The Singletrack hive mind strikes again. Home Farm B&B really nice, and the Bell pub also very nice.

Thanks to all.

This bad boy, though a 1977 version in snot green. Surprisingly good handling for an old car.

Went everywhere in the UK. Floor eventually rusted through, as did almost everything else to be honest.

Edited – was thinking there must be some villages nearby. Surely…..

No snow, but clouding over on the West side of the Wirral. Can see the snow on the Clwydian hills.

Edit: Just starting to sleet here.

Re: rim adapters. My older 591s just had the two wheel straps. I bought two new 591s this year and they have an extra piece of rubber that threads onto the wheel straps. I guess this is supposed to protect the rim; doesn’t look like the 9772 though.

Never damaged a rim, but the rubber piece seems to make the front wheel especially more secure.

edit: the racks seem very solid to me

The wavelengths used in a G-PON network are 1490nm upstream and 1310nm downstream. If you have a video overlay this adds another upstream wavelength at 1550nm.

G-PON is a fibre to the X standard (where X is home, kerb, cabinet etc.)

Do an awful lot of travelling for work, and I’m afraid to say that Samsonite have been the only ones that have survived lots of trips. They do have the cheaper “American Tourister” brand, which seems to be the same case but lots cheaper.

If you’re anywhere near Chester, they have an outlet shop at Cheshire Oaks.

All my Saabs had chains – 900, 93 and 95 petrol

Wife’s C-Max is also chain.

Candle wax on a wool coat a few years ago. Thought it was for the bin.

Iron and brown paper worked

Uplink – the amount I spend on the fuel card is reported on my P60 as untaxed earnings – it is not related at all to business/private mileage. It’s just seen as extra income. It gets entered into my tax return, so I owe the Inland Revenue the tax on the entire amount.

However, since I do some business miles, I can claim 40% tax relief on 40p per mile (up to 10k miles), which I also enter into my tax return. So far it seems to balance out the tax on the fuel card. I realise this is a huge perk.

I claimed for a couple of years when I realised I could do this. No idea how far back I could have gone. This is fuel for a private car, I believe the rules are different for company cars.

Spongebob – did 8746 business miles in 2009/10. Claimed tax relief at 40% on 40p x 8746. Worked out as a cash rebate of around £1400, which more than paid for the 40% tax on the fuel used for personal miles

Just north of Chester.

£6300 per year allowance, taxed as income.
Insurance up to £1200 paid, including breakdown cover.
Fuel card for personal and private fuel, taxed as income.

The trick in this situation is to document business mileage and claim tax relief at 40% on 40p per mile (do less than 10k miles). This tends to pay for the tax on the fuel card, so free personal mileage.

Similar caveats on car type and age as other posters.

Firstly, my wife is way smarter than me. More qualified, more common sense, etc.

However, when she told me that her passenger electric window wasn’t working, I feared the worst, especially as we were just about to sell the car. However, she hadn’t noticed the button with the window symbol with a cross through it. Ah.

Another time, she told me my car wouldn’t start. Strange, as it was almost brand new at the time. She’d been trying to start it in Drive. I know I should have told her, but as a physicist, surely she should know it’s not sensible to start a car when there could be some drive through the wheels.

One of the tiny saddlebags, so I can just throw on a bottle and go.

Tube (2 for long ride), levers, allen keys/chain tool, links, CO2 pump and spare canister.

I remember an interview with Magura in Singletrack a while ago, where they said that the most important product they made was brake pads. They seem to last well on my Julies, though I do bed them in as per their very specific instructions.

BTW, 6 years with no maintenance. Also have a Magura fork, again very little maintenance.

Will also look in the morning. Got a boxful of keys from the various bits I’ve bought over the years, and then replaced the locks with the Onekey systems.

Ooops – should be west side – thanks

I think it’s the Blackberry Instant Messenger icon – could be wrong though.

You need to get along to a proper running shop to try some on a treadmill. I use Asics Gel Nimbus at the moment, last few pairs were Mizuno (very comfy but wore out quickly). Had Saucony – they rubbed so badly my foot got infected.
Wife has Brooks.

Whatever feels comfortable.

If it’s a BT line, then it should be much quicker than 2 hours, so it could be the full cable service. Pop your postcode into the box on the Virgin Media website to see what services you get.

The fitters weren’t as neat as they could have been when they did mine a few years ago. Keep an eye and tell them how you want the cables routed.

If you’re in a cabled up area it’s fibre to the cabinet (and it’s always 8-9 micron core singlemode fibre in these applications) and coax to the set top box. In my case it’s under my front lawn from the access point in the street.

If you’re not in a cabled area then, as spooky says, Virgin are reselling the local loop just like TalkTalk etc. No particular benefit to having Virgin in this case.

BT Infinity is their FTTx product (FTTx is Fibre To The X = where X=wherever they can get the fibre). Could be fibre right to your house, or fibre to the local street cabinet. Looking forward a couple of years, you’ll be looking at streaming SuperHD 3D video over the net, which requires mega bandwidth.

Finbar – that’s strange. Rules are 28 days, or so I was told when I handed a bike in. Maybe the paperwork was too much for a camera, but worth it for £1k bike. Owner did claim the bike back by the way.

You get it back if no-one claims it after 28 days.

Advantage of aero bars is that you can use the whole width of the bars for racks. The fittings for the racks on square bars can’t go round the bars where the feet are.

Thule aero bars and four 591’s here as well.

TJ – I’m inclined to agree with you, sadly.

