Thanks for all the comments so far. Much appreciated. Transport links are useful, but not essential as I’ll be working from home and Mrs BD would be driving to Langford anyway. Encouraging to hear that there’s plenty of riding nearby. We spend most of our spare time out on the bikes, or walking our dog. We’ve been living in a quiet village in Norfolk, for the last few years, so I guess we’re just looking for somewhere we can get around safely and there aren’t packs of feral children roaming the streets! 😉😁

Going back about 20 years, I had a mystery amount of £3664 deposited in my Barclays account. I had no idea where it came from, but being young and maybe a bit stupid, I sat on it for 6 months without saying anything. After 6 months, nothing had happened so I started happily spending it. Shortly after I’d spent it all, I got a letter from Barclays saying that they’d had their annual check of their accounts and spotted that there had been a deposit paid into my account, made in error, and that they wanted their money back! I didn’t have any cash left (I’d recently moved out and money was going out as fast as it was going in!) and eventually managed to arrange to pay it back at £50 a month!

Not sure if that helps the OP, but if you’re not sure where it came from, be prepared for it to disappear again!

This will be my fifth year in a row going, I think. I love it. I’ve enjoyed going every year. Seem some great perfomances and some pretty awful ones, but it’s always entertaining!

As others have said, if there’s someone you really want to see, be sure to get there early. Don’t expect to get into every venue, some are very small and reach capacity quickly.

The Spotify playlist is definitely the best place to start checking out new bands. But with around 450 playing, you may have left it a bit late! I’ve managed to condense it down to a list more to my tastes, of just under 100 bands. I don’t expect to see half of them, but it’s a good start!

Idles are a must see for me. Saw them live last year and it was fantastic. I’m also looking forward to the Deltasonic Records showcase, at the Prince Albert on Saturday afternoon. It’s a record label set up by the band The Coral, so expect lots of cosmic scousers!

For those going to the upcoming UK live shows, make sure you get there in time to see the support act. It’s a solo set from Stephen McBean, the main man from the awesome band Black Mountain. Well worth checking out.

I’ve just had a call about my Caddy. Turns out it was just the bulb! It was a bulb with a double element – one element was working, one wasn’t. I replaced the bulb myself and was still getting the same element not working, so thought it was an electrical problem. Turns out I just can’t replace a bulb properly!

By complete chance, My 2015 Caddy is in at my local VW specialist, having exactly the same issue inspected! I will report back when I hear from them.

I lived a few miles down the road, near to St Ives, up until last year. We used to walk our dog fairly regularly at Hinchingbrook Park, as mentioned above. If you’ve got access to the Ordnance Survey maps for the area, we used to do quite a nice walk along the public footpaths & bridleways from Houghton Mill (between Huntingdon and St Ives), along the river and around the Hemingford Abbots area (worth it if only to see the spectacular houses in Hemingford Abbots!).

I would think festivals are your best bet. Some would even let him in free, at that age. But, I would be a bit selective about which festivals to take him too, as some would not be suitable for a seven year old!

I had a’99 VW Polo at the same time that my missus had an 05 Corsa (with much higher mileage). Whilst I thought the Polo was a nicer drive, the Corsa just seemed to be bomb proof. I had problems with coolant leaking and my clutch pedal broke off(!) with my Polo, but the Corsa just kept going. A couple of bits of plastic trim fell off, but we drove that car everywhere, over the Alps into Italy and over the Pyrenees into Spain, plus several trips from the UK to the Netherlands and back (missus BD is Dutch and never had any major issues at all.

I’m on my second pair from Optilabs and would never consider spending that amount on Oakleys. Optilabs are about half the price. Best money I’ve ever spent on riding.
I tried the inserts originally and didn’t get on with them at all. When your glasses mist up, rather than one layer of mist to squint through, you have two!

