Good to get out on the Pugsley again as been neglecting Fatbikes lately, but sometimes its good to have a wee break as when you return to doing a hobby you really appreciate it for what it is, I took the Fat BOB trailer and we did a loop around John Muir Country Park, and I gathered some wood for the garden burner, its fun and a wee workout doing so a win win thing to do!
Friday is usually a day at the beach cycling , weather permitting now as we get into the winter months. Today I was back out with the FAT BOB trailer!, its been a while since I used the trailer as no longer need to haul firewood home for a stove now and just used it a few times to haul wood off the coast for the garden burner, but it is a fun thing to use and a cool accessory for a Surly Pugsley...
Simply this is an older generation Beast Of Burden (BOB) YAK trailer that I have the wheel mounts off and had welder an inch wider each side to allow a 4" tyre Kite Buggy wheel to fit. That wheel has sealed bearings with 20mm internal diameter which I then used Hope Components 20mm to 6mm QR convertors to secure and job done...
A 29er yolk was bought as standard this was 26" wheel yolk from back in the day...
Spacers provided on the 135mm QR BOB axle were swapped around for the 17mm offset of the Surly Pugsley and all sorted and it has seen loads of days out hauling several tons of logs off the coast previously for my old house that had a stove, now it just sees a yearly outing for garden fire box wood...
Today it was back out to transport a Bendy Bucket and Army Shovel to go clear a WW2 Machine gun pill box. The Book below is a must have for anyone with an interest in finding and exploring coastal defences of WW2 that were built in 1940 when Btirain looked like it would be invaded after the fall of Europe to the German War Machine...
It is a fascinating read full of information and a real eye opener to what efforts were actually done to defend this Island Nation...
Out in JMCP is a spite of land that was a tidal island in 1940 and in it is a machine gun pill box most visitors are unaware of... it is now on a spit of land which was an island in 1940 and locally known as Duck Island...
To find this pill box you must first find the Wreck of a Matilda Tank - reportable one of 3 parked here to uses for live fire practice possibly post WW2, and scrapped after little remains...
Anyway look NW from the wreck into the dunes and a path on a NE direction will within 50 yards take you to the pill box...
Turned out to not need to much digging out for interested folks to access and after 6 bucket loads and the two gun slits dug out from outside the light inside it was better...
Wee film, song is `The Black Mill Video Tape` by Aye Corner Audio
Out again with the Fat BOB trailer and today we went to fetch some drift wood logs to take home to make Swedish Candles for when sitting out in the Garden...
Ah your saying what's that bike I`m on?, its the Large size first edition Pugsley that I gave a make over in true Apocalypse style... more on it on the next Blog...
Loaded up we headed home where I finished one of the candles before the heavens opened...
After a lot of heavy rain and the river Tyne in spate a lot of wood has been washed into the estuary at John Muir Park, I went down with the Fat BOB trailer to see if any decent logs were for the picking...
And there were several felled logs ideal size for lifting...
4 loads around the tide line then out to Sandy Hirst Point and there was less here then expected but no matter i picked up two good logs here...
One more log spotted on the salt marsh on the return and that would do...
Back home and soon had them sawed then split...
A month or so airing in the log shed and these will be ok to burn, a productive day...
Wee film, song is `Two Rights Make One Wrong` by Mogwai
I live in East Lothian, S.E. Scotland.
I fill my time with my hobbies, interests and passions. Often cycling along the coast here. I ride steel bikes with big wheels, I like to enjoy all interests of the coast, Its scenery, wildlife, local history, with my other interests in art and music when out and about...
I was diagnosed with Relapsing remitting Multiple Sclerosis in August 2018, it`s early days but i plan to continue to live my life as i have and show that having a medical condition like MS does not mean you need to stop enjoying your life,
Please excuse the bad grammar, i am working on it!
