I’m up for a meet. I usually ride Castell Coch, Pentyrch Quarry and the Garth. A couple of very steep techy trails have opened up and I was eating dirt a couple of weeks ago!

Carve an owl or a frog or if you’re particularly adept with chainsaws maybe carve a kingfisher?

Patient: Doctor doctor i have a speech impediment, I can’t say C,S, F, and Th

Doctor: Hmm…you can’t say fairer than that then

What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?

A Carrot

Try Aberystwyth. It has a lovely sea front/sunsets and plenty of accommodation/restaurants/pubs. Much better option than Mach in my opinion

Never been but heard it’s very steep, will give it a go once it’s a bit drier. Easy to get to though, near Pontypridd

As stated above, how easy/difficult depends on the baby’s temperament. Our first was a good baby and nothing phased him so holidays were a pleasure…the second not so much (to say the least) so we had to arrange everything around her sleeps and feeds.

We did many holidays with them under 2 to get the free flights and my advice would be always self catering when it’s warm and not hot, the Med in spring/autumn for example. Life is so much easier when you’re outside all the time.

You need not pack that much for the baby as there are always shops nearby, enough nappies for 2 days and not the entire holidays, don’t bother taking all that sterilising crap as there’s always boiling water to sterilise. We see some people taking car seats abroad which is just crazy as most taxis/car hire will have these if you ask beforehand. We had a tiny pop-up cot that would go on the floor which worked well.

Go for it….and when the baby starts screaming in a public place most people will sympathise and those grumpy buggers who don’t were grumpy babies themselves once…

We bought ours last year when the kids were 4 and 2. Top of my list was blackout bedrooms (kids sleep longer in the tent than at home) and blow up beams. Easy job for me to put the tent up whilst the wife is entertaining the kids. We used it 5 times last year (including 1 night stays away as it’s so easy to erect). Ours was a Coleman 6XL, quite expensive but we are looking at it as a 10yr investment.

Hopefully it will have its first outing of the year in 10 days time….🤞

Off to Courmayeur (following recommendations on here) on Sunday for a couple of days without the kids! I’ve been boarding for the past 15 years but now the kids are learning I think I’ll be more help for them if I was skiing. So I’m looking to get a couple of private lessons whilst I’m there. Anyone have recommendations of who to go for? Cheers

I would also recommend Split. Easyjet flight and there’s a bus outside the tiny airport to take you to the port, which is pretty much city centre. From here you can take a boat to any of the islands dotted around Brac/Hvar etc. Been there a couple of times and love it

Cheers guys! I’ll get my granny’s leotard and check out Abi’s videos.

Split will be suitable. Plenty to see and do with easy island hopping adventures.

Pleidiol wyf i’m gwlad….!

Don’t care if the new font is better or worse, the site is more user friendly or a not and you don’t care if the search function works as you never knew it existed anyway. As for copying pictures into the forum….. forget it….

Just made my batch using the 3,2,1 recipe.

To start I’ll have ham and cheese followed by pear and cinnamon with the classic lemon and sugar if there’s any leftover.  Can’t wait 😊

Cheers guys. As always, Plenty of useful tips/reassurance on here. I’ll give an update on what the cardiologist says after my echo (which could be a long long way off).

Weather looks good tomorrow afternoon so I’ll be out riding within myself/pushing! It’s all about the downs now anyway…

My ECG was normal but slow, but that’s what was expected with 45bpm. Apparently it is the echo test that is the one that gives the most accurate description of what’s ‘going on’

North, do you have any ‘feeling’ from your heart? I don’t get any pain as such but can often feel a very slight stiffness (can’t really describe it). The doc told me that this sometimes happen when you grow older. I’m 40.

Cheers Palmares. They are flying into Pisa early July and definitely want some beach time. I think Castiglioncello looks about right…unless you say otherwise!

Since it’s my wife who’s going with her friends a BUSTY Port may be not what they want.. sounds good to me though.. I’ll check the other place out. cheers

Graham, I am going over half term but booked it independently with total price approx £4000 (price was approx £6k with package). £500 for flights, £1500 accomm, £750 kids ski hire/lessons/crèche/, £250, transfer, £350, ski passes and £650 spending money (mostly evening meals). We are a family of 4. Easyjet into Gva then transfer to Morzine staying B&B. We are only going 5 nights/5 days which I think is long enough when we’re all in one room. Arriving Sunday departing late Friday evening.

