Big J

Machine is being delivered on Tuesday to Gothenburg! So we'll be starting in January

The high today was minus 10c. I had a couple of spare hours so cleared 1.5 tennis courts of snow off the ice on the lake. And made a wiggly 'skills' course at the back. Bloody knackering, but looking forward to taking the kids on it tomorrow. Ice is only 8cm at the moment, but with near enough minus 20c expected overnight, it should reach 11-12cm by lunch tomorrow.

It was tucked into a buff. Only did 24km today as it really was very cold. The Garmin head unit refused to work unless in my pocket and I had a spoke snap too! It got down to minus 15.8c before starting to rise again. It was stunning though:

Minus 14c here. Minus 10c the forecast high today, with minus 17c forecast for tonight. Could hit minus 20c though, as it seems the forecast is usually a few degrees warmer than reality.

Absolutely stunning 😍

A couple of snaps from today

I believe that 4x4s with summer tyres on are probably the most dangerous cars on the road in snow and ice. Enough traction to get going, but as we all know, an all wheel drive system does nothing to help you stop. An all season tyre will help you stop as well as it helps you get going. Given that there aren't many drawbacks, I'm a bit confused as to why you're against them.

Minus 7 overnight. Warmed to minus 4 now and snowing. A couple more inches in total so far this morning

I mean that MEP is a bit of alright, if we're being fair. If you were a Qatari sheik with stacks of cash lying about, wouldn't you throw her a bit too? 😆 A Merry Christmas to you and yours in the land of Eternal Rain

You do live in just about the mildest place in the entirety of the UK. To judge the merits of a winter suitable tyre on the basis of where you're located isn't logical. I would say that for anywhere outside the lower ground of the west country or the south coast, a strong case can be made for all seasons.

They wear slightly quicker if driven year round. A little bit less grip in summer (but it's fractional). In my mind, all seasons are maybe 5-10% worse in summer when driven at the limit, and who does that? In winter, they are so, so much better when conditions get tough that they are the difference between you being able to move and not. And in normal UK winter conditions, they will perform better too.

You are wrong there. We had a C4 Grand Picasso years ago. Came with summer tyres. I ordered cheap all seasons in December from Germany. Before they came, we had 2 inches of snow. Our drive to the house at that time was gently to moderately uphill, with a sharp corner you wouldn't be able to carry any speed through. It took me a solid 5 minutes to get up on summer tyres. It was 150m. The abs system had a panic attack at the top, the whole dash lit up and had to be recovered to Citroen. In the meantime, the tyres arrived. They were changed whilst at the garage. Two weeks later, another 2 inches of snow and it drove up like it wasn't there. Not only that, but we had more snow a few weeks later. I was climbing a steep hill out of a village called Ecclesmachen when I encountered a transit reversing down. He leaned out the window so I stopped. He said I'd never get up there (6 inches of slushy snow). I reassured him that I'd be fine and pulled away effortlessly. That is the difference between summer and all season tyres in British snow.

My original post was suggesting all season tyres, which offer the best of both worlds. The climate in the UK is obviously very different to Scandinavia, but equally, the Scandinavians get through winter with a lot less drama. Scenes of cars sliding sideways down minor hills are ridiculous. Totally avoidable

I'll get on my soap box and dig up this thread again! This video from Gloucestershire is a day or so old, but it really does illustrate how comically awful summer tyres are in winter conditions. We've had conditions like this here in Sweden repeatedly over the last month with no issues whatsoever. Drivers crash in Gloucestershire heavy snow WWW.BBC.CO.UK Video footage shows cars piling up and a bus crashing as a cold snap in the UK brings icy and snowy weather.

Minus ten and falling fast here 😊

Nice. The winters in Strathspey are the best in the UK, IMO

It's just started snowing again, albeit gently. This was from the drive to Vetlanda this morning, just before the snow started. No problems at all, even with the 5m box trailer I have on the back. VID_20221212_091756.3gp

The Beast from the East in 2018 would be the last time there was snow like this for most of the UK. Still, it all seems faintly comical to folk here when the UK grinds to a halt on 2 inches of the white stuff. Nothing really changes here much except that the Swedes spend more time outside when it's snowy. There is a real sense of excitement about the ski slope opening, and I haven't met a single person here that prefers a plus degrees winter.

I feel that this is a good point at which to bring up my old pet campaign for all season tyres. They're the difference between not being able to move or control your car and being able to go about your daily life, albeit a touch more slowly. All season tyres for the win 😁

Bargain!

Per roadside tonne. Not per dried tonne. But then, that does depend a bit on species. My understanding is that conifer is 10% higher in calories per dry tonne, on account of the resin content.

Eucalyptus has a similar calorie content to oak, if it's over 7yrs old (trees younger than that are mainly sapwood, which is less calorific). Conifer does have fewer calories, but the difference (species dependent) isn't massive. To buy it in isn't very much cheaper than hardwood (on the whole) but the processing and drying time is so much less that I'd always try to steer customers that way. Sawlog prices are still depressed in the UK (though I'm a bit out of touch now) so it's possible to find sawlog at a similar or even lower price than hardwood. I'd be on the lookout for sawlog that's been left roadside for too long (especially pine, which has a very limited shelf life at roadside). It might be possible to pick it up cheaper. On our processor set up that we had in Scotland, you could process 30cm larch at about 4 times the speed of similar sized hardwood. The hardwood quality up there isn't great, which was part of it, but I really can't see too many advantages to hardwood. At £120 a cube, hardwood is about £0.10/kwh, not accounting for efficiency losses. It's a bit more expensive than gas and oil with none of the convenience.

Crazy prices throughout. A sign of the times though. It was only about 5 years ago really that I was charging £55-65/cubic metre (plus delivery charge) for soft and hardwood out of the sawmill. You raise a good point. Broadleaves are not an efficient method of producing firewood. You are far better off with conifer or eucalyptus. Much shorter production cycles and mechanical harvesting vastly reduce production to roadside costs. Then, the actual firewood processing is much faster too (straight logs). These savings can then be passed on to the eventual customer whilst maintaining the same profit margin for all in the production line. Prices for firewood here in Sweden have risen a bit too, but you can still pick up very cheap firewood. Mixed or purely spruce is around about £40-50 a cube (collected) and pure birch about 50% more.

5 inches of lovely fluffy snow has fallen today on 3 inches of very frozen snow. It's bordering on an impractical amount. Certainly made cycling a little challenging. The kids are greatly enjoying their new intra-village transport solution though