Strong Winds And Weak Trees

Check your chosen spots for overnighting when the wind is blowing strong.

Dirty Old Town

My First attempt At Playing At Dirty Old Town On A Harmonica Hohner Special 20 progressive All Photos © Brick to rubber

Sat in a Lay by with the fire on, outside its cold had some hailstone some very high winds and a touch of snow in the last 2 hours. So just playing around with a harmonica and managed to play something like Dirty old town not sure if the notes are right but like Eric Morecambe once said to Andre Previn am playing all the right not but not necessarily in the right order

Merry Christmas And Happy New Year!

Christmas and the pending new year is upon us all again the pubs are going to be full of drunks the shops full of drunks the roads full of drunks.
In fact everywhere full of drunks some pretending to be having a good time and trying there best to impress others some will get it right and the people around them will enjoy the company and yes have a good time.Others sadly will get it wrong and and piss off everybody within half a mile of their loud obnoxious often sexist behaviour and remarks they are like caveman/cave woman beating their puffed up chests just looking for a confrontation in order to mark their territory.
Most end up marking there territory by puking up and pissing all over the place Some will go a stage further to get the look at me attention they crave and beat the living daylights out of some innocent and usely a smaller individual that just happens to be in the wrong place. Thankfully the majority of the people that are out will be making the most of the free time with no pressure of work for a few days spending quality time with the children having family and friends around.Celebrating Christmas and the new year for what it stands for  this is something most people look forwards to and makes the rest of the year worth all the hard work and hassle. On the other side of the coin there are people like myself young and old that do not cope well over the festive season  for whatever reasons please give them a thought and the space to be in their own comfort zone. The one thing that really saddens me is
the heartache and life changing events(unnecessary violence, accident's, and deaths) that will occur of the next few weeks around the world caused by people having a good time will make any terrorist attack that might occur small by comparison.
 enough said
 Happy Christmas And New Year.

Happiness is having Nothing and needing nothing.

Not moved out of my parking spot for 2 days weathers not up to much and i did not fancy walking around the shops again so just stayed put.
I have enough to do in the van anyway.
Messing around on Adobe Premiere Elements 2018 takes up a lot of time and also takes a lot of battery power i get about 3 hours off the two battery's if i just work on two projects.
That is providing i don't dig to deep into the Adobe program trying all the tricks its times like this with the dark nights that i would like to be on a site with hook up like anything else in life is swings and roundabouts. I have seen,done and learnt more in the last few years than in the whole of my past  life. You would be surprised how little we need to live comfortably am not talking money wise its all the materialistic things we all seem to desire or the comfort items we wont surround ourselves with i was as guilty as everyone else.
The Heart Attack was a major factor in my decision to change the way i lived everything i owned became just unnecessary objects to which i now had no affections for.
I wanted life and a new one at that a new me in my new life am only ten years old ( had heart attack 10 years ago) i see people in a different light now i want to learn about them I also have an interest in the world we live in and how things work.
Would i go back to my old life style if i had the chance? all the motorbikes, fishing tackle. workshop, guitars, amps recording studio, cars, friends, and bricks and mortar could not tempt me back.


Happiness is having nothing and needing nothing so go out and get some.

Made My Day Meeting Mr Martin Dorey

While out shopping the other day i was was lucky enough to get the chance to talk to a chap with the name Martin Dorey.
You might remember the TV program One Man And His Camper Van well Martin Dorey was the star of the show. Martin has also written a few books  runs a very informative blog and has a dot.com site as well. I enjoyed talking to this very polite,cheerful and educated man There is a Link to Martins Blog Below  campervanliving . I wish him good luck with his next adventure and hope to meet him again.

One Man And His Campervan Martin Dorey, campervan lover and passionate foodie, journeys around Britain in his 1970s classic campervan, on the ultimate escapist adventure. Over ten episodes Martin travels to different regions in the UK - Devon, New Forest, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Angus, Trossachs, the Lakes and Pembrokeshire. Along the way he meets growers, fisherman, farmers, larger-than-life local experts and fellow holiday makers. Martin cooks for his new-found friends, creating local dishes from his small campervan kitchen. These feasts unfold wherever Martin camps up, in some truly stunning settings: on Britain's beaches, in woodlands, on cliff tops and around intimate campfires. Martin unearths our freshest seasonal food, tasting his way around Britain on this campervan food adventure.

Martin Dorey,s Blog

Stagg Patch Leads Fix

Got some patch leads for my guitar foot pedals sold by stagg only to find they do not click into place when put into the pedal sockets. This Video show an easy fix to rectify this.

