We stayed in the Newport Bay hotel and did what everyone does which is to stuff yourself stupid at breakfast and smuggle out as much as you can. Food in the park is ridiculously expensive. We ate in the hotel at night because it’s a long way to anywhere and after a day in the park your pretty knackered. Food was expensive but better than I expected and as it’s a buffet it’s another excuse to eat till you can’t move.
We travelled on Eurostar had half in the park on arrival then 2 full days and another half day when we travelled home.
We went at Easter and although some rides had long queues, namely Finding Nemo and the Tower of Terror all in all it wasn’t bad. for some reason the Rock and Roller had relatively short queues all the time and there were times we just walked straight on to it.
Our kids were 9 and 12.

I would have thought that if someone sends you the wrong item then it’s much the same as sending unsolicited goods and if they want them back they have to take responsibility.

You had a contract with the company to supply you with something and they have failed to honour the contract. Tell them that they have to organise the return or pay for the insurance for you to return them.

If they don’t want to play contact your card company and explain that the transaction needs to be cancelled because the seller has failed to fulfil the contract you had with them. Then contact the seller to say that the goods can be collected.

There is a Spanish family who have photographed themselves on the same day every year since the 70’s. They start as a couple and then the children appear one by one. They are just a simple head and shoulders of each individual. I can’t for the life of me remember the site but maybe someone will be along in a while to post a link.

It’ll be nice when it’s finished.

My dad to Maltese taxi driver: Er do you drive on the left or the right.

Maltese taxi driver to my dad: We drive in the shade.

Can I just be the first to clarify that not all vegans are living as medieval peasants. :-)

That’ll be a set screw type EBB then – a pinch bolt type won’t leave any indentations.

Yes sorry set screw it is.

My winter thermal tights must be close to 20 years old now and in that time have done at least 10 years of commuting as well as other riding. They are still perfect. I might need to wash them soon though. :-)

I’m running a KMC chain which is doing well which I got from Charlie the Bikemonger, whose got plenty of single speed and hub gear specific chains. It stretched early on but I haven’t adjusted it for ages. I’d be a little wary of constantly adjusting the ebb if it is a pinch bolt type as you can end up with the indents too close together. I don’t adjust mine unless the chain has fallen off twice in one ride. And when you do replace the ring and cog make sure you get something reversible.
As I got 3 years out of the first chain and the current one is fine after 18 months of off road commuting all year round I don’t worry about chain stretch and drivetrain wear.

My thorn did 3 years before I reversed it.

the point

Not only did I used to wear skin tight jeans all the time I used to ride all over the Downs on my ten speed Coventry Eagle in the height of summer while wearing them and a shirt buttoned to the collar and suede Chelsea boots.

At 45 I could still get into them I reckon but fortunately for the rest of the off road community I have no intention of trying.

I once had my seat post clamp brake, but I’ve only been doing this 25 years so it’s early days.

On road – to get about, to see my friends, and get away before I could drive.

Off road – to avoid the motorists who wanted to get me off the road. However I don’t really recommend a 42-52 14-28 set up with side pull brakes. I pretty soon bought a proper bike with an unbelievable 15 gears and cantilever brakes which I was sure would constantly throw me over the bars.

Well they are on a golf ball for a reason.

I’m looking at one for mine but at £27 for a plastic bag and bit of pipe I think I’ll try toons method first.

No he’s waiting for that storm to stop so they can get to one ton camp.

My Grandmothers uncle is in Antarctica right now, in fact he’s been their for over a century now.

My first mountain bike only had 5 at the back and 3 at the front and people couldn’t believe you’d ever want 15 gears on a bike!

I’d go to 10 speed if it let me run a single front ring. I’ve been running a Rohloff for the last 4 years or so but I’ve now also got a 3×9 set up as well. I’m going to try just using the 32 ring with the 11-32 cassette for a while.

Interestingly, it didn’t appear to work in Malta

What does!

