Leisure/outdoor walks

[varesecrazy]

Only a flavour this one..

Needed to walk to screwfix..
Waited for the mornings snow to clear

Got halfway back and the snow started again

Pretty patters on the tracks though

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

A wee bit chilly but nice and bright this morning. We've had a lot of "stuff" to contend with lately - child caring duties, Fiat and Honda family cars with problems, 5 fence posts snapped off in the wind (so far only one replaced. Digging out the old stump and concrete is a real pain isn't it) and 4 of the cars up for MOT, 3 now passed and one still to go on the 17th. So I decided a nice wee walk down to Newhaven harbour would be a bit of a treat!

The walk along to the "big" park was quiet with few people about and it's nice to see the crocus flowers:



The park itself is quite busy so I'll just be walking along this side of it:



especially over towards the kids playground where an enterprising person has bought a Citroen "crinkly" van and turned it into a coffe vending business. It's there most days and always busy. Nice to see a hard working and enterprising person being rewarded for their efforts:



Then out the other end of the park and off down that wee road where the KIA "incident" I've mentioned elsewhere is to take place. Onwards down another back street and into Starbank Park, one of my favourite places. The "Friends of Starbank Park" - a voluntary gardening group - have been hard at work an everything is looking very nice with early signs of stuff starting to grow:



and a parent/grand parent and child group taking advantage of the nice weather:



Beautiful view out over the Firth of Forth too with hardly a cloud in the sky:



Walking down to the bottom of the park and and across the road to the sea front wall, looking to my left I realize I can just make out the 3 bridges:



I used the max magnification my zoom lens can do so the quality may be a bit low with the haze interfering a little too. The iconic shape of one of the arches of the old rail bridge can be clearly seen with one of the towers of the '60's road bridge and then behind them all there is the inverted fan shape of the support wires from one of the towers of the new road bridge. Interestingly they've been having a lot of trouble with ice building up on the wires of the new bridge when the weather is very cold and it then subsequently breaks off in large pieces and comes crashing down onto the carriageways! The bridge has to be closed whenever they judge this to be likely which causes big delay problems.

Looking now to my right I can see the entrance to the harbour with it's ancient lighthouse and the posh new seafront blocks of luxury flats they've recently built:



I believe the penthouse suites are going for in the million pound region! Strewth! All very nice in the sunshine but in deepest winter with a gale blowing in off the firth? Not my cup of tea thank you!

Just across the road from the harbour is the start of the old cobbled main street of Newhaven village:



I don't go into the village today but walk up the hill past Mason's Bakery - without buying a pie this time - back past the "big" park and, eventually, Home. A lovely walk on a beautiful crisp sunny day has left me ready for one of Mrs J's cherry scones and a cup of tea! The only thing wrong with it was that Mrs J's sciatica has been bothering her so she didn't come with me but stayed home to watch the athletics on the TV. Oh well, probably next time eh dear?

 

[DaveMcT]

Drill a heavy bolt into the broken posts and lever them out of the concrete

 

[varesecrazy]

The best bit of such well.lit photos..

You have now idea how cold the scenes were


We have a 'garden project'

Looking back at pics of early progress..
We discovered it was Feb 2018

A crisp bright day like today

 

[StevenRB45]

The best bit of such well.lit photos..

You have now idea how cold the scenes were


We have a 'garden project'

Looking back at pics of early progress..
We discovered it was Feb 2018

A crisp bright day like today

Perfect for seeing just how much damage sustained periods at below zero have done to boundary walls.

Still out and about today..went for a run, went out to the park with munchkin but nowhere I've not posted photos of previously!

At least the run was slightly less Grim than last time..

I'm disappointed the Forth Bridge is blue..probably has been for years but always remember it as red! Although last time I crossed the firth of forth they were still building the new road bridge and we were on the old one.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I'm disappointed the Forth Bridge is blue..probably has been for years but always remember it as red! Although last time I crossed the firth of forth they were still building the new road bridge and we were on the old one.

Nope, still red Steven. I shot that on a very long lens and just let it sort out all it's own parameters. There was a real hazy har in the air and I think the combination of the two is what corrupted it. I think there'd be a national outcry if it wasn't red?

 

[StevenRB45]

Nope, still red Steven. I shot that on a very long lens and just let it sort out all it's own parameters. There was a real hazy har in the air and I think the combination of the two is what corrupted it. I think there'd be a national outcry if it wasn't red?

Probably, one of those things no one might have noticed.

