The Night Mail

[SM42]

I survived the bike ride.

Only about 3 miles each way but there is a long 1 in 14 in it. 

 

It was a case of look at the view not the hill.  Don't look at the hill. 

 

It didn't help my chain came off halfway up. 

 

That front derailleur needs adjusting. 

 

There is an awful lot razor wire where Poland, Russia and Lithuania meet. 

 

Andy

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

I survived the bike ride.

Only about 3 miles each way but there is a long 1 in 14 in it. 

 

It was a case of look at the view not the hill.  Don't look at the hill. 

 

It didn't help my chain came off halfway up. 

 

That front derailleur needs adjusting. 

 

There is an awful lot razor wire where Poland, Russia and Lithuania meet. 

 

Andy

My chain came off many years ago🤣

[TheQ]

11 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

But do you have a muddy hollow?

We certainly did this winter the whole garden was a muddy hollow.

 

The broads are tidal, low tide today was about 15:00.

The daily tidal range is about a foot at horning, but the extremes are +-3 ft. However due to the size of the broads there is quite a current flow.

Q's place of residence, is a safe-ish 19ft above sea level.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Di you ever build the shed I sent you?

 

It was rather magnificent, as it was a brick structure with a slate roof.

 

Perhaps you have built it and use it as a garden office or accommodation for visiting guests rather than just as a common and garden shed.

Oh you mean that truck load of bricks covered in mortar. Didn't know it was you. If I had I wouldn't have sold to guy who knocked on the door saying he was from HS2 and they were having to rebuild a house they'd knocked down. Something to do with levelling up he kept muttering about. I believe he was called Gove and came from Lancaster.

[Winslow Boy]

12 minutes ago, TheQ said:

We certainly did this winter the whole garden was a muddy hollow.

 

The broads are tidal, low tide today was about 15:00.

The daily tidal range is about a foot at horning, but the extremes are +-3 ft. However due to the size of the broads there is quite a current flow.

Q's place of residence, is a safe-ish 19ft above sea level.

You see I knew that.

[J. S. Bach]

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I had a chat about whales with one guide too. 

Wales?

[Winslow Boy]

30 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

My chain came off many years ago🤣

That's because you 'oiled' it too much.

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, SM42 said:

 ...snip... There is an awful lot razor wire where Poland, Russia and Lithuania meet.

Andy

Photos? If allowed, that is.

[SM42]

1 minute ago, J. S. Bach said:

Photos? If allowed, that is.

 

There you go. 

 

 

The obelisk marks the point the three countries meet. 

 

Lithuania is to the right. 

 

Andy

 

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Wales?

It was definitely about whales. A very interesting discussion.

[br2975]

"Maverick" and "Ice Man"  take to the skies.

.

Today, my RAF Cadet twin grandsons went for their first flights in a Grob, from St. Athan, a short hop along the coast to Porthcawl..

.

They enjoy every minute of their squadron time, even down to 'bulling' their boots ........ unusual for 14 year olds.

[Winslow Boy]

8 minutes ago, SM42 said:

 

There you go. 

 

 

The obelisk marks the point the three countries meet. 

 

Lithuania is to the right. 

 

Andy

 

Are they trying to stop it being pinched or something.

[SM42]

1 minute ago, Winslow Boy said:

Are they trying to stop it being pinched or something.

 

I think they are trying to stop people getting past it.

 

Andy

[rockershovel]

56 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Are they trying to stop it being pinched or something.

When I was working on Nord Stream, the Russian landfall was at Vyborg near the Russian / Finnish border. There was a "boundary zone" with razor wire both sides and raked sand (to show footprints). 

 

Most of the footprints I saw were of bears, which the Russian guards told us pretty much did their job for them. 

[SM42]

7 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

When I was working on Nord Stream, the Russian landfall was at Vyborg near the Russian / Finnish border. There was a "boundary zone" with razor wire both sides and raked sand (to show footprints). 

 

Most of the footprints I saw were of bears, which the Russian guards told us pretty much did their job for them. 

 

Or people wearing bear paw shoes.

 

Andy

[pH]

3 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

When I was working on Nord Stream, the Russian landfall was at Vyborg near the Russian / Finnish border. There was a "boundary zone" with razor wire both sides and raked sand (to show footprints). 

 

Most of the footprints I saw were of bears, which the Russian guards told us pretty much did their job for them. 

