OP sounds like an excellent opportunity to me – good luck whatever you decide to do

you don’t want it compacted to much it’ll be rock hard when dry, the seed won’t take as well and it won’t drain either. once the grass has taken the roots will bind it all together and firm it up

and yes you can add topsoil to fill depressions in lawns letting the old grass grow through, also bung a bit more seed on for good measure – look up topdressing

meanwhile at yodel HQ…

sadly buying cheap stuff off t’interweb only promotes growth of such companies

we have a Sevylor Hudson – picked it up from decathlon in the sale so worth checking there if one local to you. used it in the lake district and some local lakes and its been great so far :)

full cromoly bike £399 (out of stock now though)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAND-BIKE-SNOW-BIKE-FAT-BIKE-BRAND-NEW-IN-THE-BOX-free-delivery-/111465975424?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item19f3e3ce80

stayed in buzzards nest a few times, also it has a portaloo so good for taking a dump in the morning ;)

1. North East England
2. On the fence – 50% Yes (to give Westminister a kick in the nuts & allow Scotland the chance to prove they can do it), 50% No (to keep non-tory votes in the UK)
3. Yorkshire Republic

i use a carradice sqr tour for daily commuting, excellent bit of kit. waterproof, space for clothes/shoes etc and can get a reasonable amount of shopping in too plus the mount is much more stealth/lighter than a pannier rack. carradice are great too helped me out when i broke a mount from overtightening….

50.1% No followed by mass hysteria, rioting and burning of the union jack / effigies of david cameron and gordon brown by the other 49.9%

we have a croozer kid for 2 and its really wide, much wider than my friends belleli one. wont go through some gates on local cycle paths but there are horse hurdles and some gates are really low so we just lift over those and it maybe adds 2 mins onto our journey. would be a bit of a handful with one person. however because of the width its really stable, following my mate’s belleli and watching it bounce/wobble around at speed was pretty hairy! the boot is massive if you want to factor in shopping/food/gear holding space too

overall we’re really happy with it!

hi chunkymonkey thanks for offer but i’m up in newcastle, but cheers! :)

it’s designed for 45mm i think, i run 35mm on mine and there’s bucket loads of space but never tried anything bigger

this place is our post/mid ride stop depending on route, conveniently it takes me 3mins to get home via the derwent walk c2c path and a gravel track which can be a tad ‘sketchy’ after a prolonged visit :) good beer, good food (bit pricey mind), open fire, good views and bike/dog/child friendly

2001ish Santa Cruz Chameleon with mix of parts from then onwards. have some 97 Z1 bams to go on it too
2011 Titus El Guapo full sus mtb with 2013 forks & new 2014 drivetrain
2012 Nukeproof Scalp dh – with new 2014 drivetrain
2013 Salsa Vaya commuter/road/cx
2014 Salsa El Mariachi bikepacking/adventure/explore bike

still have as much fun on the 12 year old chameleon as any of the other newer bikes although a works components head angle reducer headset would be nice

credit card

cheers have told cyclist people at work too :)

probably wake up in the morning on the back of a pikey’s transit tipper who thought he’d scored

we are about 400m away from having bragging rights to living in northumberland, but northwestern county durham/north pennines is fantastic too! :)

thanks for the advice/tips. will have a look around and see whats available new within budget. theres a black and decker/dewalt outlet near me so i’m going to check there too, hopefully pick up a dewalt for a good price, and as i have a dewalt driver i could hopefully use batteries in both

oh and for the decking i meant using the nailgun to fix end panels/trims etc rather than the boards/post/joists as i would screw those but thanks for pointing out :-)

ditch the flip flops, get nike air jesus

Insert to line >|<

i had this on some leather flip flops. stuck a plaster around the toe bit and they stopped rubbing

must resist………..

i’ve used the hope one – did exactly what i needed it to do and totally forgotten about since :)

i’m the 58,735,361st richest person on earth by income

whooooooooooooooooooooop whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

forgot to mention if you’re in the area a while drop me an email and i’ll see if i can get out and show you some of the other stuff round here too :) usually cant get out till about 8pm though with nipper

oh and looking out of my window at the moment i’d say pack your mud tyres! :P

hi theres a group who ride wednesday eves which seems to be a young crowd run by scott mears (local dh lad and lbs guy), and a group on thursday eve called chopwell tumblers (check facebook as they’re on there). as above most of good stuff on strava for getting gpx/map info. its pretty straight forward place but like anywhere always good to go with locals to get best bits in :)

10:30ish last night when i got back from night ride/pub. swoopy singletrack with 30ft+ drop to river below in total darkness after a few beers was entertaining!

rip

Also, what city has a climb long enough to make a cyclist “expire” and still have “a few hundred yards” to go to the top?

ever been to scotland/the north? :wink:

then – whatever was good value

now – whatever is cheapest + making a wooden balance bike for the nipper

maybe his heavily loaded calfskin rapha wallet was weighing him down?

ask the locals for directions, assuming that they’re not totally stupid they’ll point you in the right direction (or more likely nick your bike if your in london)

if you’re into old school navigating i found the descriptions and maps in tim woodcocks book very good. they’ll be plenty of gpx routes floating about if thats your thing. worthwhile getting a copy of the book and some map extracts to take with you so you can plan the day ahead/diversions/routes off high ground in a storm etc (one of my pet hates are the gps dependents who get stuck when the battery dies… no offence if you use gps i do too!)

i’m sure i have a pdf of the book/maps somewhere on my emails – email me if you want it and i can send it over

ah – my favorite ride :wink: the first couple of days in the lakes are the hardest, be prepared to carry bikes for an hour or so up black sail. its a bitch but the descent to wasdale is worth it :) once over black sail, everything is ridable or at worst you can actually push a bike up it!

yorkshire dales and north york moors are much easier going, good opportunities to bag some big miles days as only doing 20-30 miles in a day on a 200+ mile trip is a bit of a downer on the first couple of days in the lakes.

orange 5 would be perfect bike – maybe less so if you’re carrying your gear as you can fit more stuff in a frame bag on a hardtail. if you’re supported then it’ll be fine for the job

first time i did it i was about average fitness for a mtb’er and did it in 3 1/2 days on my own carrying my own camping gear, mainly as i only had that time to do it! i’d say 5 days would be fine for an average rider without going crazy and 6 would be very comfortable

as for training you’ll be best upping your mileage tbh, maybe get up an hour earlier and make a longer commute to work, or just extend rides at weekends if time allows. you’ll want to stock up on energy food as well to see what you like/don’t agree with for long days out so its not a steep learning curve out on the trip

which route are you doing? i don’t know which the mbr one is but done a couple of C2C routes

@ gazc I have been told the sticky back insulation I used does that job, I was advised by someone who did similar before me… Should I worry?

yeah that stuff should be ok, it was just a thought a the pics look like there are gaps between the insulation sheets where air can get in touch with the outer skin. only time and sleeping it will tell if a problem comes up, but worth keeping an eye on as condensation trickling down into the sills will not end well! i used to kip in the back of my old peugeot partner which was just ply lined and its amazing how much condensation it had (literally raining on a cold morning even with windows ajar), so in my opinion better to nip in the bud now rather than later…. enjoy your new toy! :)

nice job – did you put a vapour barrier over the insulation/panels before the carpet? we had terrible problems with our van when we got it as it didn’t have a barrier, the sills were ponding with rusty water after kipping in it, even with vents open! it is 28 years old mind… i just used a big roll of sticky back plastic as it’s dead easy to stick on

double post doh