Just in case anyone missed it on the Peak MTB facebook page – Simon Bowns has just posted this:

BBC North West Tonight *might* be interested in covering the Rushup Edge trail story. We need some “before” video footage of the trail, broadcast quality.
Does anyone have Gopro (or similar) footage that they’d be willing to share and have used on a broadcast?

Just thinking there must be some footage from Peaks Pootles out there somewhere?

You’ll have to pardon my ignorance here, I don’t have the faintest idea how government budgets work but I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard of local authorities blowing cash on seemingly unecessary things because they won’t have that money to spend next year. Wonder if there’s a bit of this going on with Rushup? Is it possible that if they spend £70k this year, by not doing so next year they’ll effectively have made a saving? Does it work like that?

I just can’t get my head around how they’re cutting every other essential service because they’re desperate to save money and yet they seemingly have insane pots of cash to spend on things like this? It just doesn’t add up.

“In 2015/2016 we need to cut £48m to balance the budget.
Our 2014/2015 budget identified a number of potential cuts which amount to £23m of savings in 2015/2016″

From here If you read further down the page, over the next 3 years they’re looking to save nearly £3.5 million from Highways maintenance alone (I assume this comes under the remit of this rather than countryside services?)

Any chance this thread can be made into a sticky? At least for as long as Singletrack are covering the story themselves and still waiting on questions being answered by DCC.

It’s a glimmer of something vaguely positive but I don’t like the way Jim Dixon is still referring to them as ‘repairs’. A track that isn’t suffering from erosion doesn’t need any maintenance. That to me is like filling in the Grand Canyon and saying you’re repairing it!

Read an article in a magazine recently that talked about these wake up lights and it said the number of hours sleep you get is far more important than how you wake up. Get 7-8 hours each night and the beep-beep-beeps in the dark won’t seem quite so awful.

Dogs are ace but there’s also no denying they are a heck of a commitment / tie / bind, which is why so many end up in rescue because people underestimate the amount of time and attention they require.

Maybe borrow a friends dog for a week or weekend if you can or sign up to something like Borrow My Doggy[/url] and look after one part time without the full time commitment?

My mum died of MND ten years ago. Awareness and funds back then were virtually non existent and this had remained the case right up until this pesky social media explosion.

It doesn’t matter to me that not everyone will do it, nor will they all donate money, nor even that they’ll all take the time to find out what it is – but the fact that SOME people have, has meant that awareness and fundraising has gone through the roof compared to where it was. That to me makes this totally worth it.

While it’s too late for my mum, it’s amazing to think that a cure is at least now a possible thing in the future for all those facing the same fate as her.

The point is it encourages people to give money who wouldn’t otherwise.

When my mum died from Motor Neurone Disease 10 years ago no one had heard of it. When Onzadog did the Outlaw triathlon last month and we decided to use that to raise money for the MNDA, I still got a sense that many people didn’t really know what it was.
So to see such an explosion of publicity/awareness/fundraising and suddenly the whole world be talking about it, is just beyond words for me.

Yes, I’m sure some folks are irritated that it’s featured on their newsfeeds every day and I’m sure some people do it and don’t donate anything, but for every one of those people there are people who are donating who otherwise might not have. Plus I’ve seen and heard of many people who’ve taken the trouble to find out what this ALS/MND thing is, so to my mind it’s totally worth it.

Cheers for the replies. Glad to hear it’s (mostly!) all good. The only thing that puts me off (and it’s a small thing really) is the charging port (the faff of keep taking off the fiddly little USB cover every time you want to charge it) and that I’d have to upgrade the memory (16GB on my current HTC is nowhere near enough). Small things I guess, but with the HTC One there aren’t those issues.

Mmmmm.

Has anyone dropped it yet? Wondering how delicate they are. I’ve dropped my current HTC several times and there’s been no damage whatsoever.

Those who recently got the Sony Z1 Compact – how are you finding it? Still feeling the love?

Got a call from the Vodafone upgrade team today offering me either that or the HTC One. Still leaning towards the Sony but only just!

