Well a mate in one more of the vehicles on our trip has now received 2 tickets as well, one for 45 and one for 90 Euros, all of ours were on the main drag out of Cherbourg heading towards Brittany, nice clear dual carriageway / motorways. Wonder how many more we’ll get in the next week or so now we’re back. Lesson learnt, don’t stray not even 10% over the limit over there. Now await the usual holier than thou comment from a certain poster.

I bet none were quicker than the white Astramax van I drove back then…

Favourite bikes that still get used regularly are an 80’s Peugeot road bike & early 90’s Diamondback mtb, and a 1940’s Raleigh Clubman, all steel frames that have needed nothing, not much in components replaced over the years and suspect they will keep going forever. Find 8 speed drivetrains are great too, right balance of sturdiness/longevity and gear ranges.

Lidl Argos stubbies sadly

Daughter sells vintage clothes & shoes on http://www.depop.com and http://www.etsy.com, maybe there? She does really well from all what I think is tasteless crap from charity shops.

Planet X were flogging some last week for £1.50 but postage on top so worth getting other stuff too if needed.

Artificial stuff quite handy on the rough old floor in our shack even if it doesn’t all match:

Living in an area with the highest proportion of over 65’s in the country (who love to buy a Honda Jazz or Hyundai i10’s which seem to be built with 19 mph speed limiters, blanked out mirrors & non functioning indicators), narrow twisty & congested roads it is all but impossible to ‘speed’ anywhere anyway even if you wanted to. I have long since accepted this and just go with the flow so to speak. The local police have helpful road safety signs up around here saying things like ‘you’ll also be old one day’ (and dead at some stage I presume).

If you can find some on Ebay try some Shimano XTR V brakes and levers with decent pads, have a set on my old Diamondback, they are really powerful and certainly stop you quickly if needed.

Had a massive battle with WTB tyres on Stans rims a while back too, very sweary making but maxxis ones went on okay so a combination of I guess slightly oversize rim and tight tyre. Got WTB Riddler tyres on Alex rims no problem, they are great tyres by the way on my gravel bike by the way so do stick with them.

Thanks, really helpful tips.

Used to go with mates in the mid 80’s just before the e generation, more beer and whizz focussed then. I do remember the gay traitor (?) and lots of pints of snakebite on the 50p nights and sleeping it off in a car parked around the corner before attempting to head home. And various Factory / indie bands of the time there. Good times, not sure I’d want to go back to it though.

I have a T6 Kombi which is used for work 95% of the time but is used for the odd weekend away and kipping in. I wanted to keep it simple so got one of those Infinity Customs https://infinitycustoms.co.uk ply beds which are dead easy to put in and out when needed, plus one of those hubi solar chargers for phone and lights, really good – https://www.maplin.co.uk/hubi-10k-kit-5060043532970. Plus a cheap Decathlon tarp to put on the side if very sunny or raining, wind deflectors, stick on thermal blinds and I insulated behind the panels. So pretty well sorted for 2 of us on short trips. Current van has captains seats which I prefer to the previous bench in our old one. Passenger one obviously comfier and easy to step through but yes you lose the storage but I got ply boxes made over the wheel arches with lifting lids for this, oh and some of those IKEA shoe hanger things.
So overall the VW does the job well for general work/life but if we still had our kids with us and were going for longer stays I would get something bigger for sure as others have said, and if it isn’t your main form of transport, why not just hire a proper motorhome when needed? We’ve hired a really big Peugeot thing when more of us going, with all mod cons, was £60 + vat a day last summer.

Trouble is I’d be happy to bus/train in as only need money, phone & toothbrush etc but certain passengers take what looks like enough for a 3 month Everest expedition, not 3 days in Brighton. Think we have found somewhere now for £36 for 3 days which is okay. Cheers for suggestions.

Yes Great Escape again. NCP £90, parking aps around £60, so just testing on the off chance to see if we can get cheaper than the latter before we book one. Cheers

Scuttler – Near Bournemouth so presume heading to airport there. Was going pretty quick and sounded like an angry bee.

Some relatives and a local retired couple left their posh caravans at our place for years because we have the space, they only seemed to take them out maybe twice a year. Always seemed a bit of an extravagance for such little use. Was quite handy though as they used to make donations for storage and we used them for over-flow sleeping when lots of people staying over. I never thought I’d ever use one but in recent years, now kids have left, we are going to a lot more festivals and events. The past couple of years we have just hired a big motorhome from a place nearby for £60 a day for this – bloody great when you are too old to do festival camping – secure for beer and stuff, proper bed, cooker, fridge etc. Can’t see the point of owning a caravan/big motorhome though, just hire when needed suits us. That said, mrs keeps looking at ‘cute’ Eriba ones on eBay…, so I fear a late night purchase coming on after a few sherberts, followed by questions in the morning like, would you mind driving 250 miles to collect something?

Serviced Grayson Perry’s rear fox shock ( off a Marin) when I was at Mojo

Allegedly he’s a user on here you know.

