Done. Got a decent lead now.

I have just finished a book by Al Humphreys of his round-the-world trip and he really liked Sudan but didn’t like Ethiopia. See Moods of Future Joys.

Just worked out that Mike Hall rode Dieppe to Agde, a France C2C, in around 2days 13 hours. Distance about 1,000km as he went through Limoges and paralled the coast for a bit.

Just downloaded it. Says it is ranked #1,077 in Amazon shop.

Hopefully a bit happier story than my current book – reading about Graham Obree’s childhood in ‘The Flying Scotsman’. That is looking like it will be a tough read in places so I am expecting YOU to cheer me up!

The route I suggested has a real beggar of a climb out of Settle and further on over Brimham Rocks(?). After that it is not so bad.

I am looking to do something next year, possibly a C2C with camping etc. I managed 100 miles a day on an mtb down The Rockies last summer carrying all my stuff. Met loads of people doing C2C at various points along the way.

Assumed I would go on my own as difficult to get someone else to commit.

I found lots of camping options in state parks but cheap motels were also plentiful. People really friendly over there though.

After I finished the Tour Divide I flew to Portland and rode round Oregon. Riding down the coast I hated it, all that traffic after seeing so little down The Rockies. I did some of the route Sue_W is looking at as well. Some parts are really busy – I saw an ACA group setting off from Portland and saw the route some of which I had just done.

For Sue:

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101_0185[/url] by blackhound59[/url], on Flickr

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101_0191[/url] by blackhound59[/url], on Flickr

Depends on route I guess. I did the Morecombe to Bridlington in about 14 riding hours fully loaded – it’s the Way of the Roses route I think.

If you take a slightly different way into Settle and adjust a loop into a town in Lincs then doing in a day is Ok – once you get onto the descent to Pooley Bridge anyway….

(I wanted to bivvy out which I did near York)

Here is some pictures I took at the start:

Mike is in the black kit and bike with orange detailing.

MH asked me to do some moderation, along with a couple of others, of comments on the site. So behave yourselves unless you want to be banned ;-)

Chain-L is excellent. Got mine from Tredz.

I hva ea Finisterre Bise which is excellent but would not think of wearing it on a bike as reasoned ^^^ up there.

The Craft one is very nice on a bike:

Gilet

I like mine and did approaching 4,000 miles with it during June and July last year. I could not get tall stuff in it as it is short which was occasionally an issue I had to work round. All-in-all I like it.

Where I lived as a child:

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IMG_1656[/url] by blackhound59[/url], on Flickr

Road riding trip to The Alps in a Carrerra top (Supposed to ride La Plagne that day):

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Coppi / Bobet memorial[/url] by blackhound59[/url], on Flickr

The day I more or less knew I was going to complete the Tour Divide:

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101_0162[/url] by blackhound59[/url], on Flickr

Sounds interesting. Mrs B and myself have been on about going to Kerala for a while. I was wondering if I could add a few days with mtbKerala on at the end and that looks possible.

Keep your hands off Trappatoni!

Holloway but at least make England entertaining!

Castle, Ruark and Shahinian would all be good S/H buys. As would Linn Kan’s if you could get them. Having said that it is unlikely you could hear s/h speakers before purchase.

No idea of the modern stuff I’m afraid, my speakers are probably last century. (Naim again!)

Any decent local shop will let you bring your own speakers in and compare them against what they have. Take a couple of CD’s in you know and like as well.

Buy what you like not what some hi-fi mag, expert (or mtb rider!) says is good.

Years ago I went into a shop to buy an amp and I listened to a Naim Nait 2 amp that had not had great reviews as well as the one I fancied. Thought the Naim was far better and bought it and sold it 15 years later at a £60 loss. (Now have Naim pre/power combo)

There has been a blue Bfe hanging up in Samways in Derby for ages priced at ~£299. Looks S or M size to me. It is was a Soul might have gone for it.

About 35 years ago I was cycling down a steepish hill and pulled out to pass a bus stopped picking up passengers. As I pulled back in I suddenly noticed a queue of cars from the traffic lights further ahead and ran into the back of a small car. Had scrubbed off most of my speed and not sure who was more surprised – me or female driver.

My agent called me a few minutes ago about exchanging contracts. I asked her for her view on water meters and she said don’t do it.

I am sure I can make a big saving on water usage over paying water rates BUT will the house be harder to sell or will I get less for it?

