Our Easter Tradition

 Over the years we have slowly developed a tradition of going to Papplewick Pumping Station to renew our membership and pick up our new cards. Generally there are other attractions on during the day and Sunday was no exception.

This year the Civil War re-enactment society were present demonstrating dress, life and warfare of the times, There were also falconry displays and the chance to hold ( at arms length) an owl.

Assorted submarines were chasing round the fishpond, hiding from the crocodile.

I spotted some patient wives or friends sat in the shade behind the tables of submarines, enjoying their knitting.

Engines were steaming, pumps were pumping.

But in the engineers work shop it was quiet, whilst the sun streamed through the windows.

Does anyone else see a stranded knitting pattern waiting to be charted in this ?

Steam

 I forgot to mention that the day before I was confined to bed, I travelled just outside of Nottingham to see a steam locomotive hauling a special train along the main line.

So many people gathered at the stations and crossings, who would not normally have known about it had it not been for social media, resulting in lots of happy faces of all ages.

On the tracks.

 Every year we have the van serviced, mot and what's called a habitation check where they check the safety etc of the gas and electric, check for damp and any issues that may arise with the living area. The hab check is not compulsory after the first three years but as ours is now 15 years old, things are needing replacing. This time they replaced quite a few seals, fixed the door catch for us, fixed the fridge lock although they do this every year as it invariably breaks at some point !

This gives us peace of mind but we always go away for a couple of nights to check it out  before embarking on a longer trip. Also, emptying out most of the contents so that they can scrabble around in the cupboards and under seats means that I can go through and take out anything that we don't use.

Our campsite of choice for the weekend this time was at Burrs country park, Bury, near Manchester,

The reason?

Good enough?

This is the east Lancashire Railway and we treated ourselves to the run around tickets so that we could hop on and off all day.

My love of steam is inherited from my father as we used to spend a lot of time together exploring abandoned and partially restored lines when I was a child.

I also like to find pattern and and texture when I'm out and about, a legacy of City and Guilds studies 😀

We travelled by steam and deseal, depending on which train we caught next , so sometimes the steaaam engine was passing us rather than pulling our train.

At some of the stations, we wandered around the small towns before moving on.

and at Bury, the admission to the transport museum was included with our tickets.

a good chance for us both to wander round with our cameras, first up was the colour red.

then grey

All too soon , it was time to head back to the van. We had caught the first train out and the last train back.

                                          

My next post will probably be about vehicles as well but I have been knitting a bit and will update you all soon xx.

A hint of Steam

Yesterday we had a day out in the car. We took the last of my Dads railway memorabilia to the Great Central Railway so they can sell the items to raise funds for the running of the railway.

As its several years since he died, his collection of mugs from the preserved lines around the country had been collecting dust on the shelves of their house which is now being sold. It was a morning of washing 30 plus mugs, picking out a couple to keep, and packing them plus books and models into boxes.

We didn't go on the train this time but will do in the near future, however a good walk round the station bought back many memories as I had spent some of my teenage years visiting the railway.

I'm actually quite please with the days photos.

Speak soon xx

warning.. Almost non crafty blog post

 Hi

We managed to get back out in the van this weekend and headed off to Ferry Meadows campsite next to Nene Park near Peterborough. We have used this site a few times, a couple of Christmas visits and a couple of pre holiday van checks. This time it was a pre holiday/post service check to make sure that everything has gone back into the van and in the right hidey hole or cupboard. Most things were ok except that we didn't realise that the dealer had left the water tank full ( usually they drain it down after doing checks ) so by the time we had added out customary weekend amount it was almost over flowing !! At least we now know that the gauge works.

As for forgetting things, human error came into play as Ian forgot his book ( that he's desperate to finish) and I forgot the rice so we ended up with bacon and veg baguettes on Saturday night rather than the bacon risotto dish that I had planned.

Friday afternoon I sat spinning and managed to spin and ply 120gm of Texel, not a bad afternoons work.

The nest day we headed off to the park, Ian on his bike and myself on foot.

I was too early to catch the small train but did catch a glimpse later.

you just have to love a train timetable that reads.. trips every 10 min from 11 am until it starts to rain !

Apparently I was spotted walking into the bushes, in my defense, I was taking photos of pretty things.

and the wildlife, in the swans case very wild as she was letting everyone know that they were her cygnets

A very different species of swan was also spotted on the lake.

The soundtrack for the weekend came from two other engines making their way up and down the track at the back of our van, we couldn't see them but could definitely hear them.

The steam locomotive is Bahamas, built in 1934 and on loan to the Nene Valley railway from its usual base on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. The second is a Class 14 Diesel, 1212 Swedish Railcar which is really quite pretty for a diesel.

Sadly we had to come home today but at least Ian had some company whilst draining off the full tank of water. 

And I did get some knitting in whilst enjoying a cuppa at the station.