Rumours of my demise..........

 ........are greatly exaggerated!!

However,  it is very true that I have not made a contribution to my blog for some time.

                                            Quick vacuum of carpets and window cleaning               

Anyway,  yesterday while polishing the Morgan I promised myself that today my dear wife and I would once again venture into them there 'ills' on a trip to buy some of our favourite pork pies in Lancaster.

The day dawned rather cloudy and I began to feel that it would not be an ideal day to go but as the hours progressed the day got brighter and the decision was made to go....but not before vacuuming the Morgan carpets and cleaning it's windows.

Once we had cleared the main road out and the A6 we were in perfect Morgan country once again.

We made a brief stop in Scotforth, a small hamlet on our approach to the Farm Shop in Lancaster.

                                                    The bridge and river at Scotforth

I waited in the car for my wife to return and it was clear from the expression on her face that something was amiss.....WHAT?  NO PIES!!!!!....well not hot ones anyway so our little picnic had to be large sausage rolls and syrup flapjack!

Fortunately our journey was not wasted as we were able to collect some pies for freezing and other items.

                                 Our picnic spot with a misty Morecambe Bay in the background

It is an appropriate moment to once again mention the appalling state of the UK's pothole ridden roads,  only really appreciated in a Morgan with sliding pillar suspension.  Modern suspension systems can cope much better so most drivers don't appreciate fully how bad the roads are.  Needless to say Covid will be used as the excuse for delaying proper repairs in the near future.

                                                                    Not far from home

You would think that we would be used to them by now but it is nerve-racking and bone shaking to say nothing about the ghastly crashing noises emitted during every impact. 

I am tempted to invite the head of Lancashire County Council to spend a week driving in the Morgan with me when he might understand my chagrin.

Nevertheless it was a good drive in very pleasant conditions and at least the Morgan has had a good run and we have had a good dose of fresh air and are both yawning vigorously to prove it.

Morganitis !!....

 ....a dreadful unremitting disease that affects anyone with an affection for the Morgan Sports Car!

Of course I suffer from this debilitating affliction and one of its many symptoms has recently manifested itself in the form of the 'Great Malvern' jigsaw which as you can see features two Morgans in the splendid Worcestershire scenery with the Malvern hills in the background.

The 'Bounty's' Launch 1789

Started around the 2nd January I have now completed this very interesting model.

It is a large model,  scale 3/4 inch =  1 foot, of the ships boat that Captain William Bligh and 18 of his crew were cast adrift from the 'Bounty' by Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers in 1789. The actual boat, based on plans from the Greenwich Maritime Museum, was 23 feet long, 6' 9" wide and 2' 9" deep weighing 2.5 tons.

Work begins on the building jig.

Christian and the rest of the mutineers variously made their way to Pitcairn Island,  Tahiti and freedom in England or death at the end of a rope.

First planks in place

Due to the fact that Bligh survived and wrote a comprehensive log we have a detailed account of the 4000 mile voyage from Tofua in the Friendly Isles group to Timor near the north west corner of Australia in 48 terrifying days.

Planking complete and the jig (mould) removed.

Dangerously overloaded the launch was typical of boats issued to the Royal Navy ships of the period, It has been calculated that when loaded with 19 men, gear and provisions,  she floated with a bare 6 inches of freeboard which is why the men spent all of the time in shifts baling water.

Gunwhale and foor planking completed.

Day after day, Bligh and his crew experienced mountainous seas,  rain,  wet sleepless nights, and a diet consisting of bread and teaspoons of rum. On lucky days they enjoyed seagull entrails and blood.

Completion following a challenging 'Sewing Bee' operation on the sails!

Little is known about what gear and provisions they carried but Bligh makes reference to "water vessels", whatever they were, and wrote.  "Seamen who were to go in the boat collected....an eight and twenty cask of water..." They had containers aboard to carry 60 gallons.  These included "four empty beakers" and perhaps some gourd calabashes. A carpenters chest of tools is believed to have been on board.

Note water barrels, carpenters chest and ten oars.

What is for sure is that there would have been very little room  in the boat!!