Molgrips, we tow with a Hyundai Santa Fe (new shape) diesel auto. Get about 35mpg solo and 25mpg towing (though that’s with 4 bikes on the roof). First towcar was a Saab 95 estate petrol auto. 15mpg towing was not fun at all, and we quickly swapped for a diesel.

Petrieboy, best way to look at all the layouts from the manufacturers is to visit a show. It’s a eye opening experience, and you’ll likely be the youngest there (don’t take kids). Our kids use the onboard loo at night but site facilities the rest of the time, though some campsites don’t have any facilities at all (pretty rare). Some caravans (like ours) have bigger bathrooms which are pretty usable.

Exactly. Like to take the wife away (when we can get a babysitter) to a nice hotel, but family holidays are more relaxed on a camp-site, where they can make as much noise as they like (within reason) and roam around with gangs of feral children.

How come a question from the OP has descended into an argument between hotels and caravans? I’m in a hotel in Germany right now (definitely not 5 star), and it would be tough to tow a caravan across here for two nights.

Like a nice hotel as much as the next man, but it’s tough to take a load of bikes to a luxury hotel.

Yep, exactly the dilemma we had. Last one was side moveable bunks and large rear bathroom (stay on CLs etc.), but hated making the double bed up every night. Kids now stay up as late as us on holiday, so fixed bed is OK.

I am completely aware of the negatives when buying a caravan. The wife spent her (very happy) childhood going away in one at every opportunity and fought tooth and nail to convince me. Victoria Wood did a very fun skit on people with caravans, calling them snails – having their homes on their back.

Molgrips, I have the 534. 4 berth with a fixed double bed and bathroom at the back. Front beds are easily long enough for my two, but they sleep outside most of the time anyway. This seemed to have the longest front beds and still remain a single axle. French (and Cornish) campsites this year had water and drainage, so no fetching and disposing of water.

Puts tin hat on and ducks – I have a caravan.

Molgrips – thanks for the compliment, that’s the one I have (top and bottom picture). It’s very nice.

As someone said up there, it’s best if thought of as a place to sleep/cook whilst doing other hobbies, rather than an end it itself. We spent around 6 weeks in it last year, including 3 weeks in France. Kids (11 and 9) love sleeping in the awning, leaving the main area free for us. The chav element are certainly present, but not really at the outdoorsy campsites we go to.

Depreciation isn’t anything like as bad as a car. Bought the last one for 11k, and got 9k (and a discount) off a new one after 3 years.

As for holding people up, I pull over if I’m at the front of a queue, but honestly, it’s rare that I’m holding anyone up.

And it’s a handy spare room for guests….

Carry a tool and powerlinks. Only time I’ve ever used them has been to help other riders. Needless to say now I’ve said that, next time I forget them, my chain will snap.

Jealous of the wildlife – only time I’ve seen a red squirrel was in France

WCA – let me know if you plan to stay near Chester. Rode half a day with Petesgaff on his LEJOG, he chose the Sustrans route through Cheshire and whilst not especially direct, it was a nice route.

The wife’s 1.8 C-Max petrol averages 34mpg. Mix of driving – short distances to the normal 15 mile town/country commute.

Agree that it’s very low geared.

Paul

Ok, here we go. I’ve had a GM-900, 93 (same shape) and 95.

900 1995 vintage – bomb proof, nothing went wrong in over 100k miles. Very comfy, excellent engine, but handling and steering a bit woolly. Fully galvanised body, so rust shouldn’t be an issue. Sold in 1998 with >100k on the clock – engine and gearbox still perfect.

93 1999 – almost bomb proof, and much better ride and handling than the 900 that looked the same. Major issues are heater controls, air-con failure and display failure. Mine had all three fail (expensive), but once fixed, they’re fine. Sold in 2004 with >100k miles – engine and gearbox still perfect.

95 estate 2ltr light pressure turbo 2003 – really liked this car (fairly fast, spacious), but it was so much more fragile than the earlier Saabs. Lots of stuff started to go wrong – wheel bearings, auto gearbox, throttle body, pipes etc, so I got rid.

Bottom line – just checked the DVLA database and the 900 and 93 are still on the road, and the 95 is not. Read into that what you will.

Paul

TUMI leather wallet here. Best quality I’ve had.

Batch arrived for me and the boy this morning. Medium just about perfect for me. 5'10" and 12 1/2 stone.

Nice quality and a free lollipop. Haribo arrived with a Wiggle order, so a good morning for free sweets.

Paul

Not a recommendation as such, but when I collected my son's Beinn 20 from Isla a year or so back she showed me the new design of Rothan. Was really impressed with the sheer thought that was being put into a bike for a 2 year old. Custom length axles with rounded end bolts to save ankles. Custom brake lever for little hands, etc.

Our kids love their Islabikes Beinn 24 and 20. Wish I'd known about Islabikes when they were 2.

Paul

@Marge
I think most caravans built in the last 10 years will include the following:
– Water heater (for shower, sink etc.) runs on gas or mains electricity
– Fridge (runs on mains electricity or gas (the 12V setting is for when you're driving))
– Cassette toilet – waste tank comes out the side of the van. Much better than previous designs (I believe)
– shower, kitchen sink, bathroom sink
– heater (gas or mains electric)
– gas cooker

Did Chester to Whitchurch with Mark et al this morning – really sorry that I couldn't do the whole day.

Just wanted to say that these are really great people (but you already knew that), and do take the opportunity to ride with them and support them if you can. You would not believe Mark was so ill such a short time ago.

Mark, I can't believe you let me navigate – sorry for the two small detours. and the puncture.

All the best for the rest of the trip.
Paul