I passed first time, after an intensive course, about 10 years ago. I can’t remember exactly the hours, but 40 sounds about right, as it was a full day, each day, Monday to Friday. That said, a couple of hours a day were spent in a classroom, in a group of about 10 students, just going over theory, and the wednesday afternoon was set aside for the theory & hazard test. Because I’d never driven at all, before the course, the company I went with also suggested that I did an afternoon of ‘basics’ with one of their instructors, on the Saturday before the actual course started.
Intensive courses are a quick way of learning, but there’s no guarantee of a pass and it’s definitely not for everyone. Of the 10 or so people I shared a classroom with, on my course, at least a couple didn’t even pass their theory tests and I think about half didn’t pass their practical. I’m pretty sure I got lucky, as I’d done a mock test a couple of days before the practical and failed that, with 3 major faults!
Whilst previous experience of driving will help, it’s not something you definitely need. I’d never sat behind the wheel of a car, then 10 days later I’d passed my test! The one thing that did help though, is having spent years cycling to work. That definitely helped my awareness of hazards, road positioning, understanding junctions, etc.

If you want to do a ‘three countries ride’, you could head to the ‘drielandenpunt’ which is where the Belgian, Dutch & German borders all come together. You get the great photo opportunity of standing in one country and then having each wheel of your bike in another different counrty! It’s also the highest point on the mainland of the Netherlands – so you can also say you’ve ridden to the highest point of a country! 😉

I take it, from reading this thread, that Gotham must get better? I started watching the first season, with high hopes, but only got two episodes in and couldn’t watch any more as I thought it was really bad. Is it really worth trying again or, knowing that I wasn’t impressed by the first couple of episodes, should I just not bother?

I’ve seen them at least 6 times, from before they released their first album, up to them being second on the bill on the Other Stage at Glastonbury in 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed them every time. Different strokes for different folks.

I got tickets for the November tour in both Norwich (where I work) and Margate (where I have family). Didn’t bother with the big venue tour, as seeing them twice in 8 days should be plenty – not to mention that tickets weren’t cheap at £28 for Norwich and £32 for Margate! How much were they for the bigger venues?

I’m overloaded with gigs in the next few months. Can’t remember having this many lined up in years. I have tickets to see Editors and Father John Misty in Cambridge, Foals, Slaves, The Maccabees, Public Service Broadcasting and The Charlatans in Norwich, John Grant in London and Foals (again) in Margate. Not to mention Lollapalooza festival in Berlin next weekend (although it’s an awful line up IMHO!).

I was in a similar position to the OP. My missus and I have no kids and no plans to have any. She has a decent car and I was torn as to whether to go for a van or car. I don’t have a daily commute as such, but I do work away every other week, which involves a 250 mile round trip. Aswell as easy space for bikes, I also need room for a medium sized dog.
In the end, I stumped for a new Caddy. I have a large dog cage strapped into the back and there’s room along side it for my bike and room in front of it for a large kit bag and plenty of other stuff, for when I’m working away. The ease of just chucking stuff in there and not worrying about it and also knowing my dog is as safely secured as possible is definitely a massive plus.
As for a ‘refined, quieter’ drive in a car, yes, maybe, but I can’t say I find it an issue when I have to drive 125 miles to work away. I did test drive a few other vans and, from what I saw, some were a but more ‘plasticy’ than the Caddy so it may well be an issue in those, but my Caddy is comfortable, nice to drive and just practical for what I need.
I certainly don’t regret getting a van over a car. The only downside, I guess, would probably be the increased tax on a van, over a car and the fact that you probably get a nicer car than van, for the same money.

My missus recently bought one of these and is running it using Zwift Elite Real Tour
She loves it and has definitely helped motivate her to do more riding. She reckons it’s just like a Nintendo Wii, but you actually have to work hard!

I have the case that Tesco sell, which has a cover that folds over the screen. The case also works pretty well as a stand, if you put it on a level surface. this one

I agree with that, about the food. Totally depends on the dog. When we had our lurcher, we’d put food in her bowl in the mornning and she’d just munch little bits throughout the day. She was previously a stray though and did have a nasty habit of picking up anything even vaguely resembling food, when we were out walking. She did hit the jackpot once, when she nudged a polystyrene fast food container, it popped open and was full of just kebab meat and nothing else! That was all gone before I even knew what had happened!