You can get them Ebay cheaper, got 8 for £8 delivered a couple of weeks ago from one of those Chinese sellers who sends stuff from the UK (arrived in 2 days).

+1 for the horseshoe walk, and stop to admire the stone pitching on some of the paths on it which I laid many years ago…
Not mountains (although steep in places) but the waterfalls walk further south in the park at Ystradfellte is good too.

On second T6 here used mainly for work & occasional family / summer trips stuff, bit of a mobile work shed really. Couchy has points, once with one though they do seem to hold the price well because of the ‘scene’. Last one bought for £24K, sold for £20.5K 3 years and another 30k miles later so not too bad a loss over that time. Mine have been Highline DSG autos, original was a 140 non ad blue, latest one is 150 ad blue type. Lovely to drive especially in stop start traffic. Newer one is a lot quieter for some reason. Fuel consumption 30-40mpg depending on how driven. OP if you have not tried a DSG one yet, give it a go, you’ll be a convert. Some people will slag off reliability of DSG but I only keep mine under warranty period. My original one did have a DMF failure at only 12k miles but was replaced under warranty. For me it’s something that does what I need without taking too much of a hit over the ownership period but I
did always really like the old D4D Toyota Hiace’s we used to have years ago, they never ever went wrong, I wish they were still made as proper Japanese ones with auto boxes available over here (not Proace), I’d have one tomorrow.

OP do consider a Toyota Granvia/Regius if set on an import for the budget / occasional kipping in use. Bit bigger inside, more reliable and economical.

A newer Toyota Hiace instead?

I got some Shimano hydraulic RS685 11 speed levers with RS785 calipers off eBay about a year ago for £200 (I think they are still listed), over budget OP I know but if you can stretch to that they are fantastic when bedded in after a few rides. Agree those 505 ones are pretty ugly.

Avoid memory foam now, okay for a year or so and then ‘memory’ stays, plus get very hot. Use this place now, great mattresses, friendly and helpful advice: https://johnryanbydesign.co.uk/product-category/mattresses/
60 day free return if not happy

andy8442 – yes a VW T6 kombi, I saw the ready made ones on ebay around £270 delivered for all panels. Was going to compare this (with adding insulation) to how much Megavanmats would charge for everything to do it yourself, and think about my time to do it as well. May well be more cost effective to get ready done ones, they’re not open till Monday now so will wait and see. Thanks.

Thanks all, will get on to Mega Van Mats

Happened to me 4 years ago after 23 years service. At first was worried but I wanted to go anyway as had enough of all the bullshit and secretly hoped it might happen rather than just jacking it in with no pay off. It was weird though going through all the meetings where people you have worked with pretend to care, I just wanted to hear how much dosh, played along to see how long I could string it out getting paid for doing bugger all and not going in whilst planning my next venture. Best thing that ever happened, work for myself now, doing okay and no more stress. Happened to so many people I know at a certain age, all after the initial collywobbles are now in a much better place. Good luck OP.

If they are being vague go to Jason Rourke instead, he’ll build exactly what you want (I specced 28c clearance on my recent road frame off him), all done right and works with normal drop brakes, using Columbus minimal forks. His right hand man Wayne will happily talk you through anything before committing. Great service there.

For hotels, the old town in Rennes centre is nice. Nantes centre good too but don’t park in the main pay and display car park there overnight as I did once, turns into a fish market at weekends. Cost me 150 euros and 3 hours to get the van out of the pound after they removed it so not a cheap overnight stay that time….

Have done Cherbourg to down there a few times, it’s a very long way and now prefer to overnight stop half way down in a nice hotel, much more enjoyable way of doing it. Yes around Bordeaux can get snarled up other than that it’s normally great driving through France on smooth roads and being able to use cruise control unlike back in Blighty.

Ahhh Monkey, takes a while to get going, actually in hindsight the theme tune is pretty crap but good show:

Not forgetting Barry Gray tunes like Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet :

Persuaders, or anything by John Barry really

Reply To: Your Favourite TV Theme Tunes

Have a look at https://johnryanbydesign.co.uk mattresses, got one after much research online and in shops, we love ours, great reviews and do a 60 day free return guarantee. Cheers

Yes most places I checked out locally were twice as much before I found them. Lovely people there too.

Trestan Finishers near us in Soton charge £40 for a frame, tenner for forks, to powder coat. They blast off existing and zinc phosphate prime before coating in whatever colour you want. You can come back with decals and they will laqueur on top for another tenner. They do loads of bike frames. I have taken many there and always been very happy with the finish. I wouldn’t bother with spray cans now for their cost and all the prep time etc. Hope whatever you do turns out well OP.

+1 for Decathlon ones, got one 2 years ago, been ace & it’s light.

I wouldn’t bother with Avon Tyrrell right now either, the trails aren’t really looked after that well (apart from when the Big Bike Bash guys sort it out) and it does get get boggy when it rains and very slippy on clay bits. How about some gravel tracks in the New Forest, easy going really for little ones.

Kuco – beaker people, that’s a very accurate representation of us…must be due to all the carrot crunching