If I save say £300pa for 10 years but have to accept say £5k less when I sell I am better off in the long run to pay the rates. Not sure how much less I might have to accept with a meter. If, as project says, it becomes the norm in the future may be less of an issue. I guess these things are difficult to judge.

Which one was our friend Mildred?

I keep one of those silver emergency blankets in my backpack just-in- case. Light and small.

Sewarage and water is £423 plus £73 for a surface water drainage charge. As said above I suspect my usage would be in the ~£150 range so a good saving to be had. Maybe I need not worry too much about the effect on property value. Thanks all.

Dangerousbeans – unless you have 5/6 bedroomed property almost certainly better off as you are according to the R5live report.

Meanwhile the ‘winner’ of the 2010 TdF, Andy Schleck has now been given the race but he did not get the chance to stand on the podium waving flowers etc. Probably lost out on some money as well, extra endorsements/crits etc but for people at this level it is not all about money. AC has cheated AS out of a big moment in his life.

Women – Can’t live with them. Can’t shoot them!

Mine is pretty good tbh. We live apart (weekend relationship) and I still got 2 weekends in Wales during January.

/snigger/

Forme Plateau and Cotic Roadrat have all the fittings

Entered.

For those with time later in the week an option would be to ride back to Englandshire along the IMBA Cambrian Way for a bit more overnight fun.

Uaually a couple of s/s about, all geared up for me though.

The Martin Lewis site is worth looking at and talking to an IFA. Do speak to your bank about the loan, you may find it is not worth paying off early because the way interest is stacked.

ISA’s is the best way to start but as above check best buy rates. And check every 12 months and move them around.

If company pension schemes is changing maybe a q&a going about and maybe someone to talk to. Take advantage of this even if just to gather info. I paid into a pension from 17 so was worth it for me. Your scheme may be different.

What I learnt was not to put all my eggs in one basket. For instance about 10 years ago I heard China was where the next boom would be so for a couple of years I put my share ISA allowance into a fund specialising in China. Did pretty well! Where is the boom over the next 20+ years? This last para is about risk and what you and Himself are willing/not willing to take. Good luck.

Mrs B is one of the nicest, mild mannered people you could meet. Samtander got her swearing bigtime. Moved eventually. We have a joint account with them (for a buy-to-let property) and they are hopeless! Can’t get anything right. Last bank I would use.

Had no problem with Look Keo’s. I use Campag groupset on the road so Shimano would be a bit of a no-no!

Listening to Max Clifford earlier on R5 he suggested about 4 or 5 footballers, 2 well known, had spoken to him about being homo/bi-sexual and ‘coming out’. Advice seemed to be to keep there gob shut!

Over in Ireland a hurler, Donal Og Cusack, came out a couple of years ago. Don’t recall anybody being all that bothered.

You can’t go wrong really. One at each would be nice. The Marin is the easiest imo and you can ride from ByC. Penmachno is excellent and again can be ridden from ByC or you can drive there if preferred.
CyB has a number of options but can’t remember the route names now. Doubt you will struggle on any of them, more about how far you want to ride. Just go faster / slower depending on your confidence.

One possible explanation is that if she called ‘rider left’ the guy was confused between left and right whilst tired / stressed and moved across the track erroneously. I have seen it happen, and got confused myself.

However, that does not excuse not stopping, particularly when the crash sounds quite a serious one.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/8041636/Child-Benefit-history.html

I am with scrapping it from a future date. So if you have it you keep it to not effect current domestic finances. No increases though.

Help to the poorest given in other ways / benefits.

Helene Diamantides:

BGR etc

People ride solo or in pairs small groups. Whatever you want.

Who’s have thought Danish politic’s could be so interesting? Enjoying Borgen as well, and saw The Killing II but missed the first series. Enjoyed Wallander where I got the hang of reading sub titles and watching the plot.

Go see her and take some flowers as a token, if she likes that sort of thing, while you explain/apologise. Good luck

James – you can use some bridleways between Rowsley and Bakewell and they are quite ridable. But it is a bit steep in places, from the Rowsley end, which are fine for such fine, fit specimen’s as us. This trail as Paul says is at a lower and flatter elevation and will be family friendly.

Funnily enough I was partly involved in looking at costings for re-instating the line from Matlock to Manchester and I did raise the question of the effect on walkers and cyclists through this area and Monsal Dale. Was nice to ride the MD tunnels a couple of months ago that have been reopened for leisure use.