Aye, well luckily the credits were almost rolling on the Vuelta coverage so I didn’t have to use the Ibstock remote

Wonderful.

Had a large leg of lamb today, 2+ hrs in the BBQ… 😛

Basted with olive oil + lemon, lime & orange rind, garlic and mint. Cooked slow on indirect heat, with dried cherry wood to give a nice smoke to the outside….

I’d argue a student reading for a low hours degree they’re not engaging with has very little responsibility.

Can’t see how this works. Does it matter if their contact hours are 3 or 30 hrs? Each student has the same responsibility to themselves. Just because some don’t step up to that responsibility, don’t assume that all fit that mould.

My student days are too long ago to be relevant, but I would strongly reiterate the wider experience / poverty / hermit experience. My parents had no idea what things cost, and worked on the basis that my grant would see me looked after. My first term diet comprised porridge, raw cabbage sandwiches and boiled rice with tommy k.

Thoroughly miserable experience – especially socially 🙁

We’ve pushed him to go. In the main because we believe he’ll be more employable with a degree than without. I went from A-levels to work but that was 30 years ago and I don;t think that the world is the same now.

This view needs so critical analysis…

I’m a graduate, and I interview and employ new graduates. IMO getting a degree is not the route to a better career that it used to be.

Graduate job opps, graduate starting salaries, career security and progression all need to be seriously considered, and quite often come up wanting. My kids aren’t at that point yet (12 & 14), but it’s not a given that I think they should go to uni

ACM complex because of the different regulatory regimes. Even if non license-able for removal, it’s still likely to be a haz waste for disposal purposes. Get the right professionals and keep a close eyed on them…!

I’ll go for proper mtb shoes, shorts, gloves, lid and glasses whatever the ride. All about comfort and protection. Shirt may / may not be cycling kit…

Colleagues laugh at me wearing specs on my commute, but an eyeful of flies is painful (and preventable) whatever length the ride

Oh, and it looked great in Campovolo Grey (aka aircraft primer grey)

Oh yes – how could I forget… The twin sheets of flame and shotgun pop 🙂
Scared daughter stupid. She would “tell mummy” if I used the “press me” “press me” “press me” button.

Some sort of ichneumon wasp…

They’re the ones that lay eggs inside their victim, for the larvae to hatch later and eat their walking larder from inside out

Mrs rkk01 just sold hers last week.
Brilliant little car if you want some fun – just turning the key make the car burble and you giggle like a loon 🙂

Handling is a bit mad, skips over rough surfaces and steering is either to firm (sport) or too vague (non sport).

Running costs – Mrs rkk got about 8-12k out of the tyres 😮 and not much more out of a set of pads and discs…!
Real world mpg =38-40. Motorway speeds are prob 80 or less….

BUT all of these thoughts disappear when you stab the throttle and that little 1.4t fizzes round the tacho

I think we need more strike action from the public sector. This government are obsessed with maximising inequality and pushing all public sector (and many private sector) employees lower and lower. I don’t want to live in a country divided by a massive wealth gap with a large impoverished underclass.

Whilst many would agree regarding the “wealth gap”, the danger is that strike action strengthens the electorates resolve to vote for right leaning politicians…

Lovely dogs. Smart, loyal, affectionate.

I wanted a springer, but the opportunity came up for a blue roan cocker. TBH the cocker is a better size for “modern life” – small enough for our house, big enough to be a “proper dog” 😉

Our first is from a show bred line. She’s certainly not thick, but more inclined to lazy indifference. Second is a liver & white 50:50 (show mother, working father). Excellent dog – very loving and affectionate, but mad as a box of frogs. Much more energetic, always running around following her nose and quick as a whippet (almost). Most folks mistake her for a part grown springer

One local school is having to make 16 staff redundant next year.

Yes, same situation in mrs rkk01’s school – although from my private industry perspective I’d have to say a very legally dubious position…?

So, LEA has to cut budget. “Salami slicing” approach, 10% say off each school (i.e. cuts in each councillor’s ward, not all concentrated in one area) means that every school has to reduce budget by the same proportion – irrespective of what the school roll is doing!

