BitBonds is where it’s at and all the cool kids know it. They’re a spin off of premium bonds but use ERNIE’s 16k RAM pack to mine random numbers between 1 and 100. Get on it before its too late or the sysadmin nudges the RAM pack and it all goes to shit.

Sounds a bit BASIC 😆

No worries. Happy researching 🙂

What website are people using to buy XRP? I take it you have to buy Bitcoin first then trade it? Bitcoin fee’s seem to be huge at the moment.

At some point it is rumoured to be added to Coinbase. Until then your best bet to buy with Fiat is via Bitstamp it appears. That will bypass the need to trade in bitcoin first.

Here’s some useful info from the Reddit page.

https://www.investopedia.com/news/how-do-i-buy-ripple-xrp-cryptocurrency/
https://ripple.com/xrp/buy-xrp/

Badum tish!!

Almost x2 returns in the last week for XRP.

Not bad.

XRP (Ripple) is probably one of the few crypto currencies that will weather the storm long term. It actually has a good use case and is a strong industry disruptor, particularly against SWIFT.

Considered a safer bet in the crypto world but also berated for being linked to the banking system and therefore ideologically not in keeping with the idea of a “new world currency order” that many crypto enthusiasts love to circle jerk about.

Caveat emptor: Banks don’t have to use XRP (what you are buying and holding) to be partnered with Ripple’s tech, but there are strong financial incentives in terms of reduced costs and faster settlement speed.

Do your own research, but there are many promising things in store. They already have a partnership with AMEX and many banks are already in the bag. Uber, AirBnB and Amazon also rumoured, hence recent rises.

Voted LD by Post – it’s my normal stance but it would be whatever body had most chance of unseating the local Con-artist Tory-boy-wonder.

Previous LD voter, but I wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole this time around.

Recent ads have been promoting a coalition with the Tories. Yes actually advertising it, largely trading on voter fear – I don’t warm to negative politics, it’s cheap. Siding with the Tories – now that worked out really well for them last time, didn’t it?

You’d think they’d learn.

Corbyn is an uncertainty, but I believe he’s finally stepping up and whilst there is some doubt around his statesmanship, he undoubtably comes from the right principles.

Probably Labour tomorrow.

Hey guess what, I’ve just decided that I’m a qualified nutritionist and so is my dog. Let me know if you need an appointment

Your dog you say? I can pay in Bonios?

Actually, you’ve got a point. There are a lot of bad nutritionists. The good ones are highly skilled at seeing things GP’s don’t and can’t.

Just occurred to me that Bonios might be where I’m going wrong?

(except pork scratchings!)

Just use it as an excuse with the Mrs 😆

If all turns up blank with the docs, consider adrenal fatigue. Your GP probably won’t be much help on that front though.

Look for a qualified nutritionist.

Chopping onions after watching this 😥

For those who haven’t seen Mike Hall in action, I can’t recommend this movie enough.

https://watch.inspiredtoride.it/

Amazing achievements Mike, such a true loss.

Yep, just go bluetooth and skip all of the adaptor rubbish. I got some cheap MPOW ones for a Christmas present and the sound quality is definitely superior to the stock Apple ones.

The sleeper is very convenient – up on the Friday night to Fort William, bike Saturday and Sunday, return on the Sunday overnight service and back in the office for 9am.

The existing coaches are getting a little tired, but they will be replaced by fancy new ones in 2018.

Also, if you book and decide to travel with a berth, go in the middle of the coach, it’s quieter.

Tom, I’m not sure if you are just a hobbyist or an over-zealous med student, but perhaps read Buhner’s work as I have suggested. It is quite enlightening.

Once you have done that, if you want to attempt to pick apart his work be my guest.

Many have wanted to and failed, because he has done his homework, he is a biochemist at heart and has been treating Lyme and co-infections for years.

Perhaps look at the bigger picture. Not much more I can say without wasting the rest of my evening doing your research for you.

I’m not sure if there’s misguided cynicism or just bad trolling going on here.

I can tell you, from first hand experience, that it is very, VERY unpleasant to become ill with an disease that the NHS is woefully unequipped to diagnose, let alone treat. And we’re just talking about LYME here, not even co-infections that often massively complicate things.

NHS have barely even heard about those, so you had better hope you don’t hit the jackpot when you’re out biking, Doxycycline will barely touch Babesia or Mycoplasma that often come with tick bites. You mention those terms to a GP and they will likely look blankly and go scurrying for a reference.

Co-infections like these OFTEN make mono antibiotic therapy fail, EVEN if you catch it early enough.

So imagine if you’ve had your standard 2-3 week Doxycycline therapy and your GP says “oh you’re fine, off you toddle” – when you still have a Babesia co-infection that won’t go away until you treat it with Mepron and Zithromax. Sometimes Babesia will hit the patient 2 months after exposure, long after that Doxycycline has finished.

