Great game. Lost a bit of respect for Fernandez when she started kicking off about the medical time out though. It did lose her the momentum she was building but it was out of everyone’s hands and certainly wasn’t some sort of underhand tactic. She was only delaying the inevitable anyway by that stage. Great tennis all round though.

I measured my feet as per the sizing guide which came out as a 10 (I’m usually 9.5-10 depending on brand). Based on bits I’d read I then sized up to 10.5. Fingers crossed they’re ok!

Just collected them and reckon they’re spot on. I think I could even have got away with a 10 as per their sizing guide if using normal socks, but the half size up allows space for thick sealskins or winter socks.

I’ve recently ordered the FiveTen goretex with the discount code. Due to be delivered on sat.

I measured my feet as per the sizing guide which came out as a 10 (I’m usually 9.5-10 depending on brand). Based on bits I’d read I then sized up to 10.5. Fingers crossed they’re ok!

It’s clear that there are other much more progressive ways of funding this if fairness is your goal. But that’s obviously not the goal of this government or it’s major donors so it’s hardly a surprise, as depressing as that is.

I was with Octopus who were fine but switched to Avro when my deal ended. Wish I hadn’t. Avro have been much worse to deal with. Just taken me 4 months to settle my account and get my refund of a bill that was in credit. Couldn’t get through to speak to them on the phone. Took days to reply to emails if at all. Octopus were a dream in comparison.

Happened to me once. In a moment of inspiration I came up with the best bodge of my life. Took a bench grinder to a spare star fangled nut to trim it until it was just bigger than the bearing race. Gently tapped it in and used the nut to pull it out. It was a moment of pure joy when it came out. One of my proudest moments

Puzzlewood is cool and worth a visit

SE bought outright and a cheap SIM only deal. Use a comparison site for the SIM and see what you can get – something like Smarty will probably be cheapest.

Friday Pitmedden and then an evening on Loch Tay with the paddleboard at Kenmore. Yesterday I nipped to Ballo for a quick explore after work.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/trekking-tunnel-tent-trek-900-ultralight-2-person-grey/_/R-p-323505?mc=8586318

Been really happy with mine.

In my last place in Kent a local place did 2M cubed mixed bag of Hardwood for £90 or £110 for pure Oak or Ash.

My mates kitesurf there and spend their time between Whitstable, camber and pegwell bay near ramsgate depending on the wind. One of my friends had kitesurfing lessons at pegwell and Whitstable. Bewl as mentioned would be a good in land option.

They just get more and more brazen but it’s hardly a surprise.

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. Very short and easy to read but a great book with an inspiring message.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/shimano-deore-m615-disc-brake/rp-prod208317?gs=1&sku=sku848100&utm_source=google&utm_term=&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=base&gclid=CjwKCAjw3MSHBhB3EiwAxcaEu3Aqw1szQDAeLpzleUhBriZ_N-iT1AQ0HdrO05MhPD-soFJbB7-fJRoCczkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

£25 and you can probably sell the lever on?

Sounds like the caliper is probably leaking for it to persist despite everything you’ve done? Probably a replacement.

Nice, bar the price.

No limit – 2Unlimited

I asked for similar advice on here a couple of years ago and was recommended Riddle and Finns in the lanes as above. Was one of the best meals we’ve ever had.

Have cracked/heavily bruised them twice (never went to a&e as no point). Difficulty moving and sleeping for 1-2 weeks. Then eased off but could get twangs of pain if any pressure put on the area or certain movements that aggravated it. That probably goes on for another 2 weeks. Then felt able to get back to gentle road riding before another few weeks until I felt able to MTB but some of that probably psychological.

Sorry to hear OP. I had a recent traumatic event which I posted about on here (which in itself helped). There’s better advice above than I can give but would echo the advice to look after yourself. It will be on your mind a lot now but that’s normal as you process it. It should fade. If it doesn’t seek help as already said. The main thing is you did what you could to help and that’s enough.

We were local until recently.

The Sportsman at Sesalter is exceptional but you won’t get in!

In town Birdies, Samphire, Wheelers and Whitstable Oyster Co are all good.

A bit of a wildcard I’d throw in though is Cafe + Kitchen on Harbour street. It’s tiny, you’d easily walk past it. It’s mainly a cafe but does dinner on Friday and Saturday evenings…Or it did pre-covid anyway. Everything is cooked by one lady chef and she used to do a different theme each night from Caribbean to Thai to Korean. You’d only get a couple of options for each course so not great if you’re fussy but it was awesome and great value. Used to be BYO too but they stopped that. Still great value. That was our preferred place in town when we lived there. Great atmosphere. With it being so small, I’m not sure what they would be doing with Covid and how easy it would be to get in, but worth a look.

Caveat that all this is pre-covid views, not sure what’s happening now and we’ve moved away since.

Lovely!

We’re just back from a cracking couple of nights in a Yurt at Marthrown of Mabie. Lovely place, straight on to the Mabie trails and awesome views over to the Lakes. Bit pricey given it’s still glamping, but ok for a couple of nights. Kids loved it.

We’ve recently moved up and had a lot of help and advice from here in this thread which might be worth a read, particularly if you consider fife/Angus (and I would certainly support looking that way):

Moving from Kent to Scotland (Dundee / Perth)

We’ve been living in Perth, working in Dundee for a month now and absolutely loving it.

We’ve not experienced any anti-English sentiment. Everyone at work and our neighbours have been very friendly and welcoming. Of course we’ve made the effort and have been full of praise for the place which probably helps. Perhaps if you came up and started on with the English exceptionalism attitude that can be found down south you might fare less well, but that’s not us (and I’m sure isn’t you either). In fact, not identifying with the way a significant part of the English population seems to be heading is a big factor in us moving here.

