We had ours done 9 years ago when replacement “proper” roofs started to become available. It is fully insulated 3 layers of celotex insulation, and has plastic tiling (re-cycled plastic and looks exactly like slate). It has been good so far, keeps the room warm in the winter, cool in the summer and we don’t have to close the doors when it rains because of the noise! The room is 20ft x 16ft with windows all the way around on 3 sides so light isn’t an issue. The ceiling is vaulted (as with the original one)  and painted white, a single uplighter lights up the whole room. The cost was just over £13k in 2014, not much less than what the conservatory cost when it was built in 2000. Spookily enough I spoke to our neighbours yesterday who are thinking of having the same done to their conservatory (the polycarbonate roof is knackered) and they are being quoted £26k-£32k!
Whilst I kind of agree that at those costs you could build a solid walled extension I would check the costs thoroughly first as building materials and the cost of labour have sky rocketed since the pandemic. You also have the costs and rigmarole of going thru planning permission etc. So it may not be as simple as it looks on paper. Having said all that if we were doing it again I would go for a proper brick extension with bi-fold doors on two sides, something else that wasn’t readily available when we had the original build done 23 years ago.

Good days follow bad ones. Random 4×4 pics? Cheap house prices. Luv quirky accommodation, always provides a good story to tell later.

“What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger”, but we only usually say this when recalling the pain and problems way after the event.

Sounds like a very painful day in the saddle. Would you want to experience it again, absolutely “No”. Will it help you on future tough days, absolutely “Yes”. On a future bad cycling day you will be able to say “It’s tough, but not as bad as that day in Spain and I did that!”.

Great read Amanda, looking forward to Day 11, hope its titled Lazarus Rising :-)

Nothing against e-bikes or advances in technology, but bloody hell (top end) MTB’s are getting complicated and pricey!

 

@core the Aldi gloves are padded, but winter gloves.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/dates/2023-09-21?sort=popular&q=%3Apopular%3AtransactionalStatus%3Atransactional%3AtransactionalStatus%3Anontransactional%3AEvent%3ASports%20%26%20Leisure&privm=false&page=0&firstPlacementTotalCount=0&secondPlacementTotalCount=0

@soundninjauk – why didn’t you just use the 9 route segments on the KAW webpage, no work involved and we found less “strain” on the phone app with a smaller route.

Luv your diary and only wish it would be published without long time gaps, I keep thinking I must have missed an episode! Good honest description of the rides and you don’t need to do a multi-day trip to go through phases of pain or self doubt. There can be ups and downs on every ride. A recent 5 hour ride around in the Wiltshire downs in very hot/humid weather had me wondering why I was there, will this f*cking hill never end? why am at the back of the group again? how far is it now to the cafe stop? Then we did a downhill section to the cafe, had ice cream, tea, cake, the world was ok again and the rest of ride was not quite a breeze, but definitely a much more pleasant experience. The last few climbs were fine and the descent back to the car (and its air con!) was brilliant.

Well done Amanda

Last Thursday in Wiltshire, every day’s a weekend, this is the final descent back into Mere. Somehow the perspective makes it look like I am riding a very small bike! It was stupidly hot all day and even after consuming 2lt from the camelback, a full water bottle on the bike, 3 cups of tea, a large Mr Whippy and two cups of water at the Shearwater Cafe, I was still dehydrated!

Quantocks definitely, probably the best natural MTB’ing in the south of England. You can do most of the named descents (Smithy’s, Hodder’s, Lady’s Edge and Weacombe) in a day, depending on fitness (assuming non e-bikes) you will rack up 3,000ft+ of climbing. The ridgeway (Bicknoller Post to Wills Neck) is also good riding with great views and that takes you to Great Wood with loads of trails.

Exmoor around Exford/Dunkery Beacon/Withypool is very good, but bring your climbing legs! The hills are steep you can rack up a lot of climbing for not much mileage. On a short ride there recently we racked up 3000ft of climbing in a little over 15 miles.

Watch our for the weather as well, nowhere to hide on those hills if autumn storms arrive while you are there..

Had 3 wasps get in my helmet once, multiple stings on the bonce and I crashed on the road as I tried to remove the helmet pedal and steer all at the same time. The motorist behind me who stopped to help wondered why I was flapping my arms around and why had I crashed on a straight slow piece of road. Always wear a buff twisted into a pirate style covering under my helmet now, never had a sting or bite since.