Oh but wait… you’ve had your 3 weeks of Doxycycline so you’re fine. Best go and see a psychologist then? 😆

This is why Lyme Literate doctors are required, until the point where GPs become more aware and specialists less entrenched in outdated means of testing, treatment and understanding. It is a highly complex disease and it’s not going away.

I’m stunned that we are still so backward in how we look at this.

The question is what herbs? Where from? Who has such knowledge?

Buhner has everything you need to know really. If you have Lyme or know someone who has been touched by Lyme, really do buy his book. It’s a good read – once finished, if you’re struggling to source any of the rarer herbs drop me an email. I can point you towards reputable vendors.

Cowden is another one, everything is packaged by Nutramedix, easy to source, but it is a lot more expensive.

They vary in approach, but success rates are more or less the same between both protocols from what I’ve seen of online polls.

I would say that these should be considered complementary or last resort options to antibiotics in case they have failed. First and foremost should be a trip to a “Lyme literate” doctor (of which there are not many in the UK). Sensible safety warning over.

Apparently the antibiotic cannot remove/target all the bacteria from Lyme disease as it has the potential to “hide”.

That’s more or less the case.

There are varying forms of Lyme Borrelia that have been identified depending upon their environment. When under stress from antibiotics, they can create encysted forms that are much more resistant. In this form they become mostly dormant, but can’t be eradicated as easily by many tetracyclines such as Doxycyline. Therefore other antibiotics such as Flagyl or Fasigyn have to be employed that can break through these cysts. Unfortunately these are much harder on the body and more expensive, hence why they are not employed as first-line options.

However, use these for long enough and you will potentially eradicate the Borrelia. Different antibiotics have differing abilities to penetrate tissue and so on. Like any organism, Borrelia try to locate themselves where they feel safest where some antibiotics may not be able to penetrate sufficiently to eradicate the last of the Borrelia – one example is across the blood brain barrier.

Not everyone’s immune system is strong enough or primed to kill these last Borrelia, so in these persons they re-appear from their encysted forms and it starts all over again.

This is the point where herbs can come in very useful, as they can be tolerated for much longer periods of time, if not indefinitely. This allows those who could not recover from antibiotics, due to intolerance or side effects to keep a maintenance dose going forward. Alternatively, patients could use them for longer (months to years) to kill the last of the Borrelia, something that would leave them in a sorry state if they were on antibiotics for that time.

In the end, if your immune system is compromised, which often happens with chronic lyme, it becomes a struggle to recover.

There is obviously far more science to it, but that’s an overview in layman’s terms.

Yep, a hippy. I’d judge him by his work though.

I mean, what else did you expect a herbalist to look like? 😆

Book, cover, etc

I’ll check the book out, but I could get randomly generated tosh published in a crap peer reviewed journal. Publications dont make something true.

Agreed.

I’ll let you make your own mind up. It’s worth a read though, whether you buy into the concept of non pharma therapy or not.

Nah, no “munching” going on here.

If you have any passing interest in Lyme disease or treatments and haven’t just popped in to take the piss, I would recommend reading the book “Healing Lyme”.

All of it is backed by peer-reviewed research, actual solid science and evidence of successful herbal treatment with thousands of patients either combined with antibiotics or not. In many cases, people have been healed where antibiotics have failed.

Would I replace antibiotics with herbs alone? No. But it doesn’t make it less efficacious.

2015 Ed.

Currently loling my balls off at the suggestion of treating lymes with herbs.

Many pharmaceuticals are based around herbal therapies.

Example – Artemisinin was used as a primary cure for malaria for YEARS. The WHO has recommended artemisinin combination therapies (ACT) be the first-line therapy.

Artemisinin is isolated from the plant, sweet wormwood.

You’ve just made yourself look a bit ignorant I’m afraid 😉

P.S. It’s “Lyme Disease” not Lymes. Or Borellia if you want to use the more appropriate term.

I can manage to get to work. Travelling can be a problem. Most weekends are spent recovering from the week. It can quite easily get you down.

That sounds pretty horrendous and much like my own experience when I was misdiagnosed for 4 years. It becomes about just getting through the day. Sleep is a release.

Do you mind me asking…Have you tried a full course of multi agent antibiotics? i.e. not just a mono therapy of Doxycycline? Any herbal approaches?

Speaking of Buhner, this is a very insightful talk regarding current challenges with Lyme disease, hosted by Daniel Vitalis. I respect Buhner hugely for his work – endlessly researching and treating thousands over the years.

http://www.danielvitalis.com/rewild-yourself-podcast/zombie-ticks-and-the-lyme-wars

Absolutely worth a listen if you have an interest in the disease. Some entertaining moments too.

It is still unsure if people who caught Lyme disease can be completed cured at this moment.

Depends what your definition of cure is. If you mean symptom free, then yes, it is absolutely possible. Even indefinitely. However, it may be that there are persisters that your immune system keeps in check. It’s still not clear.

Any tips for dealing with insomnia?

If you are happy to use pharmaceuticals, then Amitriptyline works wonders for sleep and fibromyalgia, even at low doses.

Otherwise, Melatonin or 5htp.

