Time available, timing, budget and confidence in 4×4 driving are your constraints… (and willingness to camp v. stay in lodges, be cooped up 5 in the cab of a rented 4×4 for hours, etc.).

I would choose Botswana (obviously), plan to arrive in Maun and work from there.

Possible itinerary if self-driving and camping:

• Maun for a night or two to test camping gear and collect supplies
• Night in Moremi (or direct to Savuti)
• Night in Savuti
• Night in Chobe NP or Kasane (Kasane would give you opportunity for pro-guided game viewing – well worth it)
• Day Trip to Victoria Falls
• Transit the Caprivi Strip to the Okavango panhandle
• Plan a night near Shakawe to avoid night-driving
• Tsodilo Hills and camp or day-visit and camp at one of the riverside lodges between there and Gumare
• Return to Maun – allow plenty of time: the road and animals on the road were a fatal risk protocol when we were building a mine in that area
• Further options in/around Maun:
  • Okavango scenic flights or 1-2 night fly-in if you are loaded (I think we did Oddballs Camp last time).
  • Drive down to Gweta and a night on the Makgadkigadi Pans
  • Fatbikes at Sitatunga Camp/Delta Rain Safaris (they might also be able to plan a whole itinerary for you, with a guide/driver and equipment – make it clear you want to help pitch camp, cook etc.)

You can also drive between serviced lodges in the national parks, but they are generally pricey albeit impeccable service, professional guides etc.

The new advertising algorithms are working well.

Naturally I’m biased…

If it’s a mix of safari and water you are after I reckon 10 days in Botswana would satisfy you, although the fancy camps can be pricey so budget might be stretched.

Borders are still closed, but camps are operating for citizens, and there is hope that government health and tourism departments can work out protocols to receive international visitors when intercontinental leisure travel resumes.

My thoughts:
– fly to Maun via Johannesburg
– couple of nights in Makgadkigadi or Nxai Pans (maybe 3 nights if you can loop in Kubu Island)
– night or two in Maun
– couple of nights in Okavango (Oddballs was not too expensive, makoro rides and bush walks)
– couple of nights in Kasane (various riverfront hotels, or Chobe Chilweru for a treat, river cruises and game drives twice a day, luxury spa on site)
– possibly a hop over to Victoria Falls day trip or overnight
– Kasane/Vic Falls return to Johannesburg and onto your night flight home (or a couple of days of city-life exploring Sandton and Soweto)

We did a self-drive road trip with friends from UK passing through Kubu Island, Nxai Pan, Okavango Delta, and Kasane in 6 days, they went on to Vic Falls and South Africa before heading home.

Most of the lodges in Maun could assemble an itinerary for you, and either arrange kitted-out vehicle for self-drive or a semi-serviced option with driver/guide where you pitch in with setting tents and cooking.

Delta Rain – Sitatunga is just outside Maun, the owner rides and they have or had fat bikes for exploring along the river.

I buy the thick car ones, tear them longitudinally into thin ones then cut in half along the length.

One car size plug becomes ~20 bicycle size.

Obviously an outlier judging by the above, my experience is that when properly pointy things embed themselves in a tyre then the movement between tyre and tube is enough for the embedded pointy bit to keep the hole open which leads to your sealant migrating into the tube-tyre zone and the air in the tube returns to atmospheric pressure.

Darebee

I’ve been enjoying Lannister, Power Abs, Iron Maiden, Crop Top and Upper Body Forge.

Not sure about age ranges or Xbox availability but Ratchet and Clank, and Rayman franchises have been favourites with my 10yr+ kids.

Platform style and there is some blasty-blasty, but in good humour and the cooperative multiplayer modes seem to be attractive.

Thorns in tyres were what sent me tubeles[/url]s.

Split inner tube worked for me. The foam in the rim makes the tyre bead tighter, so goes up easier, and might reduce the chances of burping.

How different are grinders from macerators?

My Googling hasn’t given me a clear answer, and there seems to be some overlap in suppliers’/manufacturers’ terminology.

For example this one claims better performance on fibrous materials than a macerator, and then describes “blades.”

I know that pedantry is not in the spirit of bimbling, but animal spotting surely is.

I saw some sort of Ibis or Impala in the wild animal park. I waved, it stared.

Ibis

Impala

Give bikes not kites.

As per Straightliner, pyramids are fun and so many variations.

After warming up take your race pace for a given distance (mine is about 2:00/500m over 5km, similar to you) and then do a cadence pyramid: 1km @ 28spm, 1km @ 24spm, 1km @ 20spm, 1km @ 24spm, 1km @ 28spm. Or vice versa 20/24/28/24/20. At lower cadences you need a much more explosive movement to maintain the speed.

Speed pyramids with constant cadence (do the routine at different cadences on different days): 2:10/500m, 2:05, 2:00, 2:05, 2:10 (subtract 5 seconds and or increase the step distance as you develop).

Interval pyramids of 1:55 for 500m, 2:10 for 500m, 1:55 for 1000m, 2:10 for 1000m etc.

Signup to Concept2’s Workout Of The Day for additional inspiration.

Edit to add: try different resistances as well, the control required at lighter resistances makes things interesting.

Another edit to add: I’m using mine (Concept2) mainly for cardio purposes with resistance around 5, but my shoulders and core definitely benefit from it and I’m far from becoming The Hulk.

Builder’s expansion/movement joint foam in the rim-recess and a split tube over the top for me[/url].

Sealant in tubes was a failure because the thorns wobble around keeping the hole open and letting the sealant ooze out into the tube-tyre zone.

After 3,000km the tyres are now more like Emmental, a goodly number of plugs too where the holes were too big for slime (or occurred at times of low slime).

Right… this post is going to be based on what I’ve read/experienced with the Audi Multitronic CVT (mine has almost 300,000km on it, and I rather like it), but I don’t have a fast enough internet to compare it to the Honda.

I’m also assuming it isn’t a broken belt.

First thing is to check the OBD fault codes: you can get Bluetooth dongles that do the basics, hopefully the gearbox is classed as a basic function.

Can the internet confirm how many of the gearbox functions are physical (through the cable, e.g. P lock) compared to electronic (switches and sensors)? Gear ratio and the clutch pack seem to be entirely electronic on mine. Maybe a switch or position sensor has failed and the brains have failed-safe dumping the ‘box in neutral?

When stopping mine there is an automated clutch (no torque converter) that disengages the drive. I know for a fact that mine is getting worn and slipping because getting out of basement car parks is becoming a challenge. Could it be that the clutch pack or actuator has failed?

If you’re on a chariot the Fosse Way will get you as far as Leicester.

This was the “time to spare” option, but not with a chariot.

A46, A433, A429, A46, M69, M1, M62 was the chosen route when going West Wiltshire to Bradford if I remember correctly. 20 years ago, mind so traffic might be a bit different now.

Vaguely scenic across the Cotswolds, too. But if you’re in Bath you’d likely know that already.

(I started typing an hour ago and got distracted by work, hence being overtaken)

Are they driving Toyota’s?

Yes, apparently.

Al Thalab Long Range Patrol Vehicle[/url]

Conveyor belts? Who needs them?

…and just had a look at the Dqae Qare setup – it looks reasonable and would give you a cultural fix with probably the most fascinating tribe in the region.

You’d be able to get there on a Maun-Ghanzi bus and then either look for lifts Ghanzi-Windhoek for Namibia or back to JHB via Gaborone.

Also, a local SIM card costs peanuts and makes arrangements a breeze.

You don’t mention which country/countries you have on your itinerary, or your time limits.

As BillMC says it’s not difficult to make your own arrangements if you don’t mind working to bus schedules.

If Southern Africa is on your mind then flying JHB -> Kasane or Vic Falls/Livingstone would be a good start.

– A day at Vic Falls/Livingstone and road transit to Kasane in the evening (or day trip from Kasane), morning/all day game drive and evening boat cruise in Kasane
– Early morning bus to Nata so as to connect with lunchtime bus to Maun (possible night or two in Gweta (Planet Baobab, Gweta Lodge) or Nata (Nata Lodge – on the Francistown road, ask and the bus will stop there) for the salt pans)
– If you want to splash cash then 2 nights at Oddballs Camp is recommended – nice flight over the Okavango with guided bush walks and mekoro cruise in the middle of the Okavango, otherwise a day trip into the bottom of the Okavango from somewhere like Old Bridge Backpackers, Okavango River Lodge or an independent guide
– Find a lift through to Namibia (not sure about buses, could also check air charters if they have spare seats on an ad hoc basis) to do Windhoek and Swakopmund (sand dunes).

If you are the type that can strike up conversations with strangers then the bus journeys will probably be more sociable and culturally enlightening than a night in somebody’s hut. It’s just the random drunks, beggars and slightly unhinged that are a nuisance around bus stops and shopping centres.

I’m a bit hazy on prices but shouldn’t be more than gbp70/day for typical rooms, then add excursions.

What are the benefits to the children from having UK citizenship?

Something to be aware of is that (as far as I am aware) long term British expats don’t qualify for free treatment on the NHS and are treated as overseas’ applicants when applying for higher education.

The only good thing is that a UK passport makes travel easier.

At the risk of receiving a whoosh parrot, Red Arrows’ smoke trails are… diesel smoke (with a bit of pigment to look pretty). Bit like driving a TDI with knackered injectors.

(Spoiler: it’s steam.)

So my breath on a cold morning is >100C?

Weatherlink software is (was?) primitive and needs (needed?) you to have a PC running all the time if you want to upload to a weather service, e.g. Weather Underground, Met Office, etc. (my feeds are sporadic due to crap data coverage).

I bought a WeatherlinkIP[/url] after a while (also acts as a data logger, so you might have it already), this connects your console and logger directly to the Davis website through an ethernet cable connected to your router. In theory. For some reason my station wouldn’t connect to their servers and their tech support showed no interest in resolving the problem – you may have better results from the civilised world.

I’m now running weewx[/url] on a Raspberry Pi – takes some command line/text editor bashing of config files if you want to do more complicated things but its not too difficult. There is an active Google group for support.

I grew up there. Look where I ended up….

CountZero has it, it’s a good centre for a whole lot of stuff – off-road (through Lacock to Heddington and over to the Ridgeway, into the woods between Bradford-on-Avon and Bath) and on-road (Chippenham Wheelers was our club – time-trials, club rides and audaxing mainly to the north over the M4).

Consider the villages Shaw, Whitley, Atworth, Gastard, Neston if you like a bit more countryside living(and pubs).

Not a million miles to South Wales, Mendips, Exmoor…

Job opportunities?

If I had to move back there it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Edit to add: I don’t know where you live now but I suggest watching Hot Fuzz and Midsomer Murders as a primer.

Rather amusingly (I’m easily pleased) both footflaps’ and blastit’s shredders appear to come out of the same factory as my Ryobi RGS1500R.

Ryobi shredders

First one I bought was the same as footflaps’, it died a horrible death from being overfed – jammed and burned-out the motor despite supposedly having thermal cutout.

The RGS1500R that I use has a steel body (the others are plastic) and 3 feed points: oblique on the side for thicker stuff (struggles above 20-25mm), direct-down for medium stuff (<10mm) and a hopper for clippings or re-feeding.

It often runs for 3-4hrs at a time disposing of hedge cuttings: it does seem to struggle with damp/fresh greenery (the outlet bungs up due to stickiness) and can bog down if over fed with thick pieces (feed little and often). Listen for it struggling and watch that stuff is still falling out the bottom – switch off in either case and clean/de-bog and it will do fine.

Shovelling the shreddings into a compost bin isn’t so difficult.

Even if you tease the end of the big one open with a knife, starting to slice it lengthways?

The ones I have seem pretty solid/dense at first but once you get the first piece loose they are like a rubbery rope with the strands spiralling along the length.

ETA: 2? 4? Amateurs.

(Yes, slime filled, but it can only do so much.)

The motorcycle/car ones are made up of lots of skinny ones lightly glued together.

If you pick at the end of a big one you will find the small ends, pull along the length and then cut in half for extra yield.

For what it’s worth the site is now scrolling again without any prophylaxis.

NoScript has reported 89 and 122 active scripts at various points during this evening…

First time I’ve ever been hit with what seems like an ad related issue:

Laptop with Firefox 45.0.1 on Win7.

With Ad***** off (my default setting for STW) the site loads 224 scripts (according to the count in NoScript, and I allow them all) but since this morning I have no ability to scroll.

As far as I can tell the page has finished loading (took 5 minutes for the rotating tab icon to clear) so I don’t think there is a failed popup anywhere (in fact I have never had popups on STW).

I have now turned Ad**** on and the site is working fine.

I use used to use =ROUNDUP(C2*2,1)/2 but I’m liking dmorts’ and molgrips’ solutions.

I’ve been using RowPro (currently v4.000 on a Win7 laptop) for >5yrs, I reckon it’s worth the money.

Interface isn’t the greatest, the 3D graphics are basic and it sometimes fails to start (Task Manager -> manually stop the RPEng process).

On the good side: pre-programmed intervals (just checked, I’ve been saving the good ones from the Workout of the Day), custom intervals, graphs showing performance and target zones (pace, cadence, HR), training plan generator, online racing, ability to export workouts to SportTracks and thence to Endomondo.

You can get a license key for a 20-day free trial period at the Digital Rowing site[/url].

How reliable is your computer in a damp garage? :-)

Turtles float, so presumably it’s swimming in something pretty dense.

Where’s that jar full of mercury? I want to have a look inside.

As an avid childhood reader of W.E. Johns my mind links the aforementioned Beaufighter with the Consolidated B-24 Liberator in some particularly exciting piece of derring-do – possibly in Borneo.

How old is Gti Jnr?

If you go ahead with trip then be aware that South Africa has chosen to make life a but harder for families visiting on holiday.

You might already know about it, but a lot of people have been caught out.

UK driver’s side, next to the headlamp, any higher and it would be a snorkel.

Get yourself over to Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science forums and look up the currently running “Stupid Questions” thread (direct linking avoided to reduce bottery).

Some of the pedantry over there makes STW look like distinctly slapdash, and it is evidence-based.

Oh, and Ben’s books are pretty good.

Edit to add: there’s currently some suggestion that to get the full benefit of large quantities of fish-oil you should have the genes and lifestyle of an Inuit[/url].

NewRetroTom: almost but not quite.

You (and your SPOT) need to be in the footprint of a satellite as per the coverage map at SPOT website. When I was looking into coverage a few years ago they were using the Thuraya network which, at the time, didn’t have reliable coverage below Mozambique/Zambia. It seems like they now use Globalstar with a much wider coverage.

I ended up with a YB[/url] (previously Yellowbrick, but copyright issues followed by release of flying monkeys) running on Iridium. As well as a pre-programmed emergency notification list it allows for two-way SMS so if you are still conscious you can explain your predicament.

Will the turbine run on LPG?

In which case you can chill your beer at the same time[/url] (It was probably STW that led me to that in the first place).

Would you be thinking about Mashatu Game Reserve[/url]?

I’ve only heard good things about the place, and you definitely ride in among the animals as it is a private concession. Nice landscape and not too sandy.

YouTube may contain spoilers.

There’s also a fleet of fat-bikes on the fringes of the Okavango Delta, contact Delta Rain[/url] and ask for Gerald. Not too many animals around their base camp though, and not sure if they ride out into wilderness areas. Very sandy.

In your position I think I’d want to do a bit of bike and a bit of something else: consider a few days at Mashatu to get a biking fix then go up to Maun (public transport, buses aren’t too bad… honest) and either a mobile camping tour with the likes of Delta Rain or book direct with Oddballs for a fly-in Okavango experience.