So mrs rkk01’s school is rapidly expanding, whereas other schools in the county have falling rolls. So mrs rkk01’s school has to make “redundancies”. These aren’t redundancies. The role is still there, the need & demand are still there, just not the funding.

Mis-management of the highest order

Asbestosis is a bad diagnosis,

I’d be asking for more detail as “asbestosis” can be interpreted very widely. My father had a chest x-ray in the 80s (by his employer) showing 50% capacity in one lung and 25% in the other, due to uncontrolled work with asbestos. He has “pleural plaque”, which is the scarring caused by asbestos fibres in the lung.

As above, mesothelioma is the dread word for anyone who has worked with asbestos, but not everyone with “asbestosis” develops mesothelioma.

Sulpherous burping and vomiting, sewage smelling running explosive poo , serious stomach cramps.

This.

Only down two days, but weak for a week or more.

The two days were a hell of unannounced, synchronous, double ended liquid eruptions. I wouldn’t go near my sleeping bag for fear of not being able to exit quick enough. One unlucky companion suffered an in-bag eruption 😐

**** me!!! A £650 a month car allowance!!!??

Words
From
My
Mouth…!

Having read the pages of vitriolic bile posted on the BBC and other media blogs, following the announcement of Cornish minority status, I would be horrified at the thought of the English electorate * expressing an opinion on anything…

One of the democratic benefits of a wider union is the representation of a broader suite of views. Perish the thought of a post Scottish independence EU vote. The “mass” of the English electorate would risk imposing an EU out decision on the remainder of the UK, irrespective of the relative benefits to individual regions 🙁

* note use of collective “electorate”

Stove top pot is part of our camping “tradition”…

… wouldn’t be a proper camping trip without it

Been looking at BMW’s new i3

(although haven’t yet been able to arrange a test drive)

Satisfies “interesting” on so many different levels…!

In defence of my attitude on Kelly Kettles – on one occasion we were above the tree line, and the second on Iceland (not renowned for it’s tree cover…)

Has anyone tried the Kelly Kettle?

Horrid things.

Was provided with these on 2(?) BSES expeditions…

Great concept, but where in Northern Europe / N America can you find the DRY wood required to make the damn things work. Not too bad if you have copious amounts of gasoline to light it – oh, hold on

On the other hand, I’ve been a long-time fan of the MSR Dragonfly*. You’ll never be somewhere you cant get fuel, and the adjustability means you can go from full throttle afterburner mode to a gentle simmer with a quick turn of the regulator.

* Although to much “afterburner / full reheat” mode has left me needing a silver soldering / brazing job to re-attaché the burner cup to the swivel mount in the base unit 🙁

Daughter loved her 24″ Cube – just grown out of it this year (and delighted with the rebuild of her mothers old Marin FRS)

In a world of very heavy kids bikes the Cube was a light alloy XC rocket ship

Gas BBQ ??? Really ?
Just get a Weber charcoal kettle job it will last decades combined with a chimney starter and you are good to go.
If you are burning the outside and getting raw inside you need to brush up your techniques, I had a gas BBQ but now use a charcoal Weber kettle and am loveing it

This. 1000 times over.

Gas, really? Just go inside and use the hob.

Utterly, utterly pointless

Wilderness systems Tarpon 130

Looks very tempting

Quite fancy trying a sea kayak. Would like to get a double to go out with my son, but have heard doubles are a nightmare to right??? SOT therefore better, but can’t get so excited. Grew up in small craft, so have a good feel for being on the water, but canoe experience limited to a bit of inland kayaking and Canadian paddling.

Would certainly welcome any advice that folks have to offer

…the chat section?

Aww sh!t, I checked which forum – fingers & thumbs posting on the phone 😳

Err, being hard = nothing to do with “being ‘ard”

Vivid memories of seeing the hard men crumble, off track, lost on a mountain in deep snow

I like the Guzzi ^

Not the style you’ve requested, but the new VFR looks nice

Great event. As said above, very well organised, but not officious.