BigDummy are you out 2-9th August week as well?

We’re coming from Nottingham to Stansted so not really going to be of any help to you I don’t think!

My 17 year old Toyota Corolla 1.3 hatchback has just passed it’s latest MOT – only failed on a couple of lights out and some excessive play in a rear suspension link (or sommat like that). Granted, a few days prior it had been weeing petrol onto the road and ended up in the garage, but that turned out to be the fuel filler neck was corroded to the point of being as flimsy as tissue paper. Can’t really grumble as it was an original part.

I bought it when it was about 4 years old and over the years nothing serious or expensive has gone wrong with it whatsoever. Been an absolute bloody star of a car. Would thoroughly recommend them to anyone as a reliable cheap little runabout.

Where are you flying from Oxy? We three will be arriving at Bilbao at 10am on the Stansted flight 8)

Looking to replace my tired old HTC One S in the next few months so have been pondering what to replace it with. Didn’t want anything mahoosive, so was thinking either the Google Nexus 5 or the Z1 Compact so glad to hear the Z1 Compact is so well liked here!

Thanks for the replies. After reading various online reviews and bits of feedback that suggest that the leak issue might have been experienced by more than just me, I’m probably not going to give the Camelbak Agent another go and hope it’s third time lucky with the Antidote bladder. It’s a bit of a costly inconvenience having to return them at my expense each time, even if I do get them replaced free of charge.

JoeG, The Osprey Zealot looks good, but it seems if you buy it in the UK it doesn’t come with a bladder, only in the US, which is a bit rubbish.

It’s a myth that rescues mean fully grown, unpredictable dogs. My local rescue sadly regularly has litters of 8 week old puppies needing homes.

You could always volunteer to do dogwalking at your local rescue centre too, if you’ve got one nearby. The inmates love the chance to get out of their concrete cells :)

toby1 – Member
I’d really like a dog and my wife would love one, but we are both out at work all day and I don’t think it’s fair to the dog to be home alone all day, so I keep saying no – hard to do though as I’d love to have a dog to take for a walk!

Have you heard of Borrow my doggy[/url]?

My first dog as a kid was a cavalier king charles spaniel – absolutely spot on temperament to live with two young kids but his health was really bad and he died of a massive heart attack aged just 8 years old :( He was purchased from a KC registered breeder too, so it’s not like they just bought him from the small ads. Sadly a lot of Cavs are prone to heart problems though.

In comparison the rescue staffy x lab we have now is knocking on 12 years plus and still loves his two walks a day.

Rescue every time for us. They all have loads of different shapes, sizes, ages and temperament – might actually be a good place to visit to start off conversation about what you all like anyway?

jfletch – Member
And when it comes to insurance companies, why give them any “wiggle room”!
Alternatively…

When it comes to insurance companies, why give them any more money than necessary!

Well that was my thinking – want to try and keep holiday costs to a minimum where possible.

Thanks for your comments Doug – it seems that from what you’ve said (and others here) and through our emails with Dave at Dogtag, we need to go for the ‘Extreme’ level of cover.

Am officially a gnar Doris!

Bump for the evening crowd.

Doug, I thought you said that beard was going, way back in May last year!

Did the furry-faced look win Mrs Doug round in end, then?!

TurnerGuy – Member
I thought this thread was going to be about something like this :

oh god, no, much much better than a poshundied pendletears!

We went in May last year when the weather was a bit hit and miss to say the least, but it says a lot about the quality of riding and overall holiday that Doug offers, that it was still our best ever holiday, bar none. Gave us memories that will stay with us for many years to come I think :)

Mrs Onzadog

Ahhh Pigface, your old staff sounds exactly like ours (he’s a staffy cross something…labrador probably)

We’ve definitely got one of those too :-)

His nose dried up, his fur became too hot to touch but he was totally happy.

He worships the heat in any form though. A holiday cottage we stayed in one year had a conservatory attached that got the sun on it most of the day to the extent it became too hot to sit in there, but for that week it was his most favourite place ever and we’d often find him lying in there fast asleep or panting his dotty little head off.