Our kids are 8 and 10 and have settled so well at school and are making friends. The teachers have said it feels like they’ve always been part of the class. My youngest leaves school speaking with slight twang too which I find brilliant. She drops back into her English accent quite quickly but I don’t think it will be long before she’s got an accent!

In terms of the move itself, it was daunting at times but again, thanks to great advice on the thread above, it worked out fine. We’re renting just now as we couldn’t tie up selling our house and starting jobs but I’m glad we are as now getting out and exploring and figuring out where we want to be. Our sale in Kent is due to complete tomorrow actually and we’ll then be in a position to look at buying but we’re in no rush as this rental is fine. But on that point, we were surprised at how tricky it was to find a family rental. There’s not many about and you have to act quickly. We didn’t even see the inside of ours. We had a video tour and we drove up to it to see the area but that was it. Airbnb may be an option for a short-ish term stay, particularly if you move up out of season. With us moving in June this would’ve been a really expensive option.

For removals, we used Doree Bonner after a friend recommended them and were very impressed. They also have offices in Scotland with storage so if you say got an Airbnb, they could move you out, put your stuff in store, then deliver it to your new place once you’ve bought. Overall though they were superb and we’ll use them again when we move on from here.

As for the rest, everyone posting on here will have better insight into places to stay but it really is just amazing what is within striking distance. In the month we’ve been here we’ve been Paddle boarding on Loch Faskally, wild camping and touring around Deeside, mooching around Pitlochry and Dunkeld, visiting beaches in Angus (Monifieth, Carnoustie, Lunan bay) and fife (Elie). All very nice! We just keep pinching ourselves. And we’ve only had 2 days rain so far! We’ve visited East Lothian before and loved North Berwick so can see the appeal but it’s expensive there. But I guess where ever you go, there will be amazing stuff not far away.

Best of luck with your decision and planning. Happy to give any more advice if needed.

IXS flows

Thanks again all. We plumped for Scotroutes spot and followed GavinB’s advice to come in from the east side. My youngest struggled with the ride out there but just because she hates climbing (was totally fine on the way back). There was a bit of midge action at the spot but not too bad and managed with smidge and covering up. Definitely what we were after though. Felt proper out in the wild and best wild camp sleep I’ve ever had. The views were spectacular.

Had a really nice time exploring Braemar and Ballater. Brekkie at The Bothy in Braemar was spot on. It’s a really beautiful part of the world.

Not sure if there’s a specific area you fancy or where you’re coming from? Dundee?

Never been so just off for a general explore. Very open to suggestions. Coming from Perth

Lovely thanks. Will get on the OS maps and check these out 👍

We’ll be in two small two man tents, one parent and kid in each.

Another boost in the polls for the Tories in this inverse reality we now live.

The fact our kids broke up today and won’t have to be subjected to this shitshow just adds another tick in the ‘Reasons I’m so glad we moved to Scotland this month’ column.

Went exploring my new surrounds on the road bike. Went from Perth down to Gleneagles, Glen Devon and then back via Dunning.

Gap are good

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Really sorry for your loss but I’m glad you were able to use your experience and the support of your closest friends to provide the dignified ending you describe. You’ve clearly done all you could in those tragic circumstances. I’m sure you’ve got a lot of amazing memories from those 42 years together.

29ers
Contact lenses
I can see your voice 😂

As above there’s some good riding around East Kent. I quite like Covert but it’s quite a small area. What’s there is good though. Kings Wood is also decent but quite a bit of fire road to link bits up. My personal feeling is that the network around Blean is the best local riding.

From Dargate in the west right across to Herne in the east there’s miles of singletrack if you know where to look and local trail builders have done a superb job on adding features. The woods at Dargate off Courtney Road for example have been really developed and it’s quite similar to Covert now with several DH runs from the top of the hill. But the great thing is you can then cross over into Blean for more singletrack and then you can go to Clowes and on to Thornden.

Here’s a 23 miler and you could double that and not ride the same bit of trail and it’s nearly all singletrack. Have a look on strava heat map.

I grew up in Liverpool with soft water and have always hated it down in Kent. It absolutely ruins your clothes too and knackers your appliances. Vile stuff. The positives keep coming 😂

Thought I’d better update this as we’ve been here for a week now.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind but everything is going great. The rental we’ve got in Perth is working out really well. Nice quiet place and the neighbours have been really friendly. The kids have settled into Oakbank school and seem happy there. Our jobs have started well too. Again we’ve been made to feel very welcome. All good vibes.

The extra curricular stuff though is a bit special. Managed a superb road ride out to Loch Turret with my wife and I’ve had a quick spin at Comrie. We’ve also taken the girls to the awesome MacRosty Park in Crieff and last night went to the beach at Monifeith for fish and chips and a beer after work. We keep pinching ourselves to be honest. It’s early days of course but we’re pretty smitten.

And I just wanted to thank everyone who has commented on this thread. It’s been a huge and quite scary decision and the support and guidance on here has been genuinely invaluable. To those who’ve offered tours etc if the offers are still there I’ll perhaps be in touch in the next week or two once I’ve got the house a bit more sorted as there’s still lots of unpacking to do etc (not wanted to miss out on the great weather!).

Thanks again.

We’re moving from Kent to Scotland. On Thursday.

It’s something we’d considered some time but lockdown cemented a few things for us…..We liked things much quieter and slower paced, and we loved just spending time together as a family. We were happy(er?) just doing our own thing. Local bike rides, cooking together, chipping around the garden. Nothing ‘special’ as such, but quality time together.

I don’t know exactly what effect lockdown has had on our final decision but the way we lived through most of it probably reinforced and accelerated the process if nothing else.