The route was very well thought out. Did the Etape Mawr, and the climbs were challenging without making you think couldn’t carry on.

Scenery was fantastic 🙂

Would certainly do again or recommend to others

No. 273

The route posted above (by blob?) is a poor imitation. At Talybont, cross the canal and head up the Brinore tramroad. That gets you high enough onto the ridge to drop down the Dolygaer descent to the outdoor activity centre above thd causeway between Ponsticill & Pentwyn reservoirs

I’m doing the mawr route. I am neither mentally or physically ready but I’m sure it will be fun! I’ll be the one at the back on the grey and green saracen hack!

Uhhuh, that sounds familiar…

Black & white Trek, green Endura mtb top, complete with a red Giro mt lid 😉

Williams Caesar Augustus is a lovely drop

From the other end of the UK

That’s what we call a proper job 😉

Rab, Mountain Hardwear, Patagonia, Mountain Equipment, Paramo, Montane.
Like said, the stuff is still about, you just never found it

Well, I’ve got some very good Aiguile, Hagslof, Rab etc kit, and regularly use it. But its at the more technical (& pricey) end and I don’t want to kill it kicking around camp playing with the BBQ… Equally cotton jeans / t-shirt / trackies don’t cut it with the mud & damp. My “gap” was at the hard wearing, functional type kit. Might try some shooting / farming type outdoors shops…

Didn’t see it – was that on the road to Capel Curig? Didn’t get beyond the Field And Trek

You walked into lifestyle shops in an average Welsh tourist honey-pot village. Its hardly Wilderness stuff round there.

True, but there always used to be a number of outdoors shops in Betws…

And Re: “wilderness” kit, I’ve done that in the past, what I was looking for was great British outdoor kit 🙁

Will check out the Ray Mears site. Had a couple of really good Swandri items BITD. I do like the Paramo stuff, and have one of their reversible fleeces. Good, but not as good as Ultrafleece (IMHO)

I’ve also taken a liking to a a Sportchief saddlecloth jacket. Partly fulfilling a camo fetish, but mainly because I like the no rustle heavy duty finish of shooting kit (the jacket is a different question though, not camping / hiking gear)

With that route you’ll be passing through two serious mires –

Too true. My post assumes a good level of upland / route finding ability. One of the other posts has mentioned “paths”. Unlike many UK upland areas, you find your own way on Dartmoor.

Dartmoor…

Used to know it like the back of my hand.

Boots – I’d go for full walking boots. You don’t really get the full screes of the higher mountains, but the long hummocky vegetation, granite clitters and very wet bog conditions will play hell with anything else…

Water – one thing Dartmoor isn’t short of. Depends on how you feel about drinking from streams. I used to, but there’s been plenty of times I wished I hadn’t.

Nav. Well here is Dartmoor’s greatest challenge and danger. Don’t rely on phone / GPS. Take a 1:50k or 1:25k map, a compass and know how to use them. Large swathes of the moor are “featureless” to the uninitiated, but as with anywhere there are loads of subtle waypoints and markers in the landscape. Avoid the large bog areas, they can be a real challenge to cross.

That said, a day or two day exped across Dartmoor is very rewarding. A good route “might look like”… Start at the NW corner – Sourton Tors or Meldon reservoir, head up the West Okement valley, checking out the ancient Black-a-Tor copse (and the tragic PB4-Y Liberator crash site), head up the north valley slope to somewhere like Fordsland Ledge / Dinger / Yes Tor, east to Steeperton Tor, head all the way south along the east edge (care required with bogs – cross the Teign at the N / S Teign confluence) continue south to the falls on the East Dart, then to Higher White Tor, Two Bridges and then west to Great Mis Tor / Princetown area.

Not for the faint hearted, or bad weather, unless your good at hill navigation!

Enjoy, whatever you end up doing, and post back…!

Oh, the ironing…

Sorry, that’s lost on me – would you card to explain?