I would definitely say yes to rehoming a lurcher. When I met my missus, she had a rehomed lurcher. At that point, I really wasn’t into dogs, but her lurcher completely changed that, in a very short space of time. Obviously, it can depend on what they are a mix of, but ours had an amazing temperament. She was with us about six years and I think I heard her bark about 3 times in that whole period. As long as she got a couple of decent walks a day, she was content to lie in her bed (or on the sofa, if we let her!) and sleep all day.
It sounds like your main issue will be the cat. Lurchers are sight hounds. If something is small and fluffy and runs, they will chase it and it’s pretty much impossible to change that. We have another rescue sight hound now (not a lurcher) and we initially thought she was going to be fine with cats, as she pretty much ignored them to start with. But now, she’ll go for anything fluffy. Squirrels in particular, send her into a frenzy!
Anyway, can’t miss an opportunity to post a picture of our sadly departed lurcher, Ginny, studying the start list of the mens elite time trial and the cycling world championships, a couple of years ago!

I don’t agree with the comment about not getting bikes in a Micra. You can get your bike in pretty much any car, if you take the wheels off and put the back seats down. I passed my test aged 28 and my first car was a Daewoo Matiz. It was tiny and a bit rubbish, but it was cheap and did the job. I drove from Norfolk to Wales with me, another grown adult, two bikes and two big kit bags with no issues at all.

We went in May, last year, driving up through Germany and then Denmark (we were living in the South of the Netherlands at the time) and then across the bridges into Sweden. We spent three nights in Denmark, one at Legoland and then two in Copenhagen, before a week in the south of Sweden. The weather was beautiful (we may have been lucky!) and I even got sunburnt, while we were at Legoland!
The drive was fantastic, although there really isn’t a lot on the mainland of Denmark. The bridges were quite an experience, although quite pricey. Sweden itself, I absolutely love. Malmo and Lund are really nice cities and some of the smaller places we went to, like Ystad, are very nice too. The countryside inbetween was stunning too and would have loved to have had my bike with me.
I’d definitely recommend it as a holiday destination and I definitely plan to go back, sooner rather than later.

£225 (a year) flat rate for all vans, if I remember correctly.

I’d be interested if there was, as I’m in the same boat, but I’m pretty sure that there isn’t.
I took some rubbish down to my local tip, the other week, and got told I couldn’t get rid of it as I need a permit for a commercial vehicle. I did tell them it was a private vehicle but they insisted it was a commercial vehicle. I did think about explaining the meaning of the word ‘commerce’, but I didn’t think it would do me any good!

That’s brilliant, thanks! And thanks for the tip! 😀

Slightly OT, but in that picture of the inside of your van, Scotroutes, where did you get those metal strips with the holes in, that your bungees are hooked into? I bought a panel van recently and there’s bugger all to hook bungees into, but they look like they’d be perfect!

Funnily enough, my missus doesn’t feel safe running along pretty much deserted roads, in the pitch black, with just a headtorch for company.

Just having a quick look at the Bremsheys and they look pretty good, although probably top end of what we want to spend. Fold up option isn’t something we definitely need, but I guess it would be handy as it’s going to be in our spare bedroom, so would be handy to be able to fold it up, if we had people stay over.

FunkyDunc, we live in a tiny village with about three streetlights. By the time she finishes work, it’s completely dark. Unless she wants to spend her time doing shuttle runs between the lamposts, the treadmill is the only viable option.

I don’t know what it’s been used for but, to my (untrained!) eye, it looks like it’s been well looked after and driven carefully. By comparison, I took a similar aged Vauxhall Combi out, which had over 40k less miles on it and that just felt tired and a bit unloved. The brakes felt worse, the clutch felt worse and the gearbox felt worse.
Normally I wouldn’t touch anything with such high mileage, but it just looked and felt like it had done more like 32k miles rather than 132k!
Price wise, it’s £4.8k, excluding VAT, which seems pretty reasonable.