As for ‘greatest football team in the World’; don’t be so silly. Go and win a few European Cups first

Or anything at all come to think of it.

One day you’ll look back on this and laugh!

Soon hopefully.

I’ll have a look at that, I love running but for the last couple of years 15 minutes has been my maximum before I’ve felt it start to tighten.

How posh are you when you fly

Not even remotely, I’ve just had the misfortune to spend so much time flying I’ve got a silver card.

It’s half time, don’t get too excited just yet.

When you’re waiting for a plane!

Ah I see, I always spend that time in the lounge drinking the free booze. :-)

I’ll put Wellgo V8 pedals on. It’s only on road so should be fine.

Can you fit toe clips to those, if you can and your riding on the road then that’s what I’d do.

I’m doing it every day at the moment.It takes me 10-15 minutes longer to get to work and last nights ride home was fun, I’m sure my front wheel was going sideways a lot of the time.

Hub gears or single speed are the way to go in the mud.

How often are you going to need to download content when not at home or somewhere with a wifi network?

Planes, holiday, out and about, trains. Lots

Yep you never know when you might have to download a 747 flight manual. :-)

I’ve used the home made inner tube method which works well but I’ve found the fender bender better. I reckon it gives equal protection but the advantage is that it stops a lot of crap hitting the stanchions. You do loose a tiny amount of mud clearance but it’s pretty insignificant. The only thing it doesn’t seem to like is being hit end on with frozen mud in sub zero temperatures when it becomes brittle and can crack.

It’s a whole penny cheaper from Charlie the Bikemonger and he charges less for postage than Mucky Nutz themselves.

Wipe stanchions clean, wipe chain with rag.

Mine gets covered in mud every day at the moment on the commute If I wanted to keep it clean I’d be washing it twice a day. It’s this time of year I really appreciate hub gears.

It’ll be going rigid at the weekend as my new hardtails arrived so that’s my cleaning routine halved.

I used to ride with toe clips off road and still miss them in a way. I liked that my I could just pull my foot out backwards rather than a rotation in spd’s and I only ever had them tight enough to keep my foot in the right place on the pedal. The downside was if you wanted to ride on the flat side as the toe clip would always catch on something. Maybe with the better shoes and pedals around now I should give flats another go.

Thanks CHB, I’ll just give them the occasional squirt of fork juice then and keep them upside down.

I nearly went over the bars last week when my front wheel just stopped due to mud and that was running mud X tyres. That’s the first time it’s happened with those tyres but with the XC pros it could happen 3 or 4 times on my 6 mile ride to work. I always carry an old toothbrush with my tools for clearing it out. I’ve got a fender bender fitted which probably doesn’t help but it does mean the stanchions aren’t being scraped by the accumulated mud on the tyres.

Tinners that is not a talent that’s a condition! :-)

my dog has a good stretch just before going out and also when he wakes up

so maybe nature knows more than experts

Yeh I’ve always noticed how those antelopes have a good stretch before running away from those lions.

Are they not rounder?

I’ve got an old road-man’s spike at home, that’s pretty effective.

Untreated wood is sensible for veggies

Meat eaters needn’t worry about treated wood as they will have already ingested so many chemicals that it won’t make any difference. :-)

I also used second hand scaffold boards for ours.

Aye but we live in a world with touch screen technology so i’ll be waiting till i part with any cash till that happens

Until the latest Sony the problem of a touch screen has been that it’s been slightly reflective which isn’t great for an e reader. What I’ve read on the latest Sony however suggests they’ve got over that issue.

I’d like one for travelling as I spend a lot of time away and my hand luggage is already heavy enough with kit. On the other hand I love books and shelves full of books. I usually by them in charity shops these days so you get a hell of a lot for your money that way. And with the e readers getting so popular I reckon the charity shops will be bursting with them as people move on their paper copies. What I’d like to see though is Amazon to give you the Kindle version for a nominal sum if you by the real book of them.