Been a few times I've been out to places I'd previously frequent a lot when lockdown was eased and you'd notice buildings had came and gone and all sorts had been done while you were at home. Even the commute to work was unfamiliar last time I did it!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Drill a heavy bolt into the broken posts and lever them out of the concrete

I've got a "secret" weapon - A high lift farm jack! An amazing tool.

I find the biggest problem with digging out old fence posts which you wish to replace with new ones is that the digging operation tends to leave you with such a big hole and soft earth all around which won't support the new pole that it's a real nightmare to securely fix the new post. So, If your post has just been driven into the ground with no concrete around it, screw a lump of wood to the side of a post and use the jack to pull it out of the ground or, if set in concrete and rotted off at ground level, dig away to about 9 inches deep round the edges of the concrete plug, wrap a chain round it and pull it out of the ground with the jack. This leaves you with a reasonable size of hole to accept the new post.

Here it is complete with the bracing "A" frame I made to allow it to be used to maximum effect (otherwise you'll never stop it falling over just with the human body resisting the forces)



And here it is being used to pull a shrub out by the roots. A wee job which was almost beneath it and literally took a few moments!

 

[StevenRB45]

Just the one today...


Derwent Valley (well I'm not allowed anywhere else.) towards Consett/North Pennines.

Lovely slow walk round with a toddler in tow.

 

[DaveMcT]

My garden had wooden fence posts put in by the builders. Each one had "a ton" of concrete in a hole dug out by JCB. I had to pack the soil, then wedge the new posts (concrete) so the new concrete could set. Finally backfill with soil. I had to buy more soil to replace the space taken by those ridiculous concrete lumps. A total pain in the bits.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

My garden had wooden fence posts put in by the builders. Each one had "a ton" of concrete in a hole dug out by JCB. I had to pack the soil, then wedge the new posts (concrete) so the new concrete could set. Finally backfill with soil. I had to buy more soil to replace the space taken by those ridiculous concrete lumps. A total pain in the bits.

In our gardens the way it works is that the fence to the left of the garden is yours the one on the right is your neighbours. - Never have really sorted out who owns the one at the bottom - In practice I get on well with both my neighbours and we share costs. Unfortunately my neighbour to the right is not in robust good health so he tends to just employ others to fix this sort of stuff. My other neighbour and I did all the fencing on the left of mine and then went on to do all his fencing too. We used a "proper" post hole digger to make the holes so they are very "neat" but recently I did one of the ones on the other side and it was just as you describe here, Hole dug to a ridiculous size with so much concrete in them that two of us couldn't lift it and had to drag it to the curbside for collection by a lorry with a lift. Not a hope of putting it in the back of one of our cars. As you also say, having dug it out and shuttered the new concrete to a reasonable size you're then left with all this unfilled area, previously occupied by the excess concrete, to find something to fill in with - and I can tell you, don't use spent compost. It stays too wet and rots the new post quickly but also doesn't pack down properly so doesn't support the post when the wind blows hard. Guess how I know that?

It's not too bad doing the ones we installed ourselves but the ones to the right of the garden? well I just hope I don't have to do another any time soon! Damn, I hear high winds are forcast for later this week!

 

[DaveMcT]

I used the longest H section concrete posts I could find and sunk them unto the bottom of my cleared out "pits". Fortunately my ground was hard clay so although there was not a lot of concrete it was enough. The new soil I brought in to fill the holes was packed in to give further support.

The hardest job was accurately positioning and supporting the posts while the concrete set. Even then, one panel had to be edge trimmed and another needed a batten adding. But they were plumb and lasted at least 10 years before divorce gave my house away.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Back late yesterday from our child minding duties at No2 son's out in Newton Grange. It was an eventful day as the waste pipe from next door, which runs down the side of my boy's new extension, decided to overflow, vigorously, through it's air breather vent. Luckily this was only "grey water" from the kitchen and not sewage! Both my boy and his wife were at work and I don't know any local tradesmen out his way so I rang the builder who had done the extension for him - he's a very pleasant chap - and he came round with his plumber who rodded the pipe and restored flow. After a bit of "distanced" light banter they went away again refusing to take any payment. What thoroughly good chaps! Only time will tell whether there's a bigger problem here. With it being kitchen waste water only in this pipe I'm wondering what might have caused it to block? Annoying that the pipe runs through my boy's back garden but, with them being old miner's cottages - from the coal mining days - a lot of the services are shared.