Love this thread.

I’m having a parcel delivered today by MH so fingers crossed, but we do have an excellent MH driver so I’m not too worried.

I have a small online business and have not used them since a couple of years ago I saw one of their big lorries transfer a load of parcels to one of their smaller vans/crappy delivery cars. The lorry driver was dropping the parcels from the back of his truck to the floor, approx 4ft. Not using the taillift or passing them to the other driver just dropping them one on top of the other… I think it’s a game of ‘we don’t care how many we break’ to them

Not quite a training book but bought this last year for my brother in law and he loves it

Running Beyond: Epic Ultra, Trail and Skyrunning Races

Thanks for the suggestions….we had a discussion on Fitbit before but after reading a previous thread on here we decided against. Might revisit… soap/mulberry/photos not so sure. I’ll get that Ella book… and I like the sound of some course but not soap making…I still think rally driving in mid Wales will be a laugh

Zookeeper sounds great but she’s allergic to any annimal other than fishes. We actually need an ironing board, so that can go on the list. Also, a friend is buying fitted wardrobes for his wife which is very thoughtful.

So far, fitted wardrobes and ironing board. What about a healthy eating/diet cookbook? Or is that being rude?

I’d like to add that with 2 small kids and my wife and I both being 8 hour sleepers our first camping experience with them was tough. They were up at 4:30-5am jumping all over us so we splashed out on a black out roomed tent. Kids now sleep past 8 am (better than they do at home) and everyone’s happy!

I would opt for the natural riding of Castell Coch using Strava to pick out the singletrack downs (and all the ups are on fireroads). It’s approx 5-10 pedal from the Village but if you want hassle free opt for Cwmcarn, I prefer Cafell but either run is good fun.

I’m also too old for buzzing nightlife, but the cobbled streets and atmosphere of Courmayeur sound exactly what I was after. Will probably book this resort staying at the Grand Hotel Mont Blanc unless someone on here says it’s crap….. thanks for all the info

Lovely…

Ok, I’ll give Flaine a miss…I’ll check out the other 3

Flaine any good for a long weekend? I’m looking at resort/towns within approx 90mins of Geneva to take my wife for our joint 40th in March. We are off to Morzine with the kids in February so fancy some ‘luxury’ away from the kids, not Chamonix or PDS. Looking at the map Flaine caught my eye. Any other recommendations? Thanks

Taxi, I’ll be up for that. I often ride that route with the last section off the Garth through the old quarry being quite steep and scary.

Untold: Daniel Morgan Murder.
Desert Island Discs!

I preferred the Stasi Prison museum to anything else. It’s a 30 min tram ride from the city centre but definitely worth it. The guides are ex prisoners or had family who were, really shocking/interesting..

We stayed near El Medano for a month a couple of years ago and loved it. Away from the more touristy areas where you could get a nice coffee and 7 fresh churros for 2euros. Did 5 days with Darren at Lavatrax and really enjoyed. We did consider going back this year but didn’t! But will go back soon

I bought a Sight from Evans for a very good price a couple of years ago. The bike is still going strong and the only issue I had was that that the rear brake cable rubbed through against the frame (which I think is a bit of a common problem)

Wife had some sort of petition but it must have come from this;

http://naturalresources.wales/about-us/news-and-events/news/plans-to-remove-infected-larch-at-fforest-fawr/?lang=en

The wife has just received a fb post stating that they are chopping down alll the trees in Castell Coch woods due to disease, with disruptions until 2020. Doesn’t look like there will be a woods there in the near future so why did they bother putting up the signs?

I have to agree with OP. There are plenty of TC nearby but I haven’t been once this year. I much prefer natural singletrack. I’m not bothered about fast flowy trails and doing jumps and drops that you get in the TC. Natural trails, at least in South Wales are usually more technical and steeper e.g. I’d always choose Wylie over Cwmcarn

I was up there last night for my usual 90min local ride, and didn’t notice any signs. In approx 5 years of riding there I have only once come across walkers on any of the singletrack descents which are difficult to walk anyway. If the walkers stick to the fireroads/main routes where possible and the cyclists stick to the singletrack descents and only climb the fireroads there shouldn’t be a problem. I only see issues when cyclists fly down the fireroads instead of the singletracks.