I'd been planning to drive over from Bristol to Internal Fire for some time and this Tuesday was the day. I needed to deliver the Bayliss & Morcombe tachometer (too posh to be called a rev counter!) I'd promised Paul, two film cans of Mercury courtesy of John Manders and a couple of pressure gauges I've had in the car for so long (Enstone, I think) that I must own up to forgetting who donated them to Paul - sorry ........
Anyway, the day was dull and muggy but not raining & we set off along the M4 making what I like to call Reasonable Progress and Hazel calls ruder things. According to Autoroute, it's 171 miles from my front door to Paul's car park and the program thinks I could make it in a minute under four hours. Paul maintains he can be at the M4/5 junction in two hours and it took me just over three, so I quietly remove my hat and stand silently by in his presence ;o))
Castell Pridd Farm is 8 miles north of Cardigan just off the A487 Cardigan to Aberystwyth main road. They are just to the north of the village of Tanygroes, 300yds down the Betws Ifan road. In a series of farm buildings, properly converted to exhibit the engines, Paul Evans and a very few helpers have worked astoundingly hard to get the museum up and running in such a short time. With few exceptions (works in progress) all the engines exhibited run and Paul went out of his way to ensure I saw and heard them all started. The big twin Tange is very impressive and powerful & I took lots of photos (details later) . We sat and chatted for ages to both him and Hazel (he's got one too!) and were made very welcome. I join the others on this NG who thoroughly recommend a visit there. In parting, although I'd forgotten to take the damned B&M tacho with me, Paul generously hauled out a partly dismantled gas powered ex GPO water pump and we plonked it in the back of the Volvo.
And so to Lake Vrnwy in North Wales to look at birds and soak up the scenery. We spent most of the day there, setting off to visit Arthur Griffin and Jenni Stanton in the late afternoon. Driving along a fast A road, I was amazed to see a trailer mounted Lister three cylinder air cooled engine direct coupled to a 8KVA genny in a lay by. It was in everyday use, providing the nearby chip van with electrickery. I stopped and took pictures, much to the shaky-heady amusement of the shapely young lady who was just closing up. I got the distinct impression that I was a fairly common phenomenon!
Arthur swept by in Chirk and led us to his retreat at the head of a remote valley some five miles away - and I really do mean remote ;o)) Idyllic is another term I might use and I could have spent a lot of days sitting on the wall looking at "his" valley as it stretched away into the woods and fields. Visits to various stone built barns revealed a locally built Powell and more Bamfords than you could shake a (hinged) stick at. A Lister B is undergoing restoration and will be a tidy job when finished.
It turned out that Jenni used to live on Mendip and Arthur used to climb under them, so we had lots to talk about and Hazel and I felt very welcome. The sheep and poultry fed, it was off into the village for dinner at the hostelry.
Trying to get a signal, I was standing outside when a Veteran Douglas puttered down the hill and stopped. I was walking up to him to say Hi when a Veteran Roc hoved into view, followed at short notice by a Clarion of similar years. Paddling off down hill, the Douglas puttered into life, negotiated the unknowing and care less pedestrians who walked out in front of the brakeless, clutchless, direct drive bike as he wobbled round in a circle and with an apologetic grin in my direction, he chuffed off up the hill in pursuit of his friends. Going well and their exhaust notes chiming in and out, they swept off up the hill out of sight, a visit from another age.
Although Arthur and Jenni most kindly offered their spare room, I didn't much fancy re-negotiating his now pitchy black dark track in the Volvo with it's four inches of ground clearance and alas, there was no room at the inn, so I prevailed upon a good friend from my Other Hobby in Shrewsbury only 25 miles away and arrived on his doorstep at 10.30pm. Much fat was chewed and midnight oil burned ...
Next day, we dropped in at Ironbridge near Telford and I was amazed to find so many "museums" had sprung up in the few years since I was there last. I found a Crossley gas engine on a trolley at one museum, but I especially wanted to see the iron smelter in action - partly from a professional viewpoint - but it turns out it only pours on Wednesdays. Not that anyone tells you that on the desk when asking you for your £8.50 each, you understand, but it was a hot day and I snuck in through the open back door of the merchandising outlet and found someone that did know.
Off then to the Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge to look at more birds, Hazel getting her revenge for me enthusing about engines in all their boring detail ;o))
And so home, a very pleasant three days away. Photos up tomorrow.
Regards,
Kim Siddorn,