I believe that wasps release a pheromone when they sting and this attracts other wasps.

35 Miles around north and east Dorset with a couple of mates today. The pic is of Horton’s Tower, a “folly” on Chalbury Common

@PolisherMan – I think my mate stayed there last week while assessing DoE kids, said the camp site was excellent, but the barman at the local pub was miserable as sin.

@MidlandTrailquestsGraham – Great idea Graham, makes a nice change from all the samey weekend ride photos. Keep it going.

Good film, well worth a watch.

Thanks @stwhannah, thought I was going slightly mad! :-)

I know its an S-Works model, probably has top the range everything, it’s an outlier on the bike price graph, the manufacturer only gives you the best they have to test and its like comparing Fords with Ferraris, but £13k really! STW keeps banging on about inclusivity, but this is about as exclusive as MTB’ing gets. How about some real world bikes, the real world being somewhere where other 95+% of us have to live.

Little Feat what a great band, Willing one of their finest tracks, Lowell George left the planet too soon.

T-Shirt print from back in the 80’s “My Father knew Lowell George” :-) (for the historians out there).

I was only talking some younger MTB buddies about Little Feat and Lowell George while on a ride in the Purbecks last Sunday, spooky!

There was a paragraph on this but the magical editorial wand was waved and all the rudeness was taken away.

@charliedontsurf really? I remember not so long ago that there was a very long thread on here about encounters while out on a ride with naked folk performing various forms of “exercise”, there were some very graphic descriptions.

Like the look of the HABIT, but after the comments and a closer look at the welding … nah.

Was the welding done by the work experience kid while the actual welder went for a coffee and fag break?

Left my very wet and muddy biking shoes in our car port to dry and a neighbours bloody moggy peed on them! Tried various sprays, soaking in disinfectant for 48 hours and a long cycle in the washing machine all to no avail, they still smell a bit. Still wear them, but Mrs B. won’t have them in the house so they now live in the garage.

@oldfart – I think the lighter e-mtb’s are so that owners don’t injure themselves when lifting them up on to bike racks :-)

I picked up a mates HT Cube e-mtb recently and couldn’t believe the weight, nearly caused a hernia, god only knows what the FS version weighs! He says the weight doesn’t matter, it has an engine so why worry about how heavy it is.

@tomhoward – ABS on cars is all about being able to steer and manoeuvre while still braking, don’t see how this applies on an e-MTB. It also has a computer which monitors wheel speeds and applies the brakes accordingly, making it an even more complicated bike. I guess ABS means you may not go over the handle bars as the front wheel is (possibly?) still turning intermittently, but you probably get to that tree that you are trying to avoid a bit quicker.

To me ABS on bicycles just sounds like a Marketing Dept idea to make even more profit on already very expensive bikes.

Why do only e-bikes need ABS?

Surely the speeds and situations that MTB’ers encounter are the same for powered and non-powered bicycles?

Excellent film, well done Aneela and Andy for being brave enough to put it out there.

@Bruce – Freudian slip?

Its actually Brest :-)

to help all us **** thick morons out

@desperatebicycle you said it :-)

Why does it have to be abroad? Have you done everything in the UK? Does it have to be guided? Why not save money, time and the planet and look at routes closer to home. Could be more fun having to follow a route and guide yourself.

Realise that you are looking at cheap deals, but just because they are cheap doesn’t make them good. The reviews on those gloves are that they are in the main not very good, poor fitting, stiff and not breathable. And as @Rubber_Buccaneer says only the 10-45 cassette is cheap. You should also make it clear, I think, that you are cutting/pasting the manufacturer’s blurb and that these are not STW staff words as it sounds like you are recommending these items.

White socks? Really! Only good for tarmac on a summer’s day. Would be ruined in 5 minutes on the current mudfest trails in Dorset.

More innuendo please, it has brightened up a dull grey very rainy day.

@BadlyWiredDog – that Stormfleece MTB jacket is currently on £39.99 (was £100) at Sports Pursuit, looks like a good buy. Also agree with you on the colour, but the black and blue versions look very plain and if you are on a road very dark.

