R is for Radio Direction Finding#

Sat Mar 22 19:19:05 2025

A tall metal lattice tower, with two stubby horizontal sections (like aircraft wings) sticking out about halfway up. The top of the tower is out of shot. In the foreground the petrol tank and frontend of a motorcycle are visible R is for Radio Direction Finding, or "radar" as we call it today. This is the last remaining complete mast from the "Chain Home" coastal defence system that operated in WW2 to warn of incoming German aircraft. It's not actually at the coast any more, it was moved to near Chelmsford in the 1950s.

Same tower, from further away, and now we can see there's another pair of "wings" at the top. The tower is over the road from a cemetery with some parking adjacent. There is a sign in the car park saying its for use by cemetery visitors only, so I stood in the cemetery to take this photo.

Trip out was via Sportsbikeshop because when I looked before setting out for my air pressure gauge it was nowhere to be seen: not under the bike seat where I keep it nor on any of the shelves, tables or pockets I might have left it in. So I bought a miniature battery-powered air compressor with a gauge, because I can keep that under the seat and if I ever puncture while on a ride it can do a better job of getting the tyre back up to pressure than the gas cylinders in the bacon strip patch kit that came with the bike.

I had to take it all out of its packaging to make it fit under the seat. When I got home I was missing a bit: couldn't find the adaptor/tube that screws onto the tyre valve. In the course of looking for it I found my missing air pressure gauge, fallen down the side of the rear fairing. (The adaptor had, it turned out, suffered a similar fate and fallen down the other side)

The best news of the day is that the bike started first time with very little encouragement, so it looks like the problem was the air filter. Fingers crossed this continues