Then we bundled the wee fella into his push chair and we went off to the park, which had only one other youngster with mum in attendance, where we played on the swings etc for about an hour or so. Wonderful! My grandchildren are just the greatest joy ever in my life.

Today, after a night of high winds and heavy rain, the sun was shining but dark clouds on the horizon out to the west. So I went out early for my walk - Mrs J's sciatica is still stopping her coming with me, she's walking round our wee estate a couple of times instead to keep herself moving - With the clouds looking ominous I decided to walk to the larger of the two parks I can use and go round the perimeter path a couple of time before heading home again. There was a most amusing wee terrier being walked on a very long lead. He went through the park gates just ahead of me, the park was not busy at all. The wee dog would rush out ahead at about 1 o'clock to it's owner to the limit of it's lead and then rush of at great speed to the left keeping the lead tight until it had described a complete circle anticlockwise round it's owner - who raised his lead holding hand into the air a bit like an airship docking mast so the dog lead could go the whole way round. Once back to it's starting point at 1 o'clock to his owners position it stopped a wee while until the lead shortened a bit then it would rush off to the lead's maximum extension and repeat the whole exercise! I tried tried to talk to the chap who owned it but he was not communicative and obviously just wanted me to got away - so I did!

Shortly after returning home it started spitting with rain which it's continuing to do. I believe there's heavy rain and high winds to come later today so my early walk looks like it's been a good decision. Not going to forget that wee dog in a hurry!

 

[chris3234]

Back late yesterday from our child minding duties at No2 son's out in Newton Grange. It was an eventful day as the waste pipe from next door, which runs down the side of my boy's new extension, decided to overflow, vigorously, through it's air breather vent. Luckily this was only "grey water" from the kitchen and not sewage! Both my boy and his wife were at work and I don't know any local tradesmen out his way so I rang the builder who had done the extension for him - he's a very pleasant chap - and he came round with his plumber who rodded the pipe and restored flow. After a bit of "distanced" light banter they went away again refusing to take any payment. What thoroughly good chaps! Only time will tell whether there's a bigger problem here. With it being kitchen waste water only in this pipe I'm wondering what might have caused it to block? Annoying that the pipe runs through my boy's back garden but, with them being old miner's cottages - from the coal mining days - a lot of the services are shared.

Then we bundled the wee fella into his push chair and we went off to the park, which had only one other youngster with mum in attendance, where we played on the swings etc for about an hour or so. Wonderful! My grandchildren are just the greatest joy ever in my life.

Today, after a night of high winds and heavy rain, the sun was shining but dark clouds on the horizon out to the west. So I went out early for my walk - Mrs J's sciatica is still stopping her coming with me, she's walking round our wee estate a couple of times instead to keep herself moving - With the clouds looking ominous I decided to walk to the larger of the two parks I can use and go round the perimeter path a couple of time before heading home again. There was a most amusing wee terrier being walked on a very long lead. He went through the park gates just ahead of me, the park was not busy at all. The wee dog would rush out ahead at about 1 o'clock to it's owner to the limit of it's lead and then rush of at great speed to the left keeping the lead tight until it had described a complete circle anticlockwise round it's owner - who raised his lead holding hand into the air a bit like an airship docking mast so the dog lead could go the whole way round. Once back to it's starting point at 1 o'clock to his owners position it stopped a wee while until the lead shortened a bit then it would rush off to the lead's maximum extension and repeat the whole exercise! I tried tried to talk to the chap who owned it but he was not communicative and obviously just wanted me to got away - so I did!

Shortly after returning home it started spitting with rain which it's continuing to do. I believe there's heavy rain and high winds to come later today so my early walk looks like it's been a good decision. Not going to forget that wee dog in a hurry!

kitchen drain? probally fat and food residue especilly if theres any sort of bend or join in the pipe for it to settle on





we had issue with the kitchen drain being very slow to drain away reacently and the design of the underground pipe work makes it very hard if not impossible to get a drain road or jetting hose down the full length from what i can tell it runs something like the attached digram






so in order to clear id had to get rather creative by blocking the pipe exit up in the manhole with a towel wrapped in a plastic bag and wedge in place by a large pole it held 95% of the water back then filled the drain back up to the hole where the pipe exit the house (DONT KNOW THE CORRECT WORD FOR IT)


when the drain was filled all the way back i removed the plug and let the large volume of water flush the pipes out


found some rather surprising things in the debris flushed out including 2 bolts a tea spoon and a washer then the usual bits of stones and whatever else