Master herbalist Stephen Buhner recommends Ashwagandha too http://buhnerhealinglyme.com/symptoms/herb-for-insomnia/

I have a Colt (of the CZT “Sporty” variety) 0-60 in 7.2 seconds. Pretty pokey.

The engine is good. The rest of the car built around it is cheap and a bit nasty. After 6 years of ownership I have little love for this car and I won’t be getting another Mitsubishi in my lifetime, frankly.

If it’s not the CZT or Ralliart you’re considering, then definitely look elsewhere.

I don’t think you can necessarily assume physics outside the simulation is the same as physics within the simulation.

Pretty much what I was saying earlier… 🙂

Yes, if you tried to mimic other ‘laws’. If those ‘laws’ are unique to this ‘science experiment’, then there is no convincing to be done.

Rock Shox made some huge improvements to their forks when they introduced the original Reba / Revs / Pikes back in the mid noughties.

They worked great, were light and reliable.

I’ve got some 100mm 06 Rebas on one bike which are serviced every couple of years and work very well indeed.

Just anecdotal opinion FWIW.

The Mam Ratagan road leaves the A87 at Shiel Bridge, not Dornie. Take it over to Glenelg (palindromic name place / twinned with a crater on Mars) then the ferry to Skye. Given your planned route it would fit in better Eastbound. Check it’s operating though – it’s still seasonal.

This would explain some of my troubles perhaps? 😆

Aye, def worth adding in an Applecross loop. One part I know I’d love to add in is hanging a south turn at Stromeferry to Dornie. Take the singletrack road out of Dornie above Loch Duich and head up the stunning Mam Ratagan for some amazing views. Then enjoy the descent down through Glenelg. The ferry crossing will be cheap £5? but to add what you’ve just witnessed onto the tour, it’ll be one of the best fivers you’ve spent.

Sounds fantastic! Struggling to visualise this on the map though 🙁

Any chance you could lend a brother a hand when you have 5?

😕

You seem to have veered off the Great Glen Way at points. Here’s a GPX file of the Great Glen Way (High Level) (Right click…Save as)

It’s also a waste to be passing the Bealach na Ba and not doing Applecross

Ah. Downloaded. Ta! Although, I’ll be going old school with maps, with GPS backup on my phone. Is the high route clearly marked on trail?

I’ll be making every effort to get over to Applecross 🙂

Right folks, I’ve finally had some time to get down to some decent reading and planning.

All of this advice has been stellar – thanks so much.

I’m going to more or less follow the excellent route map kindly suggested; the West Coast route provides plenty of detours or short cuts depending upon mood.

The Loch Shiel detour is a definitely possibility, a bit of dirt track will be a welcome break from the road. The Great Glen Way appeals as a nice easy means of motoring back to Inverness in the semi wilderness.

So, looks pretty much perfect. Last minute suggestions and detours still very much welcome.

Will post any photos and let you know how I find it.

Cheers! 🙂

Ah. I’ve got a 2013 spec Croix, which had a rather lumpy conti cyclocross tread.

Anyhows… those Conti CrossSpeeds look just the ticket. In the bag! Ta 🙂

Just catching up with this thread, thanks folks. This is shaping up to be an epic trip.

Main question right now…just how MTB is the Great Glen Way?

Bike wise, I’m using a Croix De Fer (CX) with rear panniers… I’m a seasoned MTBer and don’t mind some rough stuff.

Worth sticking the cross tyres back on, or do you reckon I could ride 95%+ of the way with wide road slicks and a bit of walking if necessary? All the photos make it look pretty smooth.

Sold! 8)

Cake you say?! 😀

Hey guys, OP here. Thanks for all the fantastic suggestions and info.

I’ve still not had time to properly plan, but a cursory glance at the very handy route josemctavish put together makes me wonder what it would be like to head back up the A86 / A9 instead of the A82. I’ll definitely use this as some form of basis.

What are the A86 / A9 roads via Aviemore like in comparison? Any quieter/slower… or are there still plenty of Colin McRae wannabes?

The B9152 cuts out a lot of the A9 so looks like a better bet and incidentally a lovely looking road…

Cheers

Thank you very much indeed chaps – that’s great stuff. I’ll study your posts in more depth when I get the chance later this week.

Also – thank you for your kind offer of help Scotroutes. I might just drop you a line if needed.

Any more forumite thoughts / advice welcome!

Cheers.

So ‘those’ who are running us as an experiment, how did they come in to existence? etc etc

Think they were conceived in the woods behind the nationwide in Swindon.

Actually…I haven’t got a scooby tbh… one step at a time, eh?

😆

Consider for a moment, that if there WERE a simulation being run, it may not be originated by humans seeking to simulate their own existence.

If you’re thinking on this level, it’s just as plausible that the universe is one big digital petri dish, humans are just one product of a chaos experiment run via a simulation. There may be other digital petri dishes running along side. Humans are just an evolving product in one of those experiments.

Not saying…but…what if? What IF? Mind blown yet?