Did a loop between Rockford and Lynton, taking in Sparrows Walk etc and taking in Countisbury Hill twice. A most excellent day with fine weather and surprisingly little mud other than a gloopy section near Wilsham. It really is a fantastic area…

Ooh, maybe I should look at an alternative – perhaps the area around Selworthy and Wootton (although I’d imagine that may be a bit soggy)

Did Stone Lane as part of an out and back yesterday.

Think I’ll revisit the area between Lynmouth and Badgeworthy Water with the run down into Rockford…

Hodgynd – thanks for that route, it’s in an area I want to check out!
Fergal – …and this one’s on the list too, I met Stace in Torridon and he put me onto the Kenmore coffin route which is another excellent day out.

The attraction of the Highlands, apart from the epic riding, is also the landscape and the feeling that you’re somewhere special. Did KLL last trip and it was good, looking for more of the same natural stuff…
Aviemore and Deeside are appealing, not met Golfie or Comrie Croft – will check them out now.

Do you mean you weren’t aware you’d signed up to it because you blindly clicked at “Continue” boxes without reading them when you were buying your tunes?

I’m pretty sure I didn’t obviously sign up for a subscription to a package totally unsuited to my requirements I.e. a family package, considering I’m single! And the customer service stated “I can understand that you’ve not activated the Amazon Music Unlimited Family plan and you’d like to have a full refund.” – read into that what you will…

I’m not a big music fan but bought a few tunes for a road trip last summer. Not being a fastidious bank statement reader it took a few months to realise there was an unknown £15/mo Amazon Digital Services charge. I eventually figured it out to be a Prime Music Family Unlimited subscription I’d never heard of before never mind signed up to – a quick email to customer service and a no-quibble full refund was immediately offered…

Did the Marin today, not a regular here but seemed perfectly fine to me. The section between Dragons Tail and Endor is closed for felling, though, a diversion is in place. Snowdon certainly was snowy…

Drool…..

The point of my annoyance is that here in Blighty …

If you weren’t stopped by the police for the speeding offence (eg it was caught by speed camera), the vehicle’s registered keeper must be sent a notice of intended prosecution within 14 days.

…the fine is of little consequence.
I’m amazed we’re more efficient than the Boxheads in this matter!

I’d expect the Swiss to be efficient, but 10 weeks to generate a (presumably) digital speeding penalty – jeez, that’s glacial! Then there’s the 2 weeks it took to post me the notification… and should I fight the ticket there’d be insufficient time to return the attached form before another fine was imposed. Perhaps it’s a scheme to generate extra fines.

The penalty seems to have been generated by the local Stadt. How can they impose points on a foreign license, unless it’s done via our dvla.

It was my car with me driving it, the nice digital pic shows my mug clearly. Only a €20 fine for 13 k’s over the limit but paying the intl money transfer via my bank cost £4 (would’ve cost £9 to do it in branch or by phone).

Did the backpack-around-the-world-just-doing-it-as-I-went-along thing a good few years back but even 15months of that didn’t result in anything life changing, saw some awesome places mind…

:0(

My fave riding area of late has been around Hindhead, esp the Common and around Grayshott. Has the added advantage of the NT cafe at the Punchbowl too…

I did my basic+advanced in Koh Tao in ’03, and dived in a fair few other areas around SE Asia in the ensuing months. Agree with others above about doing the groundwork here as two weeks there will just fly by, Bangkok is an awesome city as they go and certainly worth at least a couple of days, and I’m not a city person!
Be warned though, diving can be addictive and subsequently expensive if you do 2-3/day…

Had a shortened Borrowdale Bash but still got soaked, mild out but pretty blowey.

Cheers folks, looks good in case I need to use it.

And a whole load cheaper to boot!
Guess this is the budget cuts in action.