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

kitchen drain? probally fat and food residue especilly if theres any sort of bend or join in the pipe for it to settle on





we had issue with the kitchen drain being very slow to drain away reacently and the design of the underground pipe work makes it very hard if not impossible to get a drain road or jetting hose down the full length from what i can tell it runs something like the attached digram






so in order to clear id had to get rather creative by blocking the pipe exit up in the manhole with a towel wrapped in a plastic bag and wedge in place by a large pole it held 95% of the water back then filled the drain back up to the hole where the pipe exit the house (DONT KNOW THE CORRECT WORD FOR IT)


when the drain was filled all the way back i removed the plug and let the large volume of water flush the pipes out


found some rather surprising things in the debris flushed out including 2 bolts a tea spoon and a washer then the usual bits of stones and whatever else

Wow. That's some routing of the drain! My boy's is luckily a quite straight run to the main sewer which also runs through the back gardens (being miners cottages I don't think any issues of ownership were a consideration when they were built) Luckily the water company has ownership of the pipes so any problems with the main sewer are covered by Scottish Water - but not the service pipes from the houses to the main pipe. This pipe, the one which was blocked, seems to run straight out from the side of the house and "T" into the main sewer underground so no man hole etc. They did take a main sewer manhole cover up at the other side of the garden and watch whilst they flushed through after rodding with my boy's garden hose and they pronounced everything to be cleared. On reflection perhaps I should suggest to him that he should flush it through himself maybe a couple of times a year as all he'd have to do is take the grill off the top of the breather and stick his hose down the hole? It would take all of 5 minutes!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Further, perhaps interesting, revelations about yesterday's "flood" at my boy's house - mentioned, at length above.

He's just been on the 'phone to get my opinion. "Dad. I can hear water running down the breather grill where it flooded yesterday" said he. I got him to take the cover off and shine his 'phone torch down it. "There seems to be water at the bottom of the pipe and a smaller pipe coming in about 2 or 3 feet down from which clear water is running". "So it's not overflowing" I asked. "No, it's all running away". Great!

Then I started thinking. Clear water, when yesterday it was milky white and frothy? Oh well maybe they're just running the kitchen tap? Then before I could think further he said "Dad there's a lot more water coming now". With us, about half an hour's drive away I notice it's just started raining with lots of dark clouds over in his direction. "is it raining with you son"? "Yes, quite heavily" said he. - Got to be rain water hasn't it? "Son, can you see the back of next door's house"? "Yes". Being old miners cottages there would have been very little or no plumbing when they were built so all the, retro fitted, waste pipes are external. Can you see their kitchen waste pipe? He can and it's running diagonally across the back wall down into the corner where his property adjoins theirs. "And where does it go then"? "Into a big metal pipe" - down pipe I'm now thinking? - "and where does the big metal pipe go"? "It starts up at the roof gutter and goes down to the ground where their waste pipe goes into the side of it"

Ok then this pipe which has been overflowing carries not only the kitchen grey water from next door but also the rain water runoff from their roof! Must be a lot of water runs through it at times so how come it's only overflowed yesterday I'm asking myself. "Oh but it has Dad! It's overflowed a few times but always gone away"! I despair, I'm lost for words!

This extension has only been completed for a matter of a couple of months so there's no great history behind this but my guess is that the builder when he was realigning drains, and I know he had this one dug partially up when the founds for the extension were laid, has ended up with some rubble in the drain itself causing a partial blockage which may then have worstened with fat build up or for some other reason until the drain was almost totally blocked. It then backfilled when in use but slowly "leaked" away when water was not running hence how it was not noticeable all the time. When he rodded it out yesterday he's chased whatever was there out into the main sewer, which is about three times the diameter. By removing the manhole cover at the other side of the garden, and running the garden hose down "our" vent hole, he's been able to see that the water is flowing down both our pipe and the main sewer pipe so I think all is now well. With the roof water running through here as well it should ensure things keep well flushed through. I just wonder exactly what has been chased out into the main sewer and may be waiting there to catch the odd rogue nappy or other debris at some indeterminate time in the future. Still, that'll be the utility company's problem, won't it? If all the houses run their rain water the same way - and I don't see why they wouldn't - there must be a real torrent running down that main pipe when it rains. With luck this will rapidly flush any debris away downstream. - and if not then it'll not be long before the whole street has a blocked main sewer. Oh Gawd! that's not a good thought is it!

 

[jackwhoo]

Further, perhaps interesting, revelations about yesterday's "flood" at my boy's house - mentioned, at length above.