St Nectans Glen Trethevy Tintagel

St Nectan's Glen woodlands and waterfalls at Trethevy Tintagel PL34 0BG has been called one of the most sacred sites in Britain; it is certainly a nice place for a long day out  At the top of the glen are a series of three waterfalls below the site of a hermitage established by the 6th century Celtic saint Nectan. The hermitage and waterfalls can only be reached on foot after a mile long walk beside the River Trevillet looks more like a Stream than a river. The walk is easyish with one or two spots that could be a bit testing to the more elderly plus it does involve a walk from any of the car parks
Personally this place was not for me the walk back to Tintagel along the coastline was harder but much more enjoyable.

A walk along the common

Had one of the hottest days i,ve ever known for a November even on the cliff tops the air was still with no breeze coming off the Anlantic.
So spent the day mostly walking along the cliff tops and down on the beach.

Sea Breeze

A quick look at how close the erosion of the cliff top is next to the Compass Tower that over looks Bude Bay.

Tintagel castle to the YHA

A walk along Glebe Cliff from the castle to the YHA,

Boscastle

Boscastle a walk in and around done in cartoon style.

A Young James Running Rings Around Me

James Playing hide and seek
This is the part where james is in hiding using a GoPro to film.

New Horse On The Moors

Worked out this morning that it takes me Six Hours to make a ten minute video from start to finish that approx 2 hours filming, 2 1/2 hours editing, 30 minutes rendering 10 minutes upload to youtube,
30 minutes adding music at youtube, and 20 minutes to load onto youtube.
That's not including the recharge of battery's if am on the road I do need to go to a library or better still a pub that will let me use and plug in my computer in order to upload the finished Video.
Of course this means a few pints of the good stuff and a bit of grub so costing me money as well.
All in a days work ? 

Compilation of clips of the Bude area from my last three visits.

A 20 minute Compilation Video containing clips of the area of bude from my last three visits Including  a Christmas day swim, a drive from Penhalt cliff to bude taking the coastal route.
The Painting of the canal boat ORBAS in bude harbour on the RNLI day The Compass on the cliff tops a flight over the rocks looking at the whale rock and barrel rock. along with an aerial shots of Crooklets and Bude.

A Quick View Of Bude Compass

Managed to get a quick flight near the compass on the hill tops above bude beach and barrel rock
I also have used the new Adobe 2018 editing suite  Any comments welcome.

Update on my computer

Have got my computer back in the last few days its looking good I also got the new Adobe premiere elements 2018 not had a real chance to have a play with it yet.

Just messing with the New Adobe 18 editing suite

Fireworks at Bude Rugby Club

Went to watch the firework display at the rugby club in bude  well worth the visit if you around this aera  in november.

Do I Have A Confidence Problem.

My notes.

I have just been reading the Acoustical and Physical Dynamics of the Diatonic Harmonica.

Yes it was interesting !  but i think i live in a different world i seem to take on projects that are well above my level of understanding.

I have been trying to play any short of musical instrument from my early teens and to this day i still cannot tune in a guitar, ukulele, or any other stringed instrument this along with a very limited learning curve makes playing music a very frustrating hobby.

However when i first tried the harmonica i found it easy to play the best part of a tune i knew reasonably well  and could normally work out the full tune by ear.

And on comparing my notes with published song books my notes were very close to the published songs in the books however this is the part I don't understand when i try to learn from a song book i can not pick it up at all.

This then frustrates me and to the point of thinking why the F??k am i bothering its a bit like hitting a brick wall every time you ride your bike this problem has been with me from my early years . Could this be a confidence problem standing up in public has never been my bag but i have no problem teaching people things that i know about.

I have in the past worked at teaching pattern cutting, photography,Motorcycle training and martial arts so not overly shy Or could the problem be the fact that my parents  especially my father always told me that has long as i have a hole in my arse i would never be able to do anything. This is now becoming a challenge  i would really love to go out and do some busking without choking up every time.

Devon and cornwall border

v

One of my stopovers on the devon and cornwall border by the river Taymar.

New Born Horse at Davidstow.

Managed to set my video up close to this new born horse.

Just waffling on about flying my drone

Rubbish in the laybys

Just a short video showing you some rubbish i came along at one of my stops.

Another wet weekend.

Yet another wet and windy weekend so not much going on thankfully I have got my computer back so will be spending most of the weekend in the van testing it hopefully everything will be ok.

It's cold enough now so my fires on  and the cupboards doors are all open to let the warm air circulate and air some of the clothing I have found this to work quite well along with a Uni bond Aero 360 humidifier.