In case anyone is interested, we had a flying visit back to the UK, during the last couple of days and have found and put down a deposit on a nice (rented) house in Tingewick, just outside Buckingham. We’ll be moving over in a few weeks, so if you’re local and see a bloke looking a bit lost and riding on the wrong side of the road, that will be me! 🙂

Research the breeds/characteristics that you like. Different dog breeds can have very different characteristics. I’m not a big fan of the idea of getting a dog and leaving it alone all day. Some cope with this better than others, but dogs are pack animals and prefer to have company. Be aware that dogs need exercise and they need it whatever the weather and whether or not you feel like going out. Again, different breeds need different amounts of exercise, but if you want a calm, well behaved dog, the best way of getting it is keeping it exercised and stimulated. Come rain or shine, our dog gets at least two hours of walking every day and then spends most of her time at home sleeping.
Dogs are great fun and I couldn’t live without one, but be aware of the impact they have on your lives, free time and wallet. It’s more than worth it, in my opinion, but it’s not for everyone.
I would strongly recommend getting a rescue dog, rather than buying a puppy. Just because a dog is in a rescue home, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad dog. Our last two have come from rescue homes and we’ve never had a moment of trouble from either. You almost get the feeling that they know you’ve done them a favour and they appreciate you even more!

We did have a look for houses in Winslow – Ms BD’s new job will partly be spent in Buckingham and partly in Winslow, but we’re a bit restricted in that we will be looking to rent, to start with, so there’s not masses of choice.

I’ve got no problem with driving to ride MTB. When I lived in Norfolk, Thetford Forest was my regular spot and that was a good half an hour drive away. I’m also quite happy on the road bike (although my heart is much more in off road!) and probably spend more time on the road over here in the Nethelands. I’m looking forward to getting out and exploring new places!

To be honest, from what you say, Buckingham doesn’t sound too bad to me! We’re both mid-to-late thirties, no kids and no plans to ever have any. We’re happy staying at home or getting out in the fresh air on the bike or with the dog. I’ll probably be working from home one week and then working away the next week, so somewhere souless and dull, with options to escape at the weekend, sounds pretty much spot on!

Thanks for all the info guys, very much appreciated. We now have a couple of house viewings in Buckingham, booked for next week. 🙂
Good shout on Solstice Cycles. I wondered if there were any local bike shops. Will definitely be paying them a visit when the house move is all sorted.

I follow the pro road rider Laurens Ten Dam, as he lives not too far away from me (in the Netherlands) and does a lot of his training rides on roads I ride. Needless to say, his times absolutely destroy mine! Although, somewhat curiously, he’s not actually ‘king of the mountain’ on too many of the segments.

That’s all good info, moshimonster, thanks.

I’d figured that Cannock was an hour and a half away. I’ve been there quite a few times, when I lived in Norfolk and Suffolk, so I’m sure I might make the odd trip up that way, as I’ll be an hour or so closer now. I’d completely forgotten about Swinley. I went there a few years back and quite enjoyed it. I hadn’t really considered where that was in relation to Buckingham.

BEB, that last sentence sort of suggests that you don’t think Buckingham would be all that nice a place to live?

This is our dog Sansa. She’s only been with us two and a half months, but is already making herself very much at home! 🙂

I don’t really get why anyone would pay for priority boarding any more. All Ryanair tickets now come with alloted seats, so priority boarding doesn’t give you the pick of the seats any more.

I use Ryanair fairly regularly. I live in the Netherlands but travel back to the UK pretty often. As long as you pay attention when you book the tickets and don’t pay for anything you don’t want, insurance, bag check in, a seat location of your choice, I don’t really get what all the ‘hidden costs’ are. Do be careful about hand luggage size though, as they are pretty hot on checking this, especially if it’s a busy flight. They do put some hand lugagge into the main hold now, but this is avoidable if you turn up reasonably early (or quite late, as I find out with my last flight, that I nearly missed!).
It can be a bit of a scrum getting to your seat, on the plane, which seems to have gotten worse since they changed so that people have designated seats. Pay attention to whether you need to get on via the front or rear doors as you can end up fighting your way down the aisle, having to get past a load of people, if you get on via the wrong door.
Ryanair’s not luxury, but it does a decent job at a decent price.