Since a kid i loved coming out here with my Dad and looking at the WW2 stuff that's nearly all still visible in the growing dune system above the high tide line at Gullane point, today all on the Aberlady Bay Nature Reserve. Most of the tank blocks are still in amazingly good condition despite being built in the summer of 1940 as Great Britain hurriedly built the coastal Crust anti invasion defence barrier along the east coast of the UK for the expected defence against the German War Machine that had swept right through Western Europe taking many countries by total surprise...
Some soldiers of other countries including Poland escaped to the UK to carry on their fight and were involved in helping with the construction....
The spelling of Wednesday as `Wedenesday` a possible clue on this block dated 21st August as most of the signed blocks here were set on or around that date that the makers signed before they had dried...
Not sure how a German military mark was left though it is reversed... prob a youngster having a laugh...
Though as we read today the reality of invasion was very real indeed and things could have been very different today if things had went there Germans way...
Wonder what T Black did after the war?... his named is etched in several...
The blocks ran high across the Reserve and along the coast to Aberlady, where they again started at Gosford Bay at Green Craig all the way to Port Seaton and must have been some sight...
The Anti Tank stopping blocks were just one measure, Anti glider poles on flat areas, mine fields, Machine Gun Pill boxes, trenches behind machine gun pilll boxes, ant tank trenches, flame fourgasse sites, barbed wire and mortar mounted were hastily built... all to slow an invading force to allow deployment of defenders...
I uncovered this mortar mound a few years ago and around the same time found and uncovered one at Fernie Ness both situated on a slightly raised area overlooking their target areas...
The large machine gun pill box has nearly disappeared and gives an indication of the growth of these dunes as it would have once looked out across the flat sands and today has a 70 foot dune in front of it, I wonder what else is buried out here amongst the blown sand?...
Wee film, song is `Seeya Later` by Boards Of Canada
What would/could you do if you really wanted a Willys Jeep but cannot find or afford one?, well you could build your own, as this gentleman did in his shed... Stunning work and shows just what can be achieved in a regular shed with minimal tools...
I have been using up used parts in the Man Cave and with some spare hubs and rims I laced up another pair of Pugsley wheels having the replaced Moonlander rear wheel from the Orange Pugsley 2.0 with Moonlander `Clownshoe` 100mm rim with Hope 135mm qr rear hub, and a stock used Surly Wednesday rear wheel with 80mm Surly 80mm rim I picked up used for £100, but don't really need it for a Wednesday so both wheels were stripped...
Nate tyre will go onto the Army Pugsley when needed...
I binned the rusty cheap spokes from the Moonlander rear wheel...
Then stripped the Wednesday rear wheel and added the 177mm rear hub to the spares box...
Where I had a Surly Ultra 135mm (rear disc spaced) front hub as needed for a Surly Pugsley build...
Using 262mm spokes I already had I laced the Hope Pro 2 hub offset onto the 80mm rim for the rear...
Then the Ultra 135 hub onto the 100mm Surly Clownshoe rim in symetrical pattern again using 262mm spokes...
I trued the rear wheel in a Pugsley offset fork...
Then trued the symmetrical Moonlander rim wheel in a Symmetrical Moonlander fork...
Though the wheels have different width rims it will not matter too much and these will be a spare wheel set to use with 5" tyres on my unbuilt Orange Pugsley 2.0 frame once I find another symmetrical Surly Moonlander fork,
lastly the wheels got a quick spray over with Lanoguard giving the spokes and inside the rims a good soak, this should see them roll ok for a while...
Its nearly 10 years since the Surly Moonlander came out and re wrote the books again after the original Surly Pugsley with what and where a bicycle can actually be cycled and with little effort...
While the 100mm rims are sadly out of production - that's for another blog on why Surly don't make the best parts they designed anymore?, Clown shoe rims, Rabbit hole rims, not to mention the Pugsley offset frame set itself...
With the later 4.8" tyres becoming available when they brought out the Surly Ice Cream Truck (wide Fatbike specific hubs and symetrical wheels) these wide wheels were and still are impressive with the ease of effort to cycle over loose surfaces but more impressive I think and mostly not mentioned by people is the foot print left by these wheels, it is less than a human...
I like to let people know this when I meet them on Areas where visitors give you a look like you should not be there cycling, and most are impressed when you point at the tracks next to footprints...
Wee film I made of this yesterday when out cycling on the local Nature Reserve...
Another day of winter sunshine, but with a midday day high tide and being Sunday 2nd Jan and most local shops not open we bet (correctly) that the coastal car parks would be rammed with day visitors and no beaches with the high tide so we cycled a loop on farm tracks and field side trails along the old Smeaton Mill, tracks were a bit muddy in places but on the whole the going was ok and we didn't really struggle for grip on the beach specced 5" tyres on our Surly Pugsley 2.0 bikes...
Not all the sprouts have been harvested yet despite the festive season passing!
Gravel tracks on our err `Gravel Bikes` lol!...
Knowes Farm, I used to rent a cottage here when I first moved out from home, it was freezing in winter, one morning the tea was frozen in the tea pot sitting on the kitchen windowsill!...
2 feet deep and fast flowing today...
Was a lovely winters day to be out cycling again...
At the Mill we stopped for a look around as all was quiet and had the place to ourselves, before returning home on the John Muir Way trail...
Rewind 48 hours and it was the day before Hogmany... and the end of another year... with work winding down I finally got an end of year cycle, though sadly on my own as G on nightshift and sleeping, so on stealth mode I headed out early along to John Muir Country Park (JMCP) and although mid morning it was hoaching with people, probably no where else to go so did not bother filming or stopping for pictures along the busy beach at Belhaven until I rounded the point and headed across the empty Belhaven sands...
A lot of greasy mud out here at low tide but I was on the Army Pugsley and with it's 65mm rims and 3.7' (4") Surly Nate chunky tyres makes it ideal for out here. I know I ride Surly Moonlander wheels on Surly Pugsley 2.0 which is the widest available Fatbike wheel set combination but this size of Fatbike wheel still has its place in places like out here and I definitely think the Surly Nate is the best 4" Fatbike tyre size where the narrower rounded profile if on the original 65mm wide Surly rim is the best option...
All was quiet away from the hoards out walking around on the beach alongside the river Tyne Estuary...
WW2 barb wire coils - aka pigs tails...
Cloud reflections on mirror still water...
NATE Power!...
Wee film of the cycle, song is `Nylon` by Phontaine...
Back home and after a quick hose off of mud I wheeled the Jeep out and fired it up and headed out a short drive around Town... This years mild winter weather is a blessing and it's nuts I could drive about with the hood and windscreen down!, Now, if the council would just stop spreading road salt when the temperatures are over 10 degrees Celsius!, And the forecasts are for the warmest New Year temperatures on record!, who makes these decisions?...
New Years Day...
The 1st dawned windy but dry and clearing skies by mid morning, we headed out just before midday and being high tide the narrow beach was busy again as we cycled a loop around JMCP, I never took any pics today and just took stills off the Go Pro Footage...
Looking forward to this year, I always look forward to another new year!, Life is Good...
Wee film from the 1st, Song is `Mercy` by Gary Numan...
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!
