Agree Italy can be cheaper but not always.

Was in Cervinia season before last and was gob smacked at how prices had rocketed, thankfully did not have family on that trip or would have emptied the bank account big time.

By contrast last year I took the family HB to a small French resort and it was very reasonable.

So it is not black and white that Italy is cheaper, although I agree the mega French resorts are ridiculously expensive for grub on the mountain. That said the skiing in France is better if you are a decent skier IMO.

I have never been but I heard Soll in Austria can be quite reasonable?

They came as OE on a bike i bought this year and I thought they were very poor tyres, little grip and very little confidence when pushed in a corner.

Dont know but there has been a wee thaw in Dumfries today and the roads are much better than they were yesterday with much of the ice melting on gritted roads.

Yesterday at Dalbeattie, taken on my phone so I am fair chuffed with this picture which captures the day out for me:

Try co-operative on line holidays and try to do a late deal which will save money.

Equity (might be Rocketski now?) specialise in all inclusive family holidays and go to smaller resorts, you should easily get below 4K with them.

Skitopia do even cheaper holidays, they tend to specialise in school trips so the accomodation can be very basic, that said I have gotten some very cheap holidays from them. They do Serre Chevalier which is a pretty decent resort.

Half term in a catered chalet will be the most expensive option out there, if you want much cheaper you would be better either HB in a hotel or self catering/ B&B.

It is worthwhile spending a fair bit of time on the net, teletext, on the phone trying to get the best deal, it will save you thousands though I assure you.

Also use the forum on the website “snowheads”, they are very helpful on best locations, ski schools, weather reports etc.

Best of luck :-)

Another pic of todays ride in Dalbeattie. Had some of the best riding today in dry powdery snow which was surprisingly grippy…

A bit far but Dumfries and Galloway open for business, Mabie, Ae, Dalbeattie etc….

today:

The ridgeback mx 20 and mx24 bikes are well built and decent bikes ands good value for money in my opinion. I have managed to get two MX24 bikes off here secondhand posted for just over 100 quid!!

Depends on your budget but you can spend a lot of money on kids bikes which will only last them for a few years so I choose to go secondhand for their latest bikes.

I bought a Core 50 about 6 months ago and I have to say its a great bike, superb for trail centres or any swoopy singletrack. Ive got a full suss and a longer forked hardtail but the core 50 always seems to be the bike that comes out of the shed at the moment :-)

:-)

Stop press: its snowing now so perhaps it time to get some of what the rest of the country has been getting….

Hi Tony & thanks, got myself sorted with a pair of MW80’s a couple of weeks ago, and they were toasty today 8)

Still no snow in Dumfries yet believe it or not, had a cracking ride up at Ae today with Trekster. Have had over a week of nice dry winter sunshine, although a bit foggy lower down today :-)

Currently have a 330d which is not brilliant in the snow as you would expect but being a diesel and with DSC its not as bad as my last car which was an E36 M3 saloon. 320bhp with a limited slip diff meant both wheels span in the snow and it got stuck with a ridiculous small amount of snow.

+1 Petrol Zafira we can put all kids stuff with dog in no problem plus 4 bikes on roof rack, can get 30 mpg from it.

Ossians Cave? :wink:

Yep went round there last week for a wee local ride, some nice little tracks.

Simon let me guess, is that picture up at Heathhall beside the Golf course?

Front wheel drive cars are deisgned with understeer as its safer, the premise being you use the correct amount of speed for the road conditions in the 1st place, if you loose the back end your boned with FWD (unless you think driving like a rally driver is appropriate for the public road)..

Dont agree with that.

Had to drive (Wifes Zafira) through fairly heavy snow for over 100 miles on Monday, drove with care and attention and appropriate speed. However on a roundabout the back end stepped out a fair old way. If I had let it spin out it would not have been that big a deal beacause my speed was slow enough and there was road room. However a quick turn into the oversteer and a moderate amount of throttle counteracted the skid since a small amount of drive from the front towards the skid brought the car back into line.

I agree it is far better to fit same all round which our car does (Pirelli P6000’s, not winter tyres) but that does not mean you cannot control oversteer in a front wheel drive car if you are a decent enough driver and are a competent winter driver, which due to lack of snow experience is a lot of UK folks.

