How he walked away from that is beyond me. Harrowing footage.

AHh – got it. Seems my lingo isn’t up to scratch! I’ll give them a try though. May also call the bike shop again before starting to price up an equivalent. :(

Thanks Josh – I didnt hold out much hope but it was worth a deak.
What’s the popo you mention?

That’s true. Though if it had the van keys in I’d probably have noticed it was missing!

Grid Reference (6 figure)
NT286399
X (Easting) , Y (Northing)
328629 , 639964

Well I guess out of a loss, at least I’ve found a cool new website! Never seen that grid ref finder before. Handy.
Anyway, I think that’s it. My wife was just pulled in at the northern tip of that layby.
Thanks again Josh.

Hi Josh – that’s a really kind offer, thankyou. If you’re riding there anyway, then it would be great if you could keep an eye open. The bag is in that sort of teal and orange colour.
I think it would have been in that wee layby I mentioned as that’s where I met my wife as opposed to the car park. The boys had just about had enough by that point so I asked her to meet us there. I have a feeling I took it off my downtube before I put it on the rack but perhaps left it on the ground as opposed to putting it in the car!

Thanks LMT. I hope I find it too – aside from the financial cost of replacing it, that pouch and the tools have a bit of sentimental value too. They’ve got me out of a number of scrapes!

Thankyou Duncan – I don’t have FB so that’s really appreciated.

?

I’d be looking at Offshore Wind Developers too – the likes of Orsted, RWE, EDF, SSE etc.
Also, for survey works take a look at the likes of X-OCean who use AUV and also Ocean Infinity (who recently bought MMT).
We’ve used X-Ocean quite a lot in offshore wind and I definitely think that unmanned survey is the future of the industry.

Aga is our only cooker which is a pain

We use an economy 7 electric aga which is relatively efficient. I used to struggle with it as the only way to cook but now wouldn’t go back!
Long live the one pot meal!

We got rid of our air source heat pump as it just wasn’t efficient in our detached stone built house. It was one of the first to be installed in the UK in a “domestic” setting as I understand and was done more as an experiment. Mitsubishi had all their sensors connected into it and used to monitor it remotely. Anyway, it packed in at 9 year old and was uneconomical to repair. Cost of replacement without a grant was eye watering so we have installed a brand new oil combi boiler. Felt like a backward step but unless your house is properly insulated and you have underfloor heating or well oversized rads, then they are not the best method to heat your house.

We had 1000l of oil delivered in Feb and have three bars left on the monitor – not sure what that means in terms of actual volume but guessing around a third. It has been seriously cold and snowy for months though so I’m relatively confident our consumption will decrease. The talk of a second tank for when oil is cheap is actually not a completely stupid idea given prices have fluctuated from c.20 odd pence a litre to north of 50p a litre in the last couple of years!

frogstomp
Full Member
Any idea of the soundtrack? I didn’t spot it in the credits…

@dickydutch : Lazy Eye by Silversun Pickups

Mega – thankyou!

Any idea of the soundtrack? I didn’t spot it in the credits…

Funny you mention directional drilling! Drop me a DM.

@OP – what did you do in Oil and Gas out of interest? Theres lots of jobs going at the renewable energy developer I work at and I know that there are certain skillsets which transfer really well…

DM me if you like.

This is funny timing. I have an ASHP (14kw Ecodan) that’s been in this house for ten years. And tomorrow it’s getting removed and replaced with, whisper it, oil combi boiler (as was in before the ASHP). It has been repaired a couple of times now (compressor repairs, re-gassed etc) and is now just not worth spending any more cash on. It feels like a HUGE backward step but the truth of the matter is that in a house that isn’t either designed for it, or subject to major work in terms of the introduction of appropriate insulation, it’s just not economical (nor comfortable even with an Aga and a big wood burning stove).
My old house which we completely renovated from just 4 walls was heated by a 7kw ASHP (another Ecodan) and it was absolutely fantastic. But we spent thousands and thousands on insulation to give us the best chance.

In summary though, and in my experience, (and the right energy tarrif – we were on E7 as thats when the Aga took its power too), they’re a great technology if somewhat limited by the current limitations of building regs relating to insulation and appropriate design of new build homes.

nice link – thanks!

highlandman
Free Member

Great post that – considered and evidently built on some sort of experience. I have to agree with the sentiment re the way the estates are structured too. ALL the keepers round here drive brand new Hilux trucks and roll around in brand new bits of machinery yet if you talk to the land owner, they always plead poverty. I’m also aware of the hefty cash tips the ruddy faced drink driving a55holes leave for the keepers and beaters too. It’s absolute tosh and needs to be condemned to the annals of history.
I also reckon the police could have a field day with a breathalyser test at the bottom of the fell road on shoot day.

