Beach Fresh 8210

[oehrick]

As it was overcast, cool with a wind blowing Mrs OEH and meself decided it was finally the right sort of weather for a trip to the beach, so, firing up the Swedish Brick and by various rural byways with grass growing through the middle of the tarmac and through pictureskew settlements unknown to the Ordnance Survey we made our way to Bogside by the Beach, aka Sea Appalling (the OS somehow manage to miss the Ap on their maps ) This is as far East as you can get before hitting Norway at our Latitude. I took the new Digital Picture Box as seals are often to be found sprawling on the beach but none were to be seen, we saw a bird which may have scared them all away !

What we did find was the latest in a series of tractors which local fishermen have traditionally sacrificed to the Gods of the Ocean in exchange for their fish quotas, being thrifty sorts of chaps, along the way they also use them to pull their boats in and out of the water which, being very salty, makes their eyes water so they can't see where they are driving and can also spoil the tractors paintwork a bit.

When I was a kid it was mainly Field Marshalls with the odd crawler, a FM left gently ticking over on the beach while they fished could, if the sand was the wrong sort, lead to it gently sinking in until only air mushroom and stack were visible - flywheel & clutch enough carving clearance to run in the sand, I saw a photo years back of around a dozen Marshalls with ground anchors onto sleepers (RR Ties) sat up in the air on their ropes while trying to free one !!

Anyhow

Pictured against the backround of Norway (to protect our threatened coastline they have blown great lumps of Norway off the side of a Fjord and managed to catch them in a ship which has shuttled them over here to form an offshore rock reef, hasn't really worked but at least its not been blown off Scotland or it would rise and us sink even more quickly.


The tractor looks in fair condition so probably has not been here very long, the winch is an interesting bit of back street mechanicing but I wouldn't trust the cable to pull skin off custard


Strolled over to Norway for a shot against the man made Dune barrier which was created after the North Sea Surge of 1958 caused disastrous inundation which killed many and ruined a huge acreage of land as much is below sea level



Further over a red menace was being used to drag jet skis about - a Zetor but I didnt note what model, they should use more of these as the rust doesn't show and they are not FNH



An icecream rounded off the trip nicely, I expect they were waiting for new seals to be delivered, we'll go back when they are !

[Brian]

Hope you did not mind a bit of editing Rick.

Did you know that we exported Great Yarmouth beach to Vlissingen near Henk in Holland a few years ago to help with their flood defences.

[oehrick]

Can't see what you edited Brian but thanks for putting it right - what did I pox up ??

I've a friend with a chalet right on the edge at Hemsby, miraculously still there as it has just missed the drop last two winters - its predecessor went over

The longshore drift has been a problem for centuries if not more but the vast amounts of ballast these suction dredgers remove means that the material falling in is just nowhere enough to maintain the beaches further South - strange the Dutch can afford to maintain their defences when we are told 'managed retreat' is the way forward here, perhaps their bill for interference in other countries politics is not as costly as the UK's - I'm perilously close to needing to assemble my IKEA soapbox so will stop there!

In a land of joined up thinking this is the sort of area where tidal power generating wave absorbers would be built satisfying two purposes, reducing the energy available to erode the coast and producing revenue to cover building & maintenance costs and perhaps some profit, but that would upset the tree hugging bird observing lobby no doubt......

I'm OK here in Bogside, following a neighbour excavating a boat dock I know where the sand stops and the chalk starts, come the seal level rise, once Bogside passes from peninsular to island status all I need are 130 ft piles on which to secure the house - and an E1A with PTO prop and full flotation kit

[Brian]

Just got the pictures to appear instead of the links, Rick.

When you load a picture onto Photobucket and click on it, a series of boxes appear inc. e-mail. Copy the one marked IMG. If you just click on it it copies automatically. Then go to your post and paste the link. When you load your post, by magic the picture appears.

[oehrick]

Pillock, I'd copied and pasted the top box link instead - thanks Brian

Wish I had a copy of that multiple Marshalls photo, whoever had it also had one of a pair of them sat up, hooked onto a sunken houseboat, those clutches took a hammering on seriously used winch tractors I'd bet.

After a bit of thought it may have been 'Uncle' Ben who had the photos, he put on a Marshall maintenance evening for NICE members at the Randalls place in Skeyton with one or two of his old Marshall expert fitters going through various problems & adjustments like pump timing & calibration, they had booby trapped one by swapping starting dogs so the full impact of three reverses could be experienced, top in reverse seems soooo much faster than forwards Happy days !

[Brian]

Like you Rick, stuck and troubled sticks in the memory.

Many years ago we were driving to Fakenham and just opposite Mr Joice and Mr Hill's chicken breeding units I glanced over to my left and there was a Triple D on a plough down to her axles. A Ford 5000 and a Massey 175 were attached to the front and they too were down, a 5000 that had been in front of those three had just been recovered by a Marshall and winch.

We did not have time to stop and watch as we were in a hurry, some combine or other broken down, but when we came back a couple of hours later they were all gone.

Did not carry a camera in those days more is the pity.

[oehrick]

Ah that bottom end torque, the huge store of rotating inertia, all spur gears and a properly designed ground anchor - they may have had their drawbacks as tractors but were one of the finest mobile winches ever made ! - I've wanted one forever, unfortunately their prices have consistently continued to exceed my ability to justify the spend

As for having a camera to hand, well they do say hindsight is the only precise science Brian