On the mountain bike my camelbak is less likely to get covered in animal poo where as my water bottle seems to attract every bit of crap on the trail, on the road this is less of a problem. If I can I’ll always ride with water bottles over a camelbak any day. (Poo permitting .)

Jimi Hendrix was once asked what it was like to be the best guitarist in the world. He said “I don’t know you’ll have to ask Rory Gallagher” High praise indeed. If ever a guitarist just lived to play guitar It was Rory. He is much missed. Dave Gilmour is no slouch, saw them on the Delicate Sound of Thunder Tour, one of the best concerts I’ve seen.

Find a good furniture restorer or upholsterer , they will use the materials and glues that may be needed to fix the shoes.

The closest decent rides to you probably start around Stokesley. There is a Darlington ride in the Durham Derek Purdy book but I think that is mainly farm tracks and back roads or as he calls them 3 ply with a bit of bridleway thrown in.

I have some conti vertical pro’s in 2.3 guise more like a 2.1 width. Not a bad tyre a decent all rounder.

From Spennymoor you can ride round the back of the waterworks to Tudhoe then down to Sunderland Bridge where you can join the bridleway from Shincliffe to Meadowfield, then you can access all the railway paths back to Bishop Auckland or go up to Esh and Tow Law or go along to Lanchester then up to Waskerly. You have some great riding on your doorstep.

Durham City here. Broom park for training rides up to the coast to coast and Waskerly. Tend to ride through and around Hamsterly on the moors (doctor’s gate) rather than on the planned routes. From Waskerly you can get to Blanchland and Slayley and then head east up around Hexhamshire Common. South of Durham you’ve got Guisborough and Rosedale and then you’re into the North York moors for some most excellent moorland singletrack. County Durham has the highest proportion of disused railway track (cycleway) in the country so it’s great for winter training when the normal trails etc are trashed or for a pootle with the kids.

Go for the most basic Bosch one and forget getting one with a tumble drier built in, they are pants.

My humble guess is that they are already printing and minting the new drachma and the banks are getting ready for when Greece leaves the Euro. The sad thing is I can see us sending food parcels to Greece before this is over. Politicians eh don’t you just love em!

To lose weight and just to get outside. Would probably ride just as much on the road as off road if the roads were safer. Just like bikes like tinkering with them. Rode lots when younger on a road bike got persuaded to go out with the young un’s at work on there 3k full sussers. It’s amazing what you can see when you’re out on the bike.

Just bought a large 59 to 63cm bontrager quantum from pedalon 38 quid free postage. Got 9 out of 10 in a recent Mbr review.

Isn’t Sabatier just an area in France like Sheffield is in the UK. We have a few Sabatier knives from different manufacturers. The best ones carry through into the handle ie all one piece, the cheaper ones have a separate handle. Our best one is a Lion Sabatier. Great knives.

Labs are great but can’t really be left for long periods, very sociable dogs. They eat anything and need a lot of exercise if you want to keep them trim. Another vote for a retired greyhound here. Great dogs, will sleep all day if need be. Ours great with kids and easily house trained. Quite barmy off the lead though in a playful way. Do miss our lab though!

PS don’t let anybody tell you they have no stamina, if they have been an ex racer they are fit as ****. Cat’s not a good idea as our moggy with half a tail will testify after living quite happily together for about a year!

The only negative things I’ve heard are that the wheel arches are prone to bubbling up with rust for some reason. Check them carefully if buying second hand. Mondeo’s don’t seem to suffer from this problem.

Buzz play in your rear hub? Mine did the same traced it back to play in the cones. One new cone kit later and the brakes are fine.

If you had driven an old SAAB 900 and compared It to a newer GM 900 they are a stellar shift difference. Yes they did change a few things but that was because the doner cars were so poor. They never could get the handling right on the later 900’s even modding the suspension. The 2.3 turbo high pressure engines are superb but the chassis could never handle the power. Even Saab engineers couldn’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear. I’m lucky that i have had the pleasure of owning a real Saab, its a real shame that its come to this. Long live the T16!

I had what I would call a proper Saab. A T16 Aero with 238k on it when I sold it to a friend who lovingly restored it. The diesels are GM units and are not that reliable. The petrol units are great but very thirsty. It amazes me when people spout MPG figures on this forum taken straight from their trip computer’s. Your speedo reads high thus your milometer reads high thus your MPG is higher. Use your sat nav to work out your miles then use the pump to tell you how much fuel is in the car then work it out. Then panic when you realise it’s nowhere near what you thought! Seriously I loved older Saab’s but the newer ones bless em are not Saab’s at all. It all started going wrong when they brought in the newer 900, ah hateful cars. There are still some good 9000 aero’s about for not a lot of money.

Saab is a rebadged Astra/Vectra. The 1.9 Tdi isn’t renowned for it’s reliability. I would go for a Mondeo or Passat if it was my money. I’ve got the Mondeo TDCI 130 so I may be a little biased. Check Honest John for Reviews from himself and other owners then make up your mind if you still want one. Octavia is still a good choice but smaller than both of these. All Diesels can have issues with DMF’s, DPF’s and injection systems to be honest. I’m doing nearly 20K a year so the fuel cost savings at the moment are quite considerable.

