babbling brooks and 'wandering lonely as a cloud' along country roads in the Lake District and theYorkshire Dales..

 My wife and I are getting rather excited at the moment, as we are looking forward to the imminent arrival of our fourth grandchild, so no doubt we shall be called upon from time to time for additional babysitting duties.

A sheer delight, but a pity I couldn't get a photo of the Morgan in the middle of them!!

News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated!!

It is now many weeks since I sat at my keyboard and typed a missive for my adoring readership and for that I apologise profusely.

In the UK this is a particularly lean period in the year for Morgan motoring, unless the owner doesn't mind washing it after every trip to remove salt/mud etc., from the roads. This year in particular has been particularly wet causing flooding in large areas of the country and although fortunately there hasn't been any water ingress into our humble abode, the weather has not been conducive to pootling around in the Mog. and this is certainly one reason why I have had little to report on the Morgan front.

However, one important reason for not putting pen to paper during this period was the fact that I spent a week in January in the Acute Medical Unit of our local hospital where doctors were trying to ascertain why yours truly had collapsed in a heap at home on the 14th January. They still don't know and medical appointments are ongoing.

However, enough of this I hear you cry, what about Morgan matters?

A couple of weeks ago I tried to book a service at my local dealership and found that the earliest that they could accommodate me was the middle of March, due to the amount of work they were currently doing converting the traditional Morgan suspension system to the 'Suplex' system by Librands.

Forgive me, but I bought my Morgan so that I could enjoy the unique traditional qualities of a quintessentially English sports car with characteristics more akin to the thirties than the 21st century. If I'd have wanted a semblance of luxury and a smooth, soulless, insulated ride I would have chosen an Audi TT or something similar.

When I drive my Morgan I can feel the road and it adds to a great driving experience, why change it, and at a cost of approaching £1000!!!! I shall not be changing mine!

The other day a wire on my trusty battery charger broke and as it is a sealed unit the manufacturer advises replacement...well they would, wouldn't they? So I sent for a new one only to find that the polarity had changed, which necessitated the lead and socket switching from the positive terminal to the negative terminal on the battery, or conversely.

Being the physical wreck that I am I did not relish the idea of fumbling around in the dark recesses of the battery compartment,which demands a huge amount of physical contortion and the ability to be able to work upside down, so I arranged with Lifes at Southport to do the job for me. At the same time they could sell me a set of replacement wiper blades, one of which had started to disintegrate as I was taking the car for it's MOT locally the day before.

Total cost £29 and that was just for three wiper blades, each around 6 inches long!! No charge was made for the battery job.

Yesterday I greased the front suspension and cleaned the stainless wire wheels, so the Morgan is ready for the new season once there is an improvement in the weather and we look forward to adding a few more miles to the 21980 we have so far completed. As for the greasing, I have decided that in future, I shall run the car to my local garage so that they, for a nominal fee, can squirt some grease into the appropriate nipples.

The prospect of crawling around on my back under the car with more grease on me than in the sliding pillars has lost its appeal!!!