MrSmith – Member
Yes – it makes espresso
No it doesn’t make espresso.
It makes coffee that has a stronger cleaner taste than filter or French press but its lacks the strength and flavour profile that 9bar of pressure at 93° gives you.

Ladies & gentlemen, I give you STW. Home of the coffee pedant.

I got back into mountain biking after a 10 year hiatus as a result of being miles from the nearest surf break. Now live in Devon and enjoy both but if I’ve got the chance to hit the beach with a decent swell running then the bike is left in the garage.

That said I’m definitely a better mountain biker than I am a surfer…. I took up surfing far too late in life to get to a decent level but still really enjoy it which I guess is what it’s all about.

I think there are a lot of parallels – feeling you get on a really good wave is similar to that of getting a good flow on the bike.

Yesterday I managed to combine a surf in the morning with a ride in the afternoon – really can’t ask for more from life than that!

Yes – it makes espresso. Top off with hot water for an americano, frothed milk for a latte or cappucino. Results are a lot smoother than a cafetiere and more concentrated – it uses air pressure to force the coffee through a fine paper filter.

Much easier to clean than a cafetiere too. The plug of coffee grounds just pops out straight into the bin. Quick rinse and you’re done.

I’m with Mattbibbings. Our espresso machine has been gathering dust since we bought an aeropress. Best £20 I’ve ever spent.

Making a quick cup is genuinely no more difficult than using a pod machine and it’s stupidly easy to clean. With the advantage that you can also take it anywhere.

Looks a bit…er medical though…If you absolutely must have a spanky bit of worktop bling to make a cup of coffee it may not be your thing… :wink:

http://www.aeropresscoffee.co.uk/

We paid just shy of 2K for our move from Kent to Devon a couple of years back. This would have been cheaper but included a move in and out of storage for 2 weeks between completing on our sale in Kent and our place down here being ready.

We’ve always previously done it ourselves including a move back from Holland a few years ago when I rented a huge luton over here and drove it over on the ferry (forgot I was driving it at one point and came within about 15mm of taking out the overhead gantry at Hoek Van Holland ferry port check in :oops:

Samuri’s lessons learned list is spot on…. I’d also add that you probably don’t need to move about 30% of the stuff you own. We’ve still got boxes in the garage which haven’t been opened after 2 years, a couple of which haven’t been opened since our last move 9 years ago.

Be afraid, be very afraid…

Seriously – Newport is a bit rough and ready but you’ve got some great countryside and riding on your doorstep in the valleys, Black Mountains and Beacons, not too far from some good beaches either. Sure it will all be good.

Used to have a cracking local music scene too – had many a fond memory of nights TJs in the early 90s. Is it still going?

<waves> :-)

My son found the Rothan too heavy and long at 2 years old. Refused to ride (but coveted it all the same). Finally got on it last weekend and was just off like a shot. He turns three in 6 weeks. So in our case the Rothan was a 3+ bike really.

This was our experience too. My boy is now 4 but still loves the Rothan but is now starting to have a go on his pedal bike too (second hand Cnoc 16).

To DavidTalyforth’s list I’d add:

Cotic Roadrat – tough and great fun to ride – will take a hub gear. Bit flexy if loaded up too much.

Or what about the new Surly Straggler over the cross check (assuming you want disks)

Van Dessel WTF also looks a hoot – pretty sure it will take a hub gear as it can be singlespeeded / belt driven etc. Saw a cracking build of one outside the Sloop Inn in Porthgain when on hols the other week (Hi to its owner if you’re on here!)

Here you go Molgrips:

Sea temps took a while to warm up due to the crap spring – (I was still in a winter suit in late April when it was pretty baltic!)- but I reckon that was balanced by a hot July so are now about average for the time of year around 16-18 degrees. As a few other folk have mentioned, sea temps tend to be at their warmest around August / early September time and at their lowest in early March. Loads of other factors though including river outflow etc. Will also often feel warmer on an incoming afternoon tide due to the warming effect of the beach.

I was in Pembrokeshire myself a couple of weeks back and think I only used a wetsuit for one early morning surf – rest of the time was just using boardies and a 1.5mm neo rash vest.

I’m not sure there is a way around having an update event on each textbox but an alternative to your approach you could call your code to run on the form’s afterupdate event rather than that of the individual text boxes and then simply put a me.refresh in the afterupdate event of the individual text boxes.

Only real advantage of this over what you’re doing already though is that you only need to maintain the reference to your total check in one place rather than 10.

Talybont on Usk is lovely – handy for the Gap Road and Beacons and in the Star Inn has one of my favourite pubs in south wales.

As the crow flies it’s only a few miles from Merthyr but a world apart.

Croyde in-season has become a victim to the M4 corridor types. Full of yuppie wannabes looking for rad surf man and being shouty in the Thatch with collars upturned and Raybans being worn at night.

We love Croyde and only live an hour or so away but generally avoid it in the season for that very reason. It seems to have become the new Rock.

Having said that we got a cheap deal here in July and it was great.

Home

Completely incongruous for Croyde to have a union-run holiday complex but decent reasonably priced accomodation, good facilities, a 5 min walk through the dunes to the beach and lacking any pretension whatsoever.

Even enjoyed the retrotastic evening cabaret (in a purely ironic sense you understand).

@rusty: I really think the local council is missing a trick there. I suspect the situation is complicated by the mining rights which still exist though.

As far as the underground stuff goes, there is a massive cavern towards the north end of the main opencast that has some incredible rock formations and mineral deposits in it and is a bit of a scramble down from the main track near the blue pool / mill. Nearby there used to be access to a tunnel which brought you out to a tiny ledge on a sheer drop over the pit. For us kids it was a huge adventure playground… our parents would have gone mental if they knew what we got up to there!

The bit of the coast path I used to ride regularly was up between Church Bay and Carmel Head. If the new access laws go through for Wales it’ll open up some good riding around there and other bits of the island.

Haven’t been back to Anglesey for years but hoping to get up there in October and have a bit of a poke around some of our old haunts.

As kids we used to rag our bikes doing frankly stupid stuff around the copper workings on Parys Mountain. Was great fun at the time but very risky with all the opencasts and mineshafts. Also not sure what the access is like these days as it’s now an SSSI. Would have great potential as Anglesey’s answer to Lee Quarry I reckon.

I grew up riding the cheeky stuff on the quieter bits of the coast path around the north of the island…except I didn’t know it was cheeky back then.

Trebarwith is lovely, as is Crackington Haven – also a bit quieter than some of the other areas on the North Coast. Port Isaac gets rammed during the summer but is nice off season. No surf there but Polzeath is just down the road and the coast path betwen the two is lovely.

Is self catering an option? If so we’ve got a few places scattered around the North Coast. Some on offer for September too. What dates were you thinking of?

http://www.helpfulholidays.com

Den Haag to Delft is a pretty cycle ride. As above Kijkduin would be my choice of beach along with Ter Heijde – both easily accessible if you hire bikes – in the season there are some nice beach bars set up – usually on stilts to avoid the tide! Scheveningen does get rammed but it’s worth a stroll along the prom and there are some decent seafood restaurants around in the harbour.

I used to surf Scheveningen a lot when