Not much room there!!

No more models planned yet.  As Spring slowly approaches there is work to do in the garden,  vegetables to plant  rehanging the old log store door,  painting the back yard and above all ensuring that 'Nellie' is ready for the road and our idyllic picnics in the local fells.....that is if the old body holds together (mine!!!!)  and Covid allows.

 

Glad Tidings

 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

                  and a

PEACEFUL AND      HEALTHY NEW YEAR

 to all my readers worldwide

A feat of 'Endeavour'....

 ....not really,  although with Italian instructions and a rather short on detail English translation it was a bit tricky at times.  Anyway,  it's finished and is now part of my growing collection.

Endeavour is a J-Class yacht built for the 1934 America's Cup by Camper and Nicholson in Gosport.  She was built for Tommy Sopwith who used his aviation design experience to ensure that the yacht was the most advanced of its day with a steel hull and mast.

She is 130 feet long and is still sailing today,  in fact just recently she was on the market for sale at around £2.5 million I seem to recall.

Sadly she failed in her attempt as there was an industrial dispute among Mr Sopwith's professional crew and they had to crew her with amateurs who lacked the necessary experience.  It was a close call though but she was narrowly beaten by the American yacht 'Rainbow'..

I always remember my father telling me that he watched the J-Class yachts at the regatta in Brixham, Devon.

                                                           Second planking progressing.

                                                        Second planking almost complete

                                               Painting and varnishing being completed

                                                 Mast stepped and some deck detail added
                                                 

                                                                          Finished!!     

                                                           The cockpit and bow detail

                                                             The stern looking forward

                                                       Pride of place in the front window!

I've just got to choose my next model although I think that a wormery for my fishing is perhaps first on the agenda!!!!

Dusting the dustsheet!....

 ....prior to a short drive to maintain the circular dimensions of the tyres.

                                                Hoovering the dustsheet prior to departure.

What I don't want while the car is wintering are flat spots developing because it has been standing unused for long periods.  Hence the short but sweet drives to get the engine temperature up to normal and keep it in good shape.

                                                     Safely tucked up after my drive.

It was around 5 degrees,  balmy to eskimos I suppose but not to me !!

Painted Ladies, Boating and Fishing.

I spotted this lovely 'painted lady' butterfly sunning itself on our garden path...pretty as a picture.

 Had a great drive in the Morgan a few days ago on a lovely Autumn day and now it is safely ensconced in it's garage,  with winter weather no doubt just around the corner.

At the end of September we spent 10 days or so in my beloved Norfolk,  5 nights in a cottage at Ludham and then 4 nights aboard a motor cruiser from Brundall.

Norfolk is renowned for being England's driest county and all the locals said that they were needing rain.  Understandable I suppose,  but the weather did not need to be quite as violent and unpleasant during our holiday, but it was!!

                             Passing Reedham on the River Yare during a rare fine morning!

On our first day of our stay in the cottage there was a horrendous storm which brought down trees and caused flooding everywhere.....apart from a couple of half days it never stopped raining.  Quite incredible and annoying because it was only affecting the extreme eastern edge of Norfolk where we were,  the rest of the country was to a large extent fine.  Ah well!

A rainbow on our last night,  spent sadly at the yard a day early,  due to an appalling storm forecast for the following day.

We have just arrived back home after 4 days in a fishing lodge just half an hour away from us where I enjoyed some fantastic fishing, apart from an hour spent fishing in Norfolk this was the first coarse fishing that I have done for around 60 years!!! prompted by the restoration of two vintage 'Avon' rods

                                               Not a bad way to spend a few quiet hours.

Wonderful time and we shall do the same thing next year...in fact I have added my name to their list of people interested in joining the temporarily closed membership of their club,  as it is so close to us.

          A nice little carp, just one of a catch that included some excellent roach and perch.So we are managing to keep very busy during this ghastly virus saga and I am now looking forward to getting to grips again with the building of  a model of 'Endeavour',  Tommy Sopwith's 'Americas Cup' challenger in the thirties.

                                                           Sunset on our final evening.