All batteries will discharge over time if only used for short runs 3 times in a month. I recall it takes about 15 to 20 mins of running over 2000rpm to put the charge back in the battery that it takes to start it. Diesels have a higher compression ratio and take a lot more current out of the battery. I would run it a bit and see how it goes although the battery is probably mullered by now. With the ABS the sensor works usually by picking up a signal from a ring on the outer CV joint. This is usually a ring of raised lugs. This can sometimes split sending an error code to the ABS unit. Also make sure it isn’t moving, the sensor that is. Good luck.

Tj you can’t really compare Scotland’s education system to the rest of the UK as its light years ahead of the crappy system we have in England and Wales. My wife having gone through the Scottish system and myself through the comprehensive experiment in the 80’s I know which one I’d rather be educated by.

Muckboots are the dogs danglers, supreme comfort and great practicality. I had the esk ones that the Norwegian army used. Good enough for them good enough for me.

Sounds to me like they’ve been eating grass, some people think they eat it cos they want to vomit not true that’s just a side effect. They eat it because it contains vitamins that they need in there diet. Obviously what goes in must come out. Our lab ate grass non stop in the spring and all of the wife’s hostas, runner beans, cabbages, lettuce in fact half the veg patch! She was so annoying but I miss her every day.

Sounds to me like it could be the relay latching on when the doors are opened and the ignition is turned on or off. That would be my first port of call to do with the wiring. The courtesy lights come on every time you get in the car and every time you get out, that’s a lot of switching. Hopefully its just wear and tear of the contacts.

What about a Volvo D5 estate. Plenty of specialists around, very safe kiddie carriers, Audi engine I believe plenty of pull and capable of high miles.

The most unreliable 4×4 is apparently the A6 AllRoad. Self leveling suspension seems a real problem and is big money to fix. I’d look at a Subaru Legacy, very reliable but fuel costs can be a bit on the high side.

You could go for a good all season Tyre. I fitted some khumo kh 21’s on my wifes focus estate. Great Tyre just fit and forget. Superb in all but the worst snow. Fine in the wet and couldn’t really notice any drop in performance in the summer. Wear rate slightly higher due to softer compound, more silica to keep them grippy in freezing conditions.

Ken Dodd is still the man. 3 hrs if your lucky of laugh out loud silliness. The only gig I’ve been to that I needed a packed lunch and had to cancel the taxi home cos he just doesn’t stop!

My call would be edmundbyers via slayley woods and bolts law. Can have some excellent riding around there even when its wet, in fact its often better when the water is a flowing!

The series one td4 was a BMW engine up to 2006 with permanent 4wd. The freelander 2 has a pug engine and a haldex diff on demand 4wd. The beemer series one is the one to have apparently if your an enthusiast as with all landy’s there are snags to ownership etc.

The only other sport that gets close to tennis for its sheer difficulty for me anyway is the decathlon. When you are on that court you’re on your own. No team mates to mop up your mistakes or take the blame. Its a very lonely sport that requires exceptional mental toughness. It would appear that Murray by his demeaner after the match has realised this hopefully and should now have the ability to progress.

Nothing thuggish about rugby. They are all things considered a well behaved bunch with respect for the referee.

Tennis is bollocks compared to what? There are not many sports that combine as many skills as a tennis player needs all rolled into one. Rather watch a good tennis match than a bunch of overpaid thugs kicking a ball about.

Murray playing in an era of possibly the greatest 4 tennis players of all time loses in a thrilling five sets to the world number one. No shame at all. At least he’s made progress since last year. He may never win a grand slam.

Good luck mate stay safe.

Simple solution throw your smartphone down the toilet cancel your twitter and Facebook accounts and get a life :wink:

Golf mk4 1.9tdi 90bhp circa 120k for 2k. No DPF and no DMF. Bullet proof and will run to 200k if serviced. I had the estate and while not being the best handling car it was economical and reliable.

Don’t believe the hype, the press hated rover but the cars were not that bad. We ran a 216 for 8 yrs. Handled as well as a focus but was much faster. One spring, one radiator a clutch and a head gasket the latter being the most expensive. Cheap as chips to fix. The Tourer is a great car, BMW diesel engine pre dpf. Its already Retro so it does’nt look dated. I would of bought one but the towing capacity was’nt as much as the mondeo. Just about the best value diesel estate you could get. Or you could just revert to singletrack type and get the obligitory passat or octavia. Yawn.

Never burn your bridges. A simple letter thanking them and wishing them well for the future etc. Then get the hell out! You never know what the future may bring or who knows who. Grass isn’t always greener.

One thing that you will notice compared to a manual is that it will eat brakes. My big Honda accord Tourer loved the things every 10 to 12 months. Very relaxing to drive in traffic and with cruise its weird when it changes up itself to resume. I would have another if I was doing a lot of motorway miles. More reliable than a DMF and can handle big torque’s.

Scudo 2.0 jtd. 3 seats and 3 bikes easy in line front to back. Fast and loads of torque. Makes owning and riding a pleasure.