I know all about the jumping ahead mentality. Being an alpinist, I am confident with being (being not skiing) in mountainous off piste terrain but you're right I need to improve on piste to enjoy it more. Skinning up a 4000m peak is easy,getting down however takes me nearly as long! Cheers.

Ply line then 'contract' brillo esque dark grey carpet from local carpet wholesalers?

Our berlingo van (when we had it sob sob) came with a citroen rubber mat designed specifically for the van. As I ply lined it as above, it only wnet in the van when we were carting really dirty stuff around and not sleeping in the van as it had ridges and was uncofortable to kneel on etc.

Tried the Ace Races. Lots of mincing around talking about kit. Not that different to mountain bikers or climbers etc.

However I do refer to them as Buff Wearing Buffons , and the whole format seems very contrived 'adventure'. Prefer the idea of KIMM (now OMM) etc to a typical adventure race format. But lots of people seem to enjoy adventure racing. At least I can now take the pee out of my firends having tried several.

Isn't metatbief in The Jura?

When you say 'The Alps' do you mean Morzine, Chamonix etc? If so that's the Northern Alps. Southern Alps gets far better weather, Grenoble and South. This includes Juan's Queyras. We had a great time with our 6 month old son camping around La Barcelonette. Great road riding, great hiking etc. But very outdoors based. It might be your familys thing, it might not! 'Beaches' on Serre Poncon reservoir nearby. Around La Barcelontte you're not that far form Provence, but still up high ish. Provence Alpes in fact…

google Heeley Stairparts in Sheffield

<deleted due to overtly smug post concerning our exceedingly good value wedding in France> :lol:

It's true you can give wated melted from snow a 'burnt' taste. I speak from experience, also in Greenland and other places. It seems a bit like scorching the snow, it goes from cold to very hot too quickly.

old pug 205. Buth the fave of ski bums in the alps: old style 4 x 4 Panda.
My Citroen C15 van was pretty good too. Anything with narrow wheels.

Jané Powertrack.
Not small, but 3 proper wheels and comes with a car bed rather than a maxi cosy. Sooo much better all round for longer journeys.

there is a bunkhouse (at least one) in Aviemore, and many more in surrounding areas such as Newtonmore etc.

was the bad sound metal on metal etc, only when driving, or when stationary as well? From that you can isolate wheter it's the driving system so to speak, or the 'engine'

Some of Mrs Mugsy and I. Better late than never…

I can prob find it on our technical indexes online subscription.
'TR58' is returning nothing, but I've found 'Technical Report 58 Deflection in concrete Beams in Slabs' which i guess is it?

let me know your e-mail and I'll fire a pdf across

can't help but remember when I was working in a geotechnical consultancy in London. We used to go the pub every friday nights and some week nights too. Every time it ended back at the boss house or in a club. these nights were fuelled by alcohol and Class A usually.

one friday night back at the bosses' place, we ended up all striping stark naked and taking it in turn to run down his street carrying an umbrella.

Monday morning in the office we all carried on as usual.

ONe other night four of us (2 girls and 2 guys) ended up in an upmarket club in Coven garden. We ended piled up on a sofa, snogging each other in turns. got thrown out.

Ah, happy memories. I now live in France where the christmas party is a very posh meal with wine but saddly everyone is fairly well behaved.

Mrs Mugsy

why would you want to go and stay in a ski resort in summer?

Much nicer, natural, village, plces to stay in the surrounding area .

That's how Norman Croucher lost his legs in the 60's.

mos gets the best present! Good luck fella.

I'm getting something from Walz Caps from Mrs Mugsy. The joys of joint bank accounts and internet banking!

Where are you based RHSno2? I was out touring last weekend in the Belledonne.
Interested to see how I can use my Ski de rando to complement cycle training for road racing.

I need to finish a FFC road race this year!

It's one of the reasons I switched to contact lenses.
Much less faff and much more comfortable, better all round vision.

I rode off with my glasses on the tank many times after filling up.
Used to be a major pain in the bum in winter esp frosty mornings evenings in the fog etc.

Building regs not wholly appropriate, as Juan is in the south of France.
But they could serve as a useful guide, and then something to start the fire with.

I see Yamaha now do a re born Tenere.

OMG is this still going.
TINAS: Are you female?

Tandem Jeremey idea of a Transalp is sensible idea, as is say an Africa Twin. TJ is hitting the nail on the head.