I lived in West Berlin for a few months in the early 1970s, very near to the border with East Germany. There was a raked sand strip in amongst the various wire barriers, automatic shotguns etc in the border barrier. Every so often, at night there would be a loud bang. If you got down to the border before the required maintenance had been done, you could see the crater where a hopping rabbit or some other wildlife had set off one of the mines buried beneath the sand.

[pH]

25 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

Most of the footprints I saw were of bears, which the Russian guards told us pretty much did their job for them. 

Somebody used bears as guards here in BC:

 

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/team-of-black-bears-guarded-grow-op-police-say-1.543742

You would have to trust them not to get into the product!

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

 There was a "boundary zone" with razor wire both sides and raked sand (to show footprints). 

 

 

That would have been Swiss Toni in his pre bonsai master training period.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

There you go. 

 

 

The obelisk marks the point the three countries meet. 

 

Lithuania is to the right. 

 

Andy

 

 

You're now a marked man for spying on the Ruskies....expect 30 years in the Gulag.....

[SM42]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

You're now a marked man for spying on the Ruskies....expect 30 years in the Gulag.....

 

Russia is not in the pitcure.

 

It is a popular spot though. Lots of people came to look.

 

Inspired by yesterday's bike ride, Mrs SM42 is planning another today. 

 

Don't look at the hill, look at the view. 

 

Don't look at the hill, look at the view. 

 

Don't look at the hill, look at the view. 

 

Andy

[iL Dottore]

12 hours ago, SM42 said:

I survived the bike ride.

Only about 3 miles each way but there is a long 1 in 14 in it. 

 

It was a case of look at the view not the hill.  Don't look at the hill. 

 

Given this report, I would discourage you from taking a cycling holiday in Switzerland*

 

Apart from the fact that only a small percentage of the country is actually flat**, there is this unique topographical quirk of Switzerland: In Switzerland there is no such thing as “downhill”, it’s always “uphill”. Even when you think you are going downhill, you are actually going up! As I found out the hard way when Mrs iD persuaded me to take cycling holiday with her, many years ago….

 

The best thing about a cycling holiday is the calorie burn - which means after a day cycling always uphill, you can tuck in to plates of Olma Bratwurst mit Rösti and chase it down with a couple of Grosses*** without guilt.

 

* Although Switzerland is a splendid destination even for those who are allergic to cycling, hiking and winter sports. The railway network alone will keep you enthralled and entertained for days at a time (ask @jamie92208) and - believe or not - there are even budget options like Ibis for accommodation (so you don’t have to remortgage the house to overnight in Zürich or Geneva).

** I don’t think the Swiss authorities would be happy with you cycling across the tarmac at ZRH.

*** Grosses = a large beer. Usually 0.5 L, sometimes 1L

Edited July 31 by iL Dottore

[Tony_S]

30 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

don’t think the Swiss authorities would be happy with you cycling across the tarmac at ZRH.

The old control tower at ZRH would now seem to be a wedding venue. Nephew announced he had got married there a few weeks go. 

[SM42]

55 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Given this report, I would discourage you from taking a cycling holiday in Switzerland*

 

Apart from the fact that only a small percentage of the country is actually flat**, there is this unique topographical quirk of Switzerland: In Switzerland there is no such thing as “downhill”, it’s always “uphill”. Even when you think you are going downhill, you are actually going up! As I found out the hard way when Mrs iD persuaded me to take cycling holiday with her, many years ago….

 

The best thing about a cycling holiday is the calorie burn - which means after a day cycling always uphill, you can tuck in to plates of Olma Bratwurst mit Rösti and chase it down with a couple of Grosses*** without guilt.

 

* Although Switzerland is a splendid destination even for those who are allergic to cycling, hiking and winter sports. The railway network alone will keep you enthralled and entertained for days at a time (ask @jamie92208) and - believe or not - there are even budget options like Ibis for accommodation (so you don’t have to remortgage the house to overnight in Zürich or Geneva).

** I don’t think the Swiss authorities would be happy with you cycling across the tarmac at ZRH.

*** Grosses = a large beer. Usually 0.5 L, sometimes 1L

 

I suspect that looking at the view in Switzerland is in fact looking at the hill. 

 

I've loaded with carbs at breakfast ( not much choice really) so will be ready to take on the maximum 500m difference between lowest and highest points today.

 

As some of you know, I'm UK  shaped so plenty of carbs in reserve

 

( Get in shape?  Round is a shape.)

 

Andy

[rockershovel]

10 hours ago, SM42 said:

 

Or people wearing bear paw shoes.

 

Andy

Nope

 

One of them came on site one day.