Also a little tip here which might help some of you if your mattress and bedding is touching the vans inside wall your body heat in the bedding and mattress is as I'm sure you will be aware of creating moisture making the bedding and mattress feel damp.

The method i use to stop this is to create an air gap between the wall and mattress by placing four or more plastic lunch boxes or a few empty plastic bottles in the gap.

I do not sleep with any form of heating on at night its not that I'm opposed to doing so     Personally, after all people living in bricks and mortar have the central heating on overnight plus a motorhome has an abundance of air vents to allow free flowing air to circulate using the night catches on the windows is a safe bet. 

Update re my Laptop

I'm taking my laptop in one last time to see if i can get it shorted out the laptop cost me £2000 in total with programs upgrades etc, just 12 months ago plus the spend on it this year.

It would cost me the same plus some to get the equivalent computer this year. So getting it looked at by somebody that wants to fix it and not just rip you off i shall keep you informed about this in future posts.Like i have mentioned before it runs and works well enough but the mapping for sending the files to the right destination is just not right i end up searching the whole computer the next time i want to do anymore work. It's like having to climb thougth the upstairs bathroom window every time you wish to get into your house. 

Cool Vloger ( James ) for all you young uns out there

 I spent the day with this young lad James at his parents request to help him edit his films and get the best results from the equipment that he had, It turned out I learnt more from spending the day with  James than he learnt from me. His confidence, personality and ability is amazing to say the least I personally think he has a future in the film industry  please take a look at his vloger named cool volger click link below and leave some helpful comments this would give him the encouragement and confidence to do more.

Please click on the link below
cool volger

Bude And Crooklets

Just a short video with a Drone Shot of Bude Taken from Crooklets and then a walk by the cafe.
You can find very good cliff top walks along this part of the coastline which offer some outstanding veiws both inland and out to the sea.

The Red Post Inn Holiday Park

The Red Post Inn Holiday Park ( the red post inn and tourist park). Launcells Bude Cornwall EX23 9NW. A nice place to stay short or long term a very good base with easy road access to all of devon and cornwall.

Cornwall At War Museum Full Length In Colour.

God the weathers been bad last real sunshine we had was the August bank holiday down south anyway.

Still everything has its own beauty even bad weather, sitting on a beach watching the waves battering against the shoreline and listening to the roar it sends echoing across the beach can either send you into a panic or put you at ease.

Walking along the cliff tops in a strong wind can make you laugh or make you cry I remember last year the wind and the hailstone was that strong blowing off the sea while I was on the cliff top near the compass overlooking Bude bay.

It actually took my legs from under me picked me up and set me down about six foot further inland I was lay in the mud laughing and crying with pain at the same time also i remember leaning at about 45degs into the wind while at Westwood Hoe

What I'm trying to say is be optimistic about life and not pessimistic 

And the sun will always shine.

I remember talking to a Young girl who took on a part time job as a barmaid to help her while she was at university I asked her what she was studying for her reply was midwifery then she went on to say all I want to do is buy nice dresses and look like a princess otherwise life won't be worth living. My reply was to look in the mirror and you will see the princess you want to be .

Spent two days at the Cornwall at war museum it is a very interesting place to visit at a small entrance fee of £5.00 well worth the trip hopefully the video will give you an idea of what to expect.

Cornwall at war news reel

A short part of a video from my visit to the war museum.

Wild Horses on Davidstow moor

waking up in the morning to a herd of Wild horses grazing at the side of your van is one of the most amazing things that has happend to me while wild camping.

Quick update

Davidstow Airfield by Drone

Nottles Park Davidstow PL32 9YF is where you will find Davidstow airfield
more commonly RAF Davidstow Moor.  just east of Camelford Cornwallthis is a former Royal Air Force Station built in 1942  and in use from 1942-1954.
Squadron 53 stationed from 1st january 1943 to 18th february 1943.
Squadron 144 station from 10th may 1944 to 1st july 1944
Squadon 206 station from 18th march to 12th april 1944
More Imformation on wikipedia.org.

Sandymouth bay 2107

Spent  most of Saturday cleaning the roof of my van and looking for any signs of damage in the mastic and checking the fixtures and fittings then on Sunday walking the cliff tops along sandy-mouth bay the weather was unexpectedly warm over the weekend .

It was only when talking to somebody in the car park at sandy-mouth I found out there was a world war event on at crooklets bay over the weekend never mind cannot  be in two places at once also any chance of flying the drone at the event would of been a No-No anyway. I did however get to fly along the beech and near the cliff faces which was good fun,the car park attendant on getting back told me that the National Trust have a no Drone in policy force. I can understand that at places like old buildings and castles and other places of national interest but come on what damage could I of done the rock face I mean the Germans tried to blow the crap out of the coast line and the seas eroding it at an unforgivable pace . Another thing that gets my back up the National Trust own a lot of coast line and have no go areas for the public surely this is stopping peoples right to access the  full length our coast,is it not our Coast.

Just a note before I start getting comments about  Quad copters to give them the correct name . I would of thought that the CCTV cameras  dotted on every street corner, at traffic lights,inside shops ,outside shops, the thermal imaging cameras the police use at night. Nearly every car on the road has a dash camera nowadays 

They can drive past schools filming everybody more so the children they can go into airports filming, can go into hospitals,  now to me that's invading people's privacy not some guy taking a quad copter out on a beach and videoing the rock formation of the cliffs and a fly-by of the tide coming in. (this is aimed at the daft twat that said I was taking a video of the car number plates)  and there's him with is BMW  number ????. Filming me on his dash camera .

 

Computer still down

Sorry about not uploading anything for the last week or two my computer is still not running right also it's not recognising any of the files that I try to upload from my cameras it keeps trying to open them as PL.Mp4. as of yet not found a fix and the repair shop were not overly helpful plus bad weather down here is not helping much.

So am mostly in the Van practicing on the harmonica  and tweeting the amp looking for the right sound.

At this moment am in the bowling alley (harlequins ) just been renamed the venue in Bude having a coffee.

Penhalt Cliff

Hi all spent the last three nights on Penhalt Cliff that's the correct name for the layby overlooking widemouth bay . I was hoping the weather would allow me to fly the Drone along the length of the cliffs in Millook a small bay just a short down hill walk but a one in thirty on the way back. I was hoping to show you the pleats and folds that were formed in the rock all those millions of years ago. Don't think it going to happen this time will try again in a few weeks time.

 Have had a big down on computer had to take it for repair not yet sure how long it will be down .

A walk along the coastline from Tintagel Castle Past The Church To The Slate Works Plus My Living Cost For 2016/2017

 As mentioned in a previous post here are my living cost for the last 12 months on the road.
This year,s living costs 2016 /  2017
Average monthly costs for items

Fuel = £67.69
Food/ water =£130.83
Van =£21.91
Gas =£11.92
Parking =£23.54
Campsites =£10.41
Laundry =£7.00
Household =£58.54
Fixed costs=£100.18

Thats £432.02 per month =£5,184.24

Household was quite high this year as it included  x2 solar panels x1 leisure  battery and one set of telescopic ladders plus a hoover.
Remember this does not include personal items like computers, cameras, camcorders, musical instruments, clothing, entertainment.

Tintagel three videos

In Tintagel for a few days now weathers picked up well for the bank holiday weekend have been out with the drone first time for a while.
Also had a play with the GoPro on the egg timer I strapped the tripod to a fence post by the beach and just let it run for sixty minutes at 2 frames a second this will give me an unedited film of 2 minutes.The results can be seen in the video below you will also be able to see another video of Tintagel by drone plus a flyby of the church on this page.

Where am I now

Tried to park up at wide mouth bay this afternoon  not a chance the free car park was heaving and the bay car park its self was full . I was not going to risk parking in one of the many farmers fields car parks that are being used as overflows I've had too many bad experiences getting bogged down in this type of car park. Holy Island last year was the worst for me at least i got to stay overnight. 

In Tintagel this week hot sunny and unfortunately  very windy for the last 2 days I tried to take a 360 dregee video with the Gopro setup on a good tripod but the wind kept lifting it off the ground. This is where i miss having my old professional gear im not knocking the gear i have now in the right conditions its all upto the job. Unfortunately there is allways a trade off especially when it comes down to the tripod i would love to go back to medium format gear, after paying a visit to the London Camera Exchange and playing with the Three to Nine Thousand pounds Digital cameras as nice as they where they all felt light and flimsy. If you factor in the cost of a couple of lenses insurance and all the other add ons you would be faced with a very hefty bill. So I'll stick with what I've got  and maybe just upgrade to a professional tripod 

Egg timer and GoPro video 180 Degrees

Bude And What Happend To The Canal Barge Orbis.

Bude

Now in Bude  weathers getting better each day looking forward to a walk along the cliff tops from wide mouth to sandy-mouth bay.
I have a care of address in this area so can order items I need and have a fixed address for them to be delivered to, I also have a care of address in Cheshire.
I do love it down south weathers warmer stays brighter for longer and of course loads of beaches and cliff top walks. Mind you have to put up with more than your fair share of wind and rain but every thing comes at a cost personally the views make up for any downsides.
If you can remember this time last year the canal barge ( Orbis )  owed by Lee and Vicky that got into a life threatening situation on the seas and bought safety into Bude harbour by the RNLB. Orbis and the crew have now moved on I believe that they where in another situation which involved the RNLB while heading back up the Bristol Channel and this is after getting in trouble while leaving the Bude canal.
Below are some newspaper cuttings about this to many people are writing Lee and Vicky off as idiots having spent the best part of six months getting to know them they are far from it any adventure involves an amount of risk be it calculated  or unseen this couple are only living the dream. And part of this is crossing the channel to France unaided part one of Lee and Vicky,s Misadventure is included in this blog titled ( there's no fool like an old fool )?. Are we ever to old to learn personally I don't think so sometimes though a change of tact can bring the same rewards.

Last Years Newspaper Cuttings 2016

 3:39pm 11th July 2016
Lifeboat crews in Bude have been called out to rescue a canal barge and find a missing person all in one day.
The crew had three shouts on Wednesday 6th July, two which saw assistance given to a 60ft canal barge and the other to assist in the search for a missing person.
At 2.06pm the inshore lifeboat was requested to take over an escort from Appledore lifeboat by Falmouth Coastguard. The escort was for a 60ft Canal Barge which had been heading down the coast from Ilfracombe. The crew, Jez Brown, Mike Tame and Daniel Lewis-Bale made sure they were anchored safely until high tide when they were able to approach the lock gates in order to lock in to the canal. The owners were very anxious about navigating the barge into Bude harbour but were unharmed.
The lifeboat returned to the barge with crew Liam Sharpe, Charlie Green and Daniel Lewis Bale at approximately 6.00pm after assistance was requested again following a slight swell that picked up resulting in the Orbis losing her anchor. The lifeboat ‘George Bird’ launched with four crew and put two crewmembers aboard to liaise with the harbour master due to size of vessel and her poor manoeuvrability and to assist piloting her into harbour. The Orbis was safely locked into the canal by the lock gate crew.
Chris Wilson, Lifeboat Operations Manager said of the unusual event: "You don't expect to see a 60ft Canal Barge off the north coast of Cornwall and it required careful planning and good teamwork by the crew and harbour team to safely navigate the vessel into Bude Lock due to her poor manoeuvrability. I would encourage anybody taking to sea to always ensure they carefully plan their journey and ensure that they are correctly equipped.



Newspaper cutting from This Year 2017

Copied From Penarth Daily News

CANAL NARROWBOAT REACHES PENARTH AFTER MID-CHANNEL EMERGENCY

 

 NewsNet

4 months ago

The canal narrowboat Orbis got into trouble in the middle of the Bristol Channel after leaving Watchet this morning.

A 60-foot-long canal narrowboat – which got into difficulties on passage from Watchet on the Somerset coast this morning –  has reached Penarth Marina safely after a combined operation involving a Coastguard helicopter, Barry Dock lifeboat and a Cardiff Harbour Authority launch.

It’s understood the skipper of the narrowboat  had radioed for help as his vessel – called Orbis – began taking on water in mid-channel.

The Coastguard Rescue Helicopter – seen here on a training exercise off Penarth only yesterday – was today involved in a real emergency in the middle of the Bristol Channel.

The coastguard rescue helicopter took off to ascertain the vessel’s position and the big Barry Dock lifeboat was tasked to head out to locate her and escort her to Penarth .

A member of Barry Dock’s lifeboat crew boarded the stricken vessel.

Job done. The Barry Dock lifeboat – escorted the canal narrowboat as far as Penarth Pier and then returned to station at Barry.

The  Cardiff Harbour Authority launch “Harbour 3” accompanies the canal narrowboat Orbis past the Outer Wrach buoy and heading for the locks at Cardiff Barrage

Once the lifeboat and the casualty vessel reached a point off Penarth Pier, the escort was transferred to a Cardiff Harbour Patrol boat “Harbour 3”  to tow the narrowboat in through the locks and into Penarth Marina whilst the lifeboat retrieved her crewman and returned to station at Barry.

  Copied From Penarth Daily News

Moving on to my own adventure Sun,Sea and Sand await me for the next month or so hopefully plus this also the start of my third year on the road I will include a breakdown of last years living costs as the previous year this is purely living costs  Fuel,Gas,Food,maintenance, clothing and bedding and will not include unnecessary extras i.e. Cameras, laptops, Drones, large amounts of whiskey etc.


Brick to rubber.