@amandawishart – I am sure it’s a good top, but for £170 I would expect a little more on the practical side rather than just being a nice and warm material.

Spooky, this top popped up on my Facebook feed yesterday! Had a look and really liked it, but having read your review I don’t think I will be buying it. I like some storage space in a top layer for phone or wallet or snacks as most of my rides don’t need a backpack. I like smock style jackets/tops, my Alpkit Jura is the go to jacket when its cold enough, but the kangaroo pockets need to hold gear in place and not make you look like you have eaten all the pies and then some more. This top needs a proper storage pocket, some armpit zips and some way of securing the hood so it doesn’t become a parachute brake.

@Mark completely understand your reasoning and the cost implications. It’s just that it never feels right when you have supported any business and they offer the freebies and deals to new customers only. I hadn’t picked up the renewal price saving so thank you for that. Given the current financial issues around the world we should be glad that you are still able to keep STW going and long may you continue to do so.      Cheers

Didn’t have the Endura shirts in my size, but did find some very nice Merino base layers (short sleeve) @ £21.

South Dorset Ridgeway to Abbotsbury this morning ….

Great weather, a little chilly, but blue skies and loads of sunshine, perfect biking weather.

Got a letter box? She could have posted it thru and some unscrupulous person picked it up outside.

@Cougar you were only one post away from have your moniker directly below Nora Batty!

as already said …………. white MTB shoes, really!!

Maybe if you live in California and shop on Rodeo Drive ……..

Is someone really selling these in the UK, in Autumn when the heavy rain and associated gloop are the order of the day? Must be marketing men/women working from home somewhere very dry and sunny :-)

We spent two weeks on the north island in November 2015, started in Aukland went to the Coromandel, Rotorua, Taupo and back to Aukland. It easily filled up our two weeks stay. Don’t be fooled by the size of the islands, you can get sucked into too much time travelling and not enough time looking around. The roads are traffic free but lots of twists and turns and you won’t find too many fast “motorway” type roads once away from the main cities. We used a car and found accommodation as we went, never had any problems finding somewhere to stay.

We went back for 6 weeks in February/March 2017 and hired a camper wagon to tour the south island (4 weeks) and then the north island (2 weeks). Be careful of the weather on the south island, even in midsummer we woke up to frost on the windscreen and snow-capped mountains while in Manapouri near Doubtful Sound (which by the way is a much better day trip than the overcrowded Milford Sound). It also rains a lot on the south island.

Which was better car or motorhome? I did some rough calculations and reckoned the car/hotel option was slightly cheaper and more flexible. Obviously with the motorhome you unpack once and don’t have to spend time looking for somewhere to stay. We stayed mostly on good sites with good facilities and that adds to the daily cost of the motorhome. In winter I would definitely go for the car/hotel option, living in a motorhome when coming back from walks, rides, etc, wet and muddy isn’t much fun in my opinion.

We hired bikes whenever we needed them, which was relatively cheap and easy to do. In hindsight on the longer trip I would have bought a couple when we arrived in NZ and sold them on at the end of the trip, but I have friends in Auckland who could do that for me.

We noticed on the second trip that prices (food and drink) had gone up a lot, almost on a par with Australia. On the first trip NZ was much cheaper than Oz. Don’t suppose it’s got much better following the pandemic and with NZ being closed to the rest of the world for a long period.

Loads of really good trails south of Centre Parcs. And lots to see on the trails – Shearwater, Longleat House, Heaven’s gate, Alfred’s Tower, Stourhead. Its typical Wiltsire countryside rolling downs and big skies.

Did the Everest base camp trek in 2016 but we went via Gokyo Lakes on the way out rather than the straight up and back route. Flying in and out of Lukla was interesting!

Would definitely advise going veggie while there. Having seen a “butchers” shop in KTM and while on the trek a travelling butcher in a remote village with all the meat hung on the back of his Yak, then chopping up the piece a local lady wanted on her garden wall, I wouldn’t touch the stuff.

Also take a decent water filter with you and use it for all your drinking water. We (4 of us) were walking for 18 days staying in tea houses and we never had any stomach problems.

Butchers shop in KTM

Nice one @rocketdog
Some of those badges are awesome even at $100, nice way to customise the bike, particularly like the sheep and Death Star one

https://www.headbadges.com/portfolio.html