Ahh what fantastic news!! Bet that felt amazing (and perhaps a little bit weird) :D

Or there’s a good few pages of rescue dogs of all ages and shapes and sizes here[/url] that are all tagged as suitable with young children. :wink:

Gorgeous 2 year old black lab called Sabbi in Cambs….

babbington rescue just off junction 26 of the m1. The puppies arent mentioned on the website though, they were only ever featured on their facebook page.

Good luck, you sound like you’ll give some little critter out there a lovely home when you find the right one :)

Our local rescue centre just outside of Nottingham had six of these little lab x springer puppies given to them at New Year, at just 6 weeks old as the person who decided to breed them couldn’t find homes for them :roll:

As of a couple of days ago, there was one little boy left without a home.

I wouldn’t totally discount the rescue option – some are more flexible than others!

We got married at a little place called Edgewater Lodge just outside Whistler.
Canada makes the whole wedding process very simple – no silly rules about having to be resident for x number of days before the ceremony or anything and very reasonable charges for everything. I organised it all myself it was that easy.

Just the two of us, sister and brother-in-law, photographer and wedding commisioner, beside a frozen lake with a backdrop of snow covered mountains. Perfect – much less fuss and cheaper than doing the whole shebang over here.

njee20 – Member
Yes I would just say Ironman – as it’s just a brand, as I’d say that we’d bought a new Hoover etc. they’re synonymous.

Don’t tell him that! The pedant in him will never let him do anything other than the Ironman now. (We own a Dyson fluff-picker-upper so have to refer to the activity with it, as ‘vacuuming’.) :wink:

Mrs Onzadog

not been but it might fit the bill

Stayed at a lovely big cottage just outside of hawes earlier this year with two dogs. No bike storage as such but the owners were very accommodating and I’d imagine they wouldn’t mind if the bikes went in the kitchen so long as you put something down to protect the surfaces.

cubble head, although not sure about a pub nearby. That it might be lacking!

I think I lose it in the time it takes to drive home!

I also love Suits – the dialogue between characters is so well written!

Heard good things about The Fall – totally managed to miss it on tv. Might catch up with that some time.

Mad Pierre that’s a great video! :-)

I too absolutely bloody loved that week (avec Onzadog) with BasqueMTB – made 12 long months of squirrelling away holiday money totally worth it! A real adventure every day and did more hours in the saddle than I ever thought I was physically capable of.

Love this photo of Onzadog taken out there (by Doug’s fair hand I hasten to add!)

Can’t wait to go back next year 8)

Never known the AG thing with dogs before we got ours either – but he seemed to need them expressing every few months or else we’d end up with a sudden fishy whiff and find he’d had a tiny bit of bum leak on the sofa (thankfully always keep machine washable throws on them). One of the less pleasant aspects of dog ownership, for sure 8O

Have changed his food recently to this cold-pressed dog food and touch wood, there’s been no leaks so far. So perhaps it might also be a diet thing.

Back to the original topic – I think the 7 month old would fit in very well with your lifestyle by the sounds of it.
And although all dogs benefit from exercise, I think company, social interaction and mental stimulation is equally as important and it sounds like he might get a good dose of that :-)

Sorry for the confusion – I is the wifelet. Onzadog is the Man of the House (with the crumbling porch)

If Wales is an option, I can recommend Quality Cottages – beautiful properties in beautiful locations – we’ve stayed in several different ones now with dogs and never once been disappointed.

Miss NT, this colleague made them, special like, for Red Nose Day Cake Sale at work recently (although there is still way too much cake present in this office!).

They are beyond evil in a totally died-and-gone-to-heaven way. Nicest brownies I’ve ever had (with the exception of Hel’s brownies on a Peaks Pootle once!). Might attempt them for that weekend you’re up next :wink:

Guy I work with made these inappropriately named Slutty Brownies[/url] (although he called them Triple Layer Brownies for the easily offended)

Om nom nom, indeed.