St Luc in the Val d’Anniviers – the chemin des planets is nice and has a funicular to boot.
Or get up Bettmeralp and check out the Aletsch glacier – some lovely techy riding up there and back down to the Rhone valley (from the Eggishorn down to Fiesch is amazeballs)

I’m a fan of the central Dolomites especially around Cortina – some fantastic walking trails on the local topo maps but never had any negative comments from hikers. Falzarego Pass area is excellent too, but you really need a car to get around. For a dedicated holiday I’d certainly get a guide as I found a couple of trails were total duds and a waste of a day…

I’ve done a fair amount of checking out potential riding areas in the Alps and certainly found plenty of duds, just because the terrain’s lumpy doesn’t guarantee decent riding… saying that, the usual suspects are good for a reason!
In general I find Italy and Switzerland keeps me going back for more, Graubunden especially.

The Despicable’s are on hard rotation on the box at the weekends and just get watched – absolute genius…
I totally agree that the Minion Movie was a washout totally against expectations,the Shaun the Sheep movie just blew it away!
But DM3 is such a return to form

There’s some cracking trails in the Meribel valley, the Super Enduro from just below the Saulire lift is one I can name and the marked bike runs on the other side are ace too if you can handle DH stuff. I’d give the Courchevel valley a miss, though – doesn’t compare imho.

Found some good trails over by Lermoos/Ehrwald last year, with Garmisch lagging behind somewhat which was disappointing…
I too was a dweller around Sonthofen back in the day but haven’t found the area great for riding, yet want to check out the area between Oberstdorf and the Tannheimertal/Oberjoch.

We have a new guy at work
late 30’s seemingly rational chap, just casually mentioned his flat earth beliefs and various conspiracy theories – total conviction…

If you do Saalbach, have a couple of runs at Kaprun using the cable car to access the main valley descent – it’s a doozie!
Also recommend Solden in the Otztal / Cortina in the Dolomites , and then the obvious Garda which is justifiably excellent. All these places have uplift of some description…

Garda would suit as it’s not hugely high so likely snowfree, and loads of campsites too. Instead of Innsbruck I’d say Solden in the Otztal with a fantastic campsite. Davos in Switzerland is ace for riding with near free lift access and a campsite a few kms south, but snow might be lingering up top then.

Just checking out the os map and noticed a loop that involves the climb/carry up Ben Nevis to about the halfway point and a contour under the north face descending north west back towards the smelter/torlundy area… worthwhile?

*watching thread with interest, planning an Easter trip…*

Blimey, that’s a load of excellent responses and gives me plenty to mull over – thanks folks!

A Range Classic – I’m all a-quiver with excitement, this is going to be a great watch!

Pleased to find someone else here who enjoyed Klosters, that valley is one of my favourite areas in the Alps with a plethora of epic trails and free lift pass (the €10/day pass for the bike is still a bargain). Thanks for this expansive post – gives me ideas

Stroh 80 is really only recommend as an ingredient for baking/cooking etc but the 40 is lovely as is… Had to stop buying it on my recent Austrian trip as was getting too used to it 😯

Been running the Superstar El Plastique’s for 3 months in the Alps and are still going strong, despite my ham fisted riding… Will be getting another set when this pair eventually die.

Saw that brace of Ospreys fairly low over Kew Bridge mid-morning, first time I’ve seen one in the flesh/metal. Awesome sight and they were certainly getting everyone’s attention, understandable considering the racket they were generating – hardly a stealth airframe 🙄

Spent a bit of time in the area in my pre-riding days,if that’s the Mindelheimer klettersteig been over that ladder myself…
Rode there a couple of years back with the best trail I found ran from Riezlern along the north side of the valley across to Schwarzwasserhutte (just a building not a Hutte) and down to Baad. Apart from the Sollereckbahn I don’t recall any other lifts that take bikes. Oh, and you could take a hike a bike up to the Schrofenpass and look for a hikingtrail back down towards Einodsbach – they’re on the map but didn’t have the time on the day.

Curse of the Wererabbit is sheer class, as is most of Aardman’s output although Pirates was something of a disappointment for me.
I was sooo looking forward to the Minions movie, being a fan of the Despicable films, but this cast-iron laugh fest was in reality a total flop for me – luckily Shaun the sheep The Movie bounded to the rescue, probably the funniest movie of last year!