If you want a single, then go XT600 for a good old round compromise (main prob would be motorway stuff: transalp, africa twin etc better at this). If you want smaller more offraodable get a DR350, if you can find one in rght cond for money.

I'd be dubious of a single any bigger than a 660cc. DR600's were ok, but you'd get a much newer XT (in whatever guise)for the money. Dan Walsh from bike rode XT round the world. I know of a group who took DR350's round the world.

use http://www.mappy.fr to work out the toll prices.
From Norwich (I come from North Walsham originally….), have you considered the Harwich ferry? might be able to get a night crossing stragiht after work then drive down through Holland. This can work out cheaper and easier: roads better on the continent than the patched up track that is the M20, and fuel potentailly cheaper too.

Calais or Boulogne to Lyon is 8 hours, whatever we do, however we do it, whatever we do it in: ranging from a C15 van (chug a chug a chug) to a turbo diesel estate. We used to do it a while as my wife is from Lyon, but now we're here, and if we go back to UK we fly as it's just for a weekend.

Glandon descending. Scary.

Yamaha XT,
But maybe a newer one than the XT500. I really like them too, but they are classic money now. XT600 has been going on in various disguises for a long time now. Green lanes ok, not sure about serious off road like you were talking about in your previous thread though. XT350?

Actually, considered a DR350? They are supposed to be actually quite good off road. Pigs to start when hot though. Old man had a DR600 when they first came out and it was a bit of a beast.

KLX650 supposed to be ok off road. KLR650 less so, but good fun on backlanes.

agree with Trio. That's how I do it for our site compunds in the middle of nowhere.

'nation of shop keepers'. The source of this is Cherry Aspley Garrad, in 'The Worst Journey in the World' unless anyone knows of an earlier place it's written.

Nice literary link there!

32..I think, never sure the exact year… errm yeah that's right . 32.
Chartered Engineering Geologist

I reckon the isofix thing is over rated, but have no experience of it

Why aren't car beds more common in the UK for babies upto around 6 months.
We had one, defo way forward as baby can lie down in the car and sleep, when you get there, you can leave baby in car bed and use it as a moses basket. Much better than a maxi cosy thing.

Serotta = money no option

Glider Tupelo Ti, from cyclefit in London is ti frame made by Serotta but Glider badged. Still not cheap though, and more of a trad, rather than compact frame design.

http://www.cyclefit.co.uk

hmmm. Scratches chin. Used to be lots of XTZ660 engines being used in singles racing.

Don't CCM do a cafe racer thumper build these days? ahh yes: http://www.ccmmotorcyclesuk.com/cr-40/cr-40.html

If it's tiled over then the tiles will take the moment/load of the barcket, reducing the risk of punching through the plasterboard?…
maybe.

Don't forget service costs. When I had my SV650 (bleary eyed looking away into the distance)the costs to service compared to the Bandit was a realy eye opener. The bandit engine is a much more labour intensive unit to service. Besides, who'd want a 4 when you could have a twin.

For a slightly different tack, considered a TRX850? should get a mint one for your cash, and they have soooo much torque (same engine as TDm but in a trellis sports bike frame a la 80's Dukes)

I used to get late appointment times at Hallamshire, I'm sure they were aorund 7pm. They wer very good

We got through 2500l last year Oct-Oct, mostly Oct-Apr in our oh so rustic french rental house…and we still froze.

However that says more about the quality of the house's air tightness and thermal mass than the advantages/ dsadvantages of oil.

My parents have it in the UK and don't seem to suffer any inconveniences.

alex222 who are you?

I'm Dan, ex member as of Oct last year as I moved away.

A girl chatted me up in a night club, by using the line 'my flat mate is Jo Blyth' …I had no idea who she was at the time. So I had to err <investigate>

My cousin was the real life partner of Graham Fellows who plays John Shuttleworth, and apparentoy he modelled some characters on my uncle.

IETR is the answer at Cadarache.

pfft I don't know, do you think my name is Mr. Heywood? (it is, just to explain this pointless seemingly non sencial response…)

You can in theory make a privat claim yourself against an insurance company. But there is a very high chance that they will take you seriously, and will determine that you are not due anyhting, or a fraction of what you are due etc. They think they can et away with that. However, a solicitor will make them act in a fully professional manner, and carry things out how they should be.#

That is my experience. Twice.