Great post, great article.

Hamsterley was neither closed nor busy at 7:30 this morning 😉

But by 0800 it was busier than I’ve ever known at that time! The back end of the forest was queit enough but trying to find an uninterrupted run down the more popular trails was tough going.

But assuming you are using lights as a cyclist (I don’t think this was ever a discussion about using lights anyway), I don’t understand how a black car and a cyclist dressed in black are, for want of a better phrase, not the same thing?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not disputing the fact that as a cyclist, why would you NOT wear reflective clothing etc but it’s the argument that cyclists should feel obliged to, when black car drivers are not?
Just goes back to my agreement with the statement that, in this country, we are a car-centric society.

Why do some people choose to drive a black car when everyone knows a bright yellow one is more visible? Why are we not obliged to put hi vis stickers on our cars?

As has been mentioned, this is a car centric society and unfortunately, it always seems to be the cyclists fault if they’re hit. I.e. they should have been wearing hi vis. The same argument as a victim of rape is told they shouldn’t have been wearing a short skirt (or somesuch other inane and offensive statement). It’s a sad indictment on society I think.

All the above said, I’d wear bright stuff if I was riding on the roads.

It’s plenty doable in half a day. Just start for 0800 and be back for lunch.
It’s a great ride.

Scott Spark. No brainer.

There’s no other car in history that has transcended the class boundaries I dont think.

Really? Even if the idea it trancscended class were true what about the the mini, ford model t, cx beetle, vw golf, Fiat 500 Lotus seven etc

By “transcending class.” I mean that everyone from the farm worker through to the queen drives them. Not true (I don’t think, though happy to be corrected) of the models you mention?

They’re the dictionary definition of marmite.
I think you either “get” them or you don’t?

If it’s of any use, i have one forward facing rear seat that folds in on the top of the wheel arch if you wanted. It’s an Exmoor Trim one. All brackets are there but you would need to get replacement stainless fasteners. Been sat in the shed for 3 years now and I keep meaning to sell it but never get round to it.

Oh, and I’ve had two defenders – 90 and 110. I LOVED them both but you need to be willing (or accepting) to get the spanners out yourself.
There’s no other car in history that has transcended the class boundaries I dont think.

Just do it. If you realise it’s not for you, you wont lose a penny in reselling!

AHh – so they’re one and the same!

Ettrickhill house would be a good option for someone

Do you have a link to this? My searches don’t reveal anything by that name?

Pace 529/627?

bajsyckel

I remember you well. I also remember bumping in to you on the fell top whilst I was running and I recognised you by the wheels I sold the bike with and the VeloSolo spacers too!

Useful info though – thankyou.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-73554788.html

The exact house we had been looking at.

I mentioned Selkirk on the other thread.

Have I missed a similar thread then? Apologies if I’m covering old ground…

Where in Hexham area are you now?

Up above Blanchland so the other side of Hexham to where you were.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the area and would happily consider a move to Allendale area if the right place came up!

Perhaps I should expand a little as it may influence some of the comments. My wife is into her horses and as such she would like (“Need” I guess, if we’re moving this far) a field adjoined to the property of c.1.5 acre to accommodate said horses. This sort of constrains us in so much as we will be out of the towns (much like we are at present) but we’re happy with that. To be honest, we rarely venture into Hexham these days and only do school runs and driving related to mountain biking.
I guess some folk might refer to me as a bit of a hermit (though the idea of a pub I could wander to is nice).

Thanks again all – I do appreciate the input!

Thanks all. We’d be moving from Hexham way which I would say also has it’s small town facilities issues. To be honest, it seems to be on more of a downward trajectory than any other path at the moment. I must admit that the idea of being cut off really appeals and is generally what we consider ourselves to be at the moment whilst perched up on the top of the north pennines at 380m elevation – especially in the winter.
I think we will have a drive up this weekend and have a bit of a scope about – weather looks set to be pi5h (that’s what you say when you move north of the wall right?) so we won’t be swayed by the delights of blue skies and sunshine.

Seems it could be a Satellite broadband solution if we end up down there. <2MBPS according to various websites as a realistic value.

We’ve actually been looking down the Ettrick Valley and I’ve been trying to work out how to check speeds based on post code alone. We’re used to a relatively poor speed (9MBPS at best) but anything less would likely become an issue.

If anyone has any ideas on how to get a reasonable assessment of speed based on postcode, that would be great!

Thanks Frank. That’s useful to know. We are looking at the (very) rural side of things which would, at present, mean they went to Selkirk High in due course. I will check out the areas associated with Earlston though.