He's just been on the 'phone to get my opinion. "Dad. I can hear water running down the breather grill where it flooded yesterday" said he. I got him to take the cover off and shine his 'phone torch down it. "There seems to be water at the bottom of the pipe and a smaller pipe coming in about 2 or 3 feet down from which clear water is running". "So it's not overflowing" I asked. "No, it's all running away". Great!

Then I started thinking. Clear water, when yesterday it was milky white and frothy? Oh well maybe they're just running the kitchen tap? Then before I could think further he said "Dad there's a lot more water coming now". With us, about half an hour's drive away I notice it's just started raining with lots of dark clouds over in his direction. "is it raining with you son"? "Yes, quite heavily" said he. - Got to be rain water hasn't it? "Son, can you see the back of next door's house"? "Yes". Being old miners cottages there would have been very little or no plumbing when they were built so all the, retro fitted, waste pipes are external. Can you see their kitchen waste pipe? He can and it's running diagonally across the back wall down into the corner where his property adjoins theirs. "And where does it go then"? "Into a big metal pipe" - down pipe I'm now thinking? - "and where does the big metal pipe go"? "It starts up at the roof gutter and goes down to the ground where their waste pipe goes into the side of it"

Ok then this pipe which has been overflowing carries not only the kitchen grey water from next door but also the rain water runoff from their roof! Must be a lot of water runs through it at times so how come it's only overflowed yesterday I'm asking myself. "Oh but it has Dad! It's overflowed a few times but always gone away"! I despair, I'm lost for words!

This extension has only been completed for a matter of a couple of months so there's no great history behind this but my guess is that the builder when he was realigning drains, and I know he had this one dug partially up when the founds for the extension were laid, has ended up with some rubble in the drain itself causing a partial blockage which may then have worstened with fat build up or for some other reason until the drain was almost totally blocked. It then backfilled when in use but slowly "leaked" away when water was not running hence how it was not noticeable all the time. When he rodded it out yesterday he's chased whatever was there out into the main sewer, which is about three times the diameter. By removing the manhole cover at the other side of the garden, and running the garden hose down "our" vent hole, he's been able to see that the water is flowing down both our pipe and the main sewer pipe so I think all is now well. With the roof water running through here as well it should ensure things keep well flushed through. I just wonder exactly what has been chased out into the main sewer and may be waiting there to catch the odd rogue nappy or other debris at some indeterminate time in the future. Still, that'll be the utility company's problem, won't it? If all the houses run their rain water the same way - and I don't see why they wouldn't - there must be a real torrent running down that main pipe when it rains. With luck this will rapidly flush any debris away downstream. - and if not then it'll not be long before the whole street has a blocked main sewer. Oh Gawd! that's not a good thought is it!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_sewer

Gosh yes hope it doesn't get blocked and it rains or it will rapidly be overwhelmed and everyone there will be in the ****.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Been heavy rain for a while this afternoon and he's not rung me. Heavy rain forecast for the next few hours and lots of rain for the next couple of days. If we clear that I think we can probably say it's going to be fine.

 

[StevenRB45]

Mines got a similar set up..

All the water is installed in the rear of the house (bathroom kitchen etc.) and is collected by one sink..into which the rear half of the roof drains and the yard as well.

As you can imagine you have to watch the damn thing like a hawk..if it's not fat from the kitchen blocking it or hair from the bathroom...it's gravel/soil/leaves from the back. One year hailstones formed a dam around the sink cover so ended up running out to break it before the water reached the back door step height.

Obviously then as you get to the back gate..the sewer is added to that and due to being a retrofit it's not at the best angle over the property so when combined with a modern low flow toilet and Windsor trap it's pretty much a weekly check to make sure it's flowing way and not gathering at the outflow.

It's only blocked to the point nothing was leaving the property once, it was a fun afternoon but I'd rather spend 2 minutes having a quick check than do that again.

I can imagine how busy you'd be if he lived here

 

[varesecrazy]

A couple of hours out of the house now we are 'allowed 5 miles'

A trip in the panda climbing up through our valley.. following the trainline

Ebbw Vale station : terminus

Back in the days of Coal this was a massively busy valley

Looking down the valley ( South)


A broad area of 'empty land'

17,000 worked here

Over the modern suspension bridge

The name of the Lane has a historical meaning

The SteelWorks was massive.. all gone 40 years ago

The weather up here is 'mountainous'

Always has a cool edge to it..

Beautiful in the light though