Our boiler condensate pipe is routed to the drain internally as well thus eliminating the problem.

Kirroughtree very nice yesterday,

I was walking round Mabie today and it looked ok, the paths were a bit slippy in places though. No depth to the snow really but can be slippy where its seen a lot of traffic on the roads etc. Light snow falling in Dumfries at the moment.

Bring a bottle mate :wink:

you keeping well?

Physically tip top due to enforced unemployment :| But as you can see from the picture above that has it upsides :-)

Get yersel up here Tony we can go for some gentle rides if you are not feeling to chipper mate.

stew…………what’s that bike?

Tony it’s a Genesis Core 50, great bike esp on the likes of KT, I would highly recommend it!

To be fair to the media… most of Scotalnd is shut so it is hardly hype

Fair enough, but the constant whining about the weather is wearing a bit thin, its winter ffs!

Ok here goes a first try at posting a picture off my phone (quality not superb but it gives a flavour…

What you propose would work just fine, I did this to cut interest on a credit card and paid the debt off within the year. Like you I absolutely did not use the card for anything else so it was clear cut what had to be paid off.

You must be disciplined enough to pay it off within the agreed terms though. If you run over the deal time there could be hidden terms within the deal where they will sting you for interest, even back charge you interest. Do not trust the credit card companies, they will try to get money out of you anyway they can.

Drove down from Dundee on Monday afternoon, went via fife, kinross, A91 to Dollar, then Stirling in my wifes Zafira. The snow was “proper” deep goign through fife and leaving Dundee the roads did keep you sharp.

The drive was “interesting” but never got stuck or stopped. Remarkably little traffic on the roads going that way. BUT I also have a BMW saloon and there is no way it would have got through the snow that the Zafira did. At risk of blowing my own trumpet I am pretty good at driving in the snow and it would not take much to get stuck in those conditions. Stay at home is my advice.

I stayed in philly for a couple of years and our 3 bed detached house was heated with an air to air heat pump. The heat it supplied was blown around the house with a forced air heating system. It worked very well I have to say. In the summer you reversed the system and it was an A/C unit.

I cannot comment on cost of running since the electricity rates were different.

Disadvantages is when it got very cold outside, you are trying to get heat from ambient air of less than -20, and is its snowing the heat exchanger can get choked with snow and ice. I would put in a different heat source such as sunken pipes in garden, pond or well

Is this a thread to practice phoning in for the Jeremy Vine show?

currently stuck in dundee at m in laws, better than being stuck on the m90 for the last 6hrs like my wifes boss is right now!!

Yes was about to switch it over when this doc comes on to talk about clinical depression and I found it very interesting indeed (wont admit to it being useful!). :oops:

Dalbeattie blue

Dont know which is the best since I only rode the nothern ones but certainly Coed y Brenin is a good trail centre with long rides through great forests. Marin and Penmachno decent rides with few people on them and llandegla for a blast

Using speedfit plumbing systems make small jobs such as this a doddle.

Go down to your local plumbers merchants such as PTS and explain you are a numpty but want to have a go and explain what you want to do chances are they will get together the bits that you need and explain what you have to do. It worked for me anyway. :-)

Now onto early ZZ Top – Tres Hombres circa ’73 (I didnt buy it when it came out btw!)…

Well thats Neil Youngs After The Gold Rush listened to, now for Rumours (bought this over 30 years ago, fek!).

Its still a bit early to get really good deals, you get the biggest discounts if you stay relaxed about where you go, do a bit of graft searching for a good deal, and leave as late as possible. The cheapest weeks are usually the first or second week in January. Also sthink about smaller less well known resorts, Italy usually cheaper than France as well.

I have them on my hardtail and have not found the need to take them off for winter yet, I think they are fine in the wet on trail centres, lake district, general purpose rides. Used them once in the mud and didnt think they were too bad. Their good rolling characteristics make up for the low mud performance with the type of riding I do. Great tyre.

To add to what others say above, I have run mixtures of Minions, High Rollers, Advantage, and more recently Ardent and I find them all grippy tyres in the wet, especially Minions and HR’s.

That said I jumped on a mates bike for a shot and was shocked at how little grip he had with his HR’s and when I got off he had them pumped up rock solid. I let them down a bit and they were transformed back to the grippy tyre that they are.