STEAMING

I've been meaning to visit Ryhope Engines Museum for years, being fond of a bit of Victorian engineering, and then found out that this weekend is one of its four or five Steaming Weekends during the year so off I went. It's a former water pumping station, and it's terrific so I'll definitely go again. Here are the two beam engines, and the link can give better data than I can. There are lots of blipping opportunities (a couple of extras), even on ordinary non-steaming weekends.

Then I went for a walk in the woods and saw my first Comma butterfly and Early Purple Orchid of the year, and some Cramp Balls or King Alfred's Cakes (Daldinia concentrica), which I don't remember seeing before (extra). An excellent afternoon.