Paul Marfell

At the beginning of October (checks image data) in fact on 1st October, I was collared by John Dallas, of Bracken Hall Countryside Centre fame, on Kirkgate in Shipley. As a result of the conversation I got my camera and went along to one of the buildings on Kirkgate.

Apparently there are several places locally where Hops are growing and thanks go to John Dallas for pointing this place out to me where Humulus Lupulus is growing. I was thinking that it is unlikely to be useful for beer but after a quick on-line search I found that you only need between 5 and 15 grams of Hops for each litre of beer depending on how hoppy you want it. Admittedly that will be dry hops, but 5 grams is not much.

Over the last few years I have taken photos of the tanks of the bikes at the Harley Rallies and put them in a single image grid. This year I have widened the frame a little to include more of the bike, and not put them into a single image file. I also took a few wider shoots.

If I remember some of my Mechanical Engineering degree studies correctly – if a metal is protected by paint, or galvanised, and it has a small hole in the protection it can rust very quickly. Therefore if there is a large surface area of the metal exposed then it rusts slower. I guess the logic here is that if there is a danger of bare metal at structural sites on the vehicle you can increase the safe life by stripping lots of the other paint off.

I like the sign saying that it is not an abandoned vehicle. Does the sign get taken off when the vehicle is abandoned?

Harley Davidsons have been made since 1903 and some of the early ones would not have all the mod cons of the current versions. I found this one, above, interesting. It doesn’t have foot rests (possibly taken off while it is standing), only has a throttle on the handlebars (no front brake or clutch levers, no indicator switch [there are no indicators]), has tiny lights, no instruments other than what looks like a pressure gauge down by the crankshaft, an exposed clutch with the clutch lever just above it. And to let you know it is a Harley when it is on the road – straight through cut-off exhaust pipes.

Around 1:00 pm on Sunday a few bikes fired up on Northgate and road down Browgate. It was a little nod to the usual organised ride-out that used to happen in pre-Covid years. Who knows what will be the new “normal”?

Let me know if I have duplicated any of the tanks/engines.

Here are a posts from previous years:-

2019

2018

2017

2013

2012

Here are a few more photos of a Heron at the Weir at Saltaire. Click on an image to see it in the album – it also shows it in better quality.

It is still catching small fish on the weir. I know Herons build nests in trees but they always look incongruous when you see them out of the water. The last two are of the Heron on the roof of the gates for the side channel at the weir – an old channel used to direct water under New Mill.

I spent some time in Robert’s Park and Saltaire today. Towards the end of my visit I took my camera down near the fish pass on the weir. A Grey Heron was frequently dipping into the water and coming up with small fish – sometimes two at a time.

Often when you look at a Heron head on it looks very thin but as you can see it can widen its beak to fit more in. I also heard what I thought was a Peregrine Falcon so I went up to Salts Mill. There were plenty of pigeons and a Kestrel flying off towards Shipley Glen but no sight of a Peregrine. They have been spotted on the chimney.