Give yourself a day or so to go to the bank (or you may need to go to more than one) to change your cash into small notes. Yes you’ll end up with a brick of cash, but some places along the way won’t be able to change the bigger notes.

If you can spare the time. Get the bus to Jiri and walk to Lukla. It’s a great section of trail that is hardly used since the airport was built. People were so happy to see us in the tea shops/bunk houses, and the food along that section of trail was the best by far.

Having witnessed the crash in the video above first hand I was glad we hadn’t flown in, what it doesn’t show is the 12 or so guys and 2 ropes they used to clear the plane from the runway…. however we chose to fly out and our plane took off about an hour after they extracted the crashed one from the wall!

Finally, again if you have the time, come down to lukla via Gokyo and the sacred lakes. Stunning bit of trail, fewer crowds the main Everest route and the lakes (all slightly different colours) are stunning.

Mine seem a bit late to get going this year… luckily I still have a good stash of scotchies in the freezer from last year so I won’t be suffering withdrawals any time soon!

Bill Bailey

Can someone summarise? 😛 – bookmarked for lunchtime!

Good indoor climbing centre nearby in Gloucester (The Warehouse) – good place to meet up with fellow climbers. http://www.the-warehouse.co.uk/%5B/url%5D

travelling for a couple week with 2 sisters from Wisconsin I met in Florence

You don’t seriously expect to leave it there do you…come on…

That’s quite another story, probably not suitable for a “family” forum 😉

In my early 20s I did the Inter-railing thing and end up travelling for a couple week with 2 sisters from Wisconsin I met in Florence. Exchanged a few emails in the following months and that eventually petered out.

5 years later I was in New York for work. Stood in Grand Central station doing a bit of sightseeing and I get a tap on the back. Took me a while to register but it was one of the afore mentioned sisters.

One of those “Small World” moments – I’ve often wonder what the odds were on that chance meeting.

High mode 300 lumens? 3hrs
Normal mode 100 lumens? 8hrs
Low mode 50 lumens?18hrs
Hyper Constant mode 300/50 lumens?11hrs
Flashing mode 50 lumens?60hrs

I use the hyper constant in the day and mainly the normal at night (unlit canal tow path)

I really rate my Cateye Volt 300. Can be had for around 30 quid if you shop about. USB rechargeable so can just plug into my computer at work if it’s low. Has 3 levels of brightness and 2 flashing modes (one standard on/off and the other pulsing) Feels solid in the hand and well made.

not the most glowing reviews though.

South East – but close to the ferry if you land in Roslaire – search for Bree Mtb on facebook.

Exmoor? There’s plenty of excellent natural trails to explore around the Lynton/Porlock/Horner wood/Dunkery Beacon area, I guess that’s about an hours drive from Barnstaple. There will be stuf on Exmoor closer but I’m not too familiar with the SW part of it.

Or, I reckon you could probably get to the Quantocks in about 1hr 20 if the traffic’s good. Plenty around those parts to keep you busy for a few hours!

Haldon forest (Exeter way) has a small trail centre – the blue/red routes are okish for an hours entertainment, but there’s supposed to be some good off piste stuff too.

If downhill is more your thing then there’s Gawton Gravity hub, probably an hour and a half away.

I’d offer to show you around but I have my folks down this weekend and they are not quite as cool about me disappearing when they’ve come to visit!

Warm fuzzy feeling? Probably wind burn! 😉

although the 12 is perfectly good and probably better value for money

Appleton 21 year old

agreed

Ah, I used to Kitesurf at Newgale a lot, beautiful spot. It’s a bit of a travel, but I can highly recommend Blast Kiteboarding based in Porthcawl. Marc is a great teacher and takes real pride in getting people up and riding safely. There’s a good group of kitesurfers (many taught by Blast) who use the beaches around that area that all look out for each other.

never too old to kitesurf, there was a guy I used to see in west Wales who had a hip replacement in his late 60s and still managed to get out!

Great idea to learn how to fly a kite before taking on the sea, it’ll really make things a lot easier.

The HQ beamers are a great kite, I started on a 3.6m – however, as much fun as they are it won’t be long before you get bored and be looking out to the guys and gals on the water!

Where abouts are you based? I might be able to recommend a great school for lessons.

Legend… that’s the one. Thanks a million 🙂

thanks, but I don’t think that is the one – anyone else?

thanks, will give it a go then – at least I have something other than my own ineptitude if it doesn’t work 🙂

R63SG – Try mine as I won’t need it

“look at this idiot I spotted on the tube today…. clearly trying to make eye contact, bloody tourists”

isn’t that a line from an Artic Monkeys song 😉

I can highly recommend the Voodoo Bizango

This review hits the nail on the head http://www.mbr.co.uk/reviews/hardtail/voodoo-bizango-29er-review-2013

Was it wearing hi-viz and appropriate lights? If not it was clearly asking for it.

I’ve dropped you an email 🙂

My other half works as a project manager for a environmental remediation company. (Cleaning up domestic oil spills mainly) I’d say she’s about 50/50 office/site. She seems to do lots of unpaid overtime as I barely see her. Quite complex/technical environmental and building issues to deal with. Bit of pressure to hit invoicing targets every month (although she smashes these regularly and has been made a “senior” quicker than anyone else in the company ever has – so progression very much linked to all that unpaid hard work) What part of the country are you based in?

pearl izumi convert

This any good to you? 20ish quid in medium yellow/black – thought it was worth a punt myself… couldn’t find many reviews – will report back when it arrives

Gokyo lake, Everest region.

http://www.mappedometer.com

9, but will be reduced considerably when i take a spin on the cx bike later… In fact i’m “working hard” on my route right now. 😉

cheers, will have a look

My recent purchase came with one… however the gears needed re-indexing out of the box so the tick next to gears checked was questionable

got mine from tredz when they had the money off codes running so bagged mine for £590… I would have happily paid an extra £30 for it to have turned up in an decent box and not requiring the gears re-indexing!

Got mine at the start of the week so only put in a handful of miles.

Pedals swapped for M-520s straight away, I think the saddle will be the next thing to go. Other than that I’m really happy with mine… and looks absolutely stunning in the flesh!

beaten to it

Two things that got me back running injury free (after multiple injuries probably down to over training)

1) build up mileage slowly and all at a very easy (almost painfully easy) pace until you get to your desired weekly mileage (before you even think about speed work etc)

2) every 3 or 4 weeks, have a cut back week when you drop your mileage down a little allowing your body to recover and absorb the previous 3 weeks running.

I have an Garmin FR220, which I rate very highly (I bought a chest strap HR monitor)

The new FR230 looks to be identical with the inclusion of HR measured via the wrist.

cheers