Once you’ve had a lurcher it’s hard to go back to a normal dog! They have a certain demeaner and temperament that other dogs just don’t have. All dogs are great by the way but Lurchers are special. Contact a lurcher and greyhound rescue charity and take it from there. Greyhounds are lovely but thick as mince compared to a lurcher!

If it keeps happening but you like your neighbours just put a fence up between drives and never worry about it happening again.

Don’t forget to add a bit of protein in there.

Food.
Wine.
Unreliable but loveable cars.
Fashion.
Making rules that only they are allowed to ignore.

Got to love the French.

We’ve got a weekend booked in an old fishermans cottage in Amble in December. It’ll be awful.

I was out today with T shirt and baggies and every other person looked like they were wrapped up for Winter. Sun was out for at least 3 hrs! 10 till 1 o’clock.

Balanced diet seems to be the best. Your body absorbs vitamins better when combined with certain foodstuffs. One of the reasons the Mediterranean diet is so good is the combination of foods. Fish salads oils nuts etc.

Thats only a minor design flaw compared to having the gears sitting in the sump, the distributor poking out of the grill virtually, the carbs sitting on the exhaust manifold. Yet one of the most iconic if not the most iconic car ever built. I’ve loved all of mine and will have another one as soon as I can persuade my wife that we really need a mini van!

Teetoo if I had listened to the NHS dietician and so called diabetes specialist I would still be on Metformin. I knew more than the dietician after 10 minutes on google FFS. I just cut out sugar, harder than you think, they put the bloody stuff in everything. Reduced the refined carbs increased the veg and protein and healthy fats. I don’t know what a Keto diet is, I just developed an eating regime that could work for me and my family. I hate the word diet because that implies to me a temporary change rather than a lifestyle change.

This is a low carb not no carb diet. I can definitely say from experience that I never have hunger pangs. We survived for thousands of years without easy carbs i.e. Gluten wheat based products. It’s about replacing bread rice and potatoes with complex carbs. Eating more veg and fibre and good fats.

Toyota Avensis 1.8 vvti estate.
Mazda 6 1.8 or 2.0 petrol estate.
Mondeo as above.
Honda Accord 2.0 petrol estate.
All very reliable Mazda 6 probably the best of the above but at your price point check the arches on early models.

There’s a lot of bollocks spoken about Rovers on this forum. Unless you’ve had one and I’ve had a few you can’t really comment. The best one I had was a bog 216Si 110bhp. Yes it had a head gasket at 90K but that’s it. Just routine servicing. Much more reliable than the poxy 306D we had before it. Similar fuel economy and it could really shift. Handled great as well. Apart from the cosworth models everything Ford did pre focus was utter sh!te. I still have nightmares about that Peugeot.

I had to make this change over a year ago to loose weight and get my blood sugar under control. Lost 5 stone over 7 months. Scary fast weight loss. Don’t eat pasta, rice, bread or potatoes. Nothing with added sugar in it apart from a bit of fruit. Diet consists of porridge with seeds and nuts and a bit of chopped fruit. Salad for lunch with some protein either fish or chicken. Nuts for snacking. Meat and veg for dinner. Nothing then till breakfast. When riding I take a carbkilla bar or a tin of mackerel. What I find is for the first few miles I struggle to get going then after about 6-8 miles it’s like a switch is flicked and I start to get going. I never hit a wall. Lads at work starting to struggle I just keep going and seem to get faster. Also the amount of water I need on a long ride has dropped dramatically, maybe due to weight loss but could be because I’m not breaking down carbs as I’m riding. Works for me but it takes a fair bit of will power at times. I never crash anymore or seem to run out of energy. On this type of diet eggs are your friend!

I have thought long and hard about getting a so called gravel/adventure bike. The type of riding I tend to do these days is riding from home to the nearest bridleway then off up cycleways the odd sneaky footpath or country back roads. I use a cannondale trail SL 29er. It’s pretty quick for a mountain bike but not compared to a CX/gravel adventure bike. I would be able to go a bit further and faster with an adventure bike but the 29er allows me to just about go anywhere through just about anything. It is very flexible and really comfy but slow.
Do I need one? Probably not.
Do I want one? Of course!

An incredible achievement no doubt but if your just thinking about 4 hr blocks you’re not really taking in the surroundings and culture etc. Doesn’t sound like much fun tbh.

1. Raining Blood – Slayer
2. Locust Star – Neurosis
3. War Pigs – Black
4. Dirty Love (Live*) – Thunder
5. Dirt – American Head Charge
6. Toska – Chalk Teeth

From personal experience. I find these computer based interfaces, libraries and multi effects units pretty crap from a learning point of view. I have found a good amp set up not to loud with a touch of reverb and delay and a good loop pedal. This way you get to learn what chord progressions work well with simple licks and runs. Pedals are always the way to go. A small pedal board set up makes playing a lot more fun. Easier to find your favourite tones. I have a Boss ME25 multi effects unit, never use it still in the box.

Toyota Yaris. Bullet proof reliability. Cheap insurance and good residuals.

You have to admit though the views of the terraced garden were spectacular. I was more interested in the cellular concrete construction.

I got some mavic 6 bolt xm119 29er rims with deore hubs from bikediscount.de for about £100. They are reasonably light and have stayed true with my 96od kilos on em.

Put a new set of brushes in and enjoy another 18 yrs.

I’ll be getting shot of my 2.0 Tdi Yeti 4×4 in October. It’s been fine up until the emission fix was done this summer. I managed to put it off for over a year nearly until its annual service. Notably more re-gens and a lack of torque at low rpm. I’m thinking of buying second hand again. Mazda 6 2.5 Sport petrol estate is on the horizon. Old school but lovely to drive and fairly reliable. 10k a year so fuel costs shouldn’t be to high. The Yeti averages about 41 mpg.

Why not look at a Mazda 2. They have great engines and the auto’s are proper torque converter gearboxes. The VAG dsg low torque dry seven speed has had its problems. It’s being replaced by a new 7 speed wet unit that should be a lot more reliable.

Does one of the drive shafts have a bearing carrier. Long shot it could be the bearing if fitted on the Berlingo. If the synchros are worn wouldn’t it be awkward to change down the box? If it is the diff it could well last another 50k. They can get noisy with age but they don’t generally fail.

Increasing muscle at our age, I’m talking mid to late 40’s is probably more important than cardiovascular fitness. I’ve got an old tunturi puch rowing machine. It’s a torture machine. I do 20-30 minutes 2 times a week spring to Autumn. Ride 2-3 times a week. In the winter it’s reversed. I really notice if I miss a few sessions. Make sure you have recovery time scheduled in and get plenty of good quality protein in your diet.

I had a mk1 Vrs that used the mk4 gold platform. Also had a mk4 golf tdi estate. That chassis is the biggest pile of sh!t ever designed. Mk1 focus is a million times better. The Mk 5 might be better, in fact it can’t be worse that’s impossible, only a pallet with casters on each corner could be worse.

Evans Durham is my local go to for bits. They have a very good workshop in there. Mail order stuff is fine no probs. I got fitted up for a Norco Search. Spent a lot of time sizing different bikes and frame sizes with different stems. Shop is actually staffed by riders that always helps.

Feed the older dog first make the younger dog wait. Stop any fighting and let them know you’re top dog.

A work colleague of mine who is a mental fell runner and racer often recces a race and plants tinned mackerel on his route. I often put a tin in my backpack on longer rides. It really does work. Spicy tomato is best!

Very hard to stay relevant when the money rolls in and the accountants get involved. Edgy brilliant fresh 1st album. 2nd polished well produced but still relevant mega seller. 3rd and onwards commercial over produced banal sh!te.

I had a Scudo 2.0 jtd with steel bulkhead. I’ve never ridden as much since I sold it. Went everywhere in it, fast cheapish to run. 3 seats in the front. Do it if you want to ride more.

Full fat Milk is as effective as anything else.

Go to your local motorfactors if you have one and ask who they would recommend.

DPF Info[/url]
A handy guide with a good bit of info on DPF’s.
The 1.8 TDCi has a cam belt. It’s quite an old design and was used on the mk1 and 2 Focus as well. It’s quite an easy belt to change I did one on my dads focus. He has the 115bhp mk1 focus 2004 estate. It’s been the best car he’s ever had.

Regarding DPF’s you can get them cleaned by the Ceramex process costs about £300. This is the only one that has had any success so I’m told. Other methods are just snake oil.

If your Mondeo is a mk 4 and not a 1.8 it will have a DPF. Most cars have a dual mass flywheel these days. It’s the high torque from the diesels that wears them out. Petrols last much longer.

My Yeti has been done. 2.0 Tdi 4×4 140 Bhp or was. Noticeable lack of torque at the bottom end. More re gens of DPF than before. Ergo EGR valve having to work a lot harder. Over 1700 rpm it’s ok.I’m running mine on BP ultimate and shell V power so the symptoms may be worse on standard fuel. I’m not keeping mine after 3yr warranty runs out. The later 150 bhp manifold in head engine is much better.

The split might only open up when it’s trying to boost dumping the pressure. I think the ford part for mine was about £90. Hopefully that is all it is. Any warning lights on dash?

If you are looking at a Mazda diesel check the oil level if it’s high walk away. I.E Well over max it’s likely to have diesel in the engine oil.

Double post!