For Cee’s Which Way Challenge this week I thought I’d do an after dark theme…
Here’s Masons Hill, Bromley…
The A406 North Circular Road at Queens Drive, Ealing, during roadworks…
More A406 roadworks, this time in Finchley…
Löwenstrasse, Zurich…
Sometimes, it’s a lonely road…
…just cat’s-eyes, signs and the radio for company. The A3 last Tuesday night.
Autumn turns to Winter in the Bure Valley.
November – the last month of meteorological autumn. There was still a range of work I could do on my farm and also for my neighbours. I started the month by employing a worker to plough Field 1…
…That was going to take all week! In the meantime I was going to harvest a crop of Sugar Beet for a neighbour in field 18. For this I was loaned a Grimme Rexor root-crop harvester along with a Valtra Q series tractor and a trailer. I guessed, correctly, that I was taking on 2 weeks of work but I would be getting well paid.
…These large root-crop harvesters are slow and not very manoeuvrable so setting up the early cut of the field was quite tricky but fortunately there was a handy grassy area near one of the entrances. A couple of trips around the field boundary and then Cuts across the field to break it into manageable sections got the harvesting underway…
After completing the harvest at the end of the second week of November, I went to check on field 1. The work was complete and I found the tractor parked by the hedge. All that work had left the John Deere and the AgroMasz plough in need of maintenance, So I set off to the dealer’s to get them fixed…
…Then it was time to sample the soil…
During October my sown crops had germinated and the fields of Barley and Canola had sprouted. I needed to apply some fertilizer to these fields but before that I had to get Isaria Pro Compact sensors fitted to the JD 7810 (They attach to the mirrors)…
…These will detect the correct amount of fertilizer for the crop’s needs and regulate it to prevent over fertilizing the field. This is good for the environment and also my pocket – after I’ve recouped the £15000 spent on the tool. I completed the fertilizing and that was the 3rd week almost done.
I decided to do something about the lack of lighting in the farmyard. The electricians would be fitting some second-hand street street lighting and some standalone spots as we can’t attach anything to the old barns that have listed status. They will also install three sets of solar panels to help offsetting the cost of the electricity the lights will use.
In the 4th week of December I started off by applying lime to field 1 in preparation for a Spring sowing…
Then I decided to buy the triangular field beside the B1149. This was totally overgrown, so the first job was to plough it…
…in preparation for soil sampling. If you read the original posts for Bure Valley Farm, you may recall me buying this field with the intent of sowing crops. I have reviewed that decision – getting a harvester to the field would be problematic as there is nowhere to park it while attaching the header and too much traffic on the B1149! So, this time I intend to make this field a grass meadow and add to my silage production. I’ll be able to sow grass in March and the first cut will probably be in September.
Moving into Winter and December promised to be a month of selling our stored grains and silage. I know from experience that waiting for the prices to reach the absolute predicted high point is a futile gesture – it’s better to choose a price at which you’re prepared to sell. But the first job of the week was to sample the soil in the Triangle Field…
…before applying lime to adjust the pH value during a snow flurry…
In the latter half of the week I sold my Barley…
…as the price seemed good and I also sold my silage bales…
In the second week of December the wheat price was good enough, so I sold that too…
The 3rd week saw me doing a big ploughing job in field 19 for a neighbour…
…Even with the CaseIH Steiger 470 Rowtrac and the Lemken Titan plough that were loaned to me, this was an all week job but it earnt close on £19k which meant that going into the last week of December I had a good level of finances in the bank.
The final week of December was time for a difficult decision. I could afford to buy back field 14 which has had its potato crop harvested. Equally, I could afford to buy field 7 which is a grass meadow. There were other options on things to buy – I really could do with owning a front-loader or telehandler to move bags and bales around the yard (Currently I’m using the Super Person mod to move them by hand – which is somewhat unrealistic!). And, if I sold the Fendt, I could actually just about afford to buy a 260HP tractor! Decisions, decisions… Well, that is one of the key factors of this game – making choices. Ultimately I chose to buy back field 14 so that I can grow another crop. Here it is in the snow after I sampled the soil…
…It has been ploughed and some lime applied, but I can see that the pH is still low. Time to complete the liming…
All that thinking back there… Thinking is a dangerous thing… With around half the week left I took the decision to sell the Fendt 515c and buy a dedicated front-loader to handle tasks around the farm. I already need it for bales and big bags. In future I may also be storing root crops.
I did quite a bit of research before making my ‘loader choice. Some are rigid machines which offer no real advantage over fitting a front-loader to a tractor. Many can only lift around 2t which would be an issue shifting some bales. In the end I have chosen the Claas Torion 639 which can lift close on 4t and is articulated. Here it is with a big bag in the yard…
…and demonstrating its flexibility to store the lime at the side of the barn…
…That’s something the Fendt wouldn’t have been able to do!
I mentioned that lights have been installed on the farm. Here’s a view along the track that leads to the silo and the farmhouse…
…Now I don’t need a torch to find my way around😅
That’s December drawing to a close. Next post will cover the depths of winter on Bure Valley Farm. Will January and February be quiet months? We’ll find out😎
This week started on Tuesday with an outing to one of my freedom pass boundaries – a trip on the Southwestern to Feltham. I had hoped to start with another Class 701 ride but didn’t make it in time after choosing to take the bus to Brent Cross West and pick up a Thameslink to London Bridge from there. From London Bridge I took the short hop across to Waterloo East and walked across the bridge into Waterloo station, arriving at 10:33. With the Windsor service that the 701’s are working gone I picked up a Class 458 unit out to Clapham Junction.
At Clapham Junction, I know that there is an engineering train booked through platform 2 at around 11:20 so I made my way over to platform 5 with the intention of photographing it. On the way to the end of the platform I was accosted by an estate agent! No, he wasn’t trying to sell me part of the station😅 In fact, he spotted me swapping lenses on my camera and approached me for some photography advice. He has to do a mix of drone views and still photographs of the houses he is selling and was wondering about ISO settings and how they work. We had a friendly 10 minute chat while he was waiting for his train and then I completed my stroll to the end of the platform.
The engineers train duly turned up with recently built 69010 in charge…
…Back in Steam days, newly constructed locomotives were painted in workshop grey for their ex-works photograph before being painted in the company livery prior to entry into service. GBRf (GB Railfreight) however, seem to be quite happy to send out a locomotive in undercoat! These ‘new’ class 69’s are being painted in a variety of colour schemes, so it may be a case of having to enter service while the corporate mind decides what livery the loco will ultimately receive! I have used the term ‘recently built’ and ‘new’ about the Class 69’s but they are actually re-engined Class 56 locos. If you want the full story, look up Class 69 on Wikipedia.
I continued my trip out to Feltham…
…Where I caught a shot of 701043 working the Windsor and Eton run on its trip back to Waterloo…
I wandered back to Clapham with a stop off at Richmond for lunch where I caught this shot of a District Line train passing the 1940 built Southern Railway signal box…
Back at Clapham I was pleasantly surprised to see 378229 – one of the two outstanding 378’s I need for haulage, so I hopped on that to West Brompton before doing some London Underground spotting and riding on my way home. Totals for the day – 162 logged of which I needed 15. I made 12 trips and every one of those was a Winner!
Thursday was another Freedom Pass run – This time to Swanley on the Southeastern…
…Where I photographed 375922 on a fast Ramsgate to London Victoria service. The trip also coincided with a Belmond British Pullman special and I was able to photograph that too…
…although it’s not the most inspiring of images. There are a couple of other vantage spots that I didn’t get to try out but that will give me an excuse to visit again in future.
I broke up my trip home to add some more units for haulage, initially catching a train to Bromley South. I walked across Bromley, picking up some lunch on the way, before boarding 465186 at Bromley North for the short trip to Grove Park. I then train hopped to Hither Green, Lewisham and London Bridge before heading home via West Hampstead and Gospel Oak. Totals for the day; 93 logged of which I needed 11 and 6 new for haulage.
Saturday was a football awayday with Wingate & Finchley visiting Billericay Town. With many of the players living on the east side of London there was no coach to the ground so I decided to turn it into a trainspotting trip. I made my way to Stratford where I spent around an hour and a half spotting before boarding a Southend service to Billericay.
The match was a hard-fought affair in which Billericay took the lead on 10 minutes. They then spent most of the rest of the game protecting their lead – a risky strategy. I was doing my usual photography role and caught this foul on Matty – more fitting to Rugby than Football…
…It earned the ‘Ricay player a yellow card although it must have been borderline red as it looked like he denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. It was still 1-0 to the home side on 90 minutes and the Ref indicated there would be a minimum of 8 minutes of Injury time. One thing our Manager seems to have instilled in the side is the importance of playing to the very end of the game. On 90+5 Zack equalised…
…and on 90+9 we took the lead with Joseph Boachie slotting home. There was just time for ‘Ricay to make a last ditch attack which ended with our keeper gratefully clutching the ball. A 2-1 away win of the ‘Smash & Grab Raid’ variety! Both keepers were seen flaked out on the ground in the aftermath…
It was a very happy group of Wingate fans who walked back to the station to catch the Southend to Liverpool Street train operated by 720’s 524 & 560…
It was an excellent day out for me – An away win, 113 trains logged of which I needed 15 and I also picked up 5 new for haulage😎👍
Week 13 is ahead and it will be a disrupted week with a football match on Tuesday and again on Saturday, so I think I will only get in a single spotting trip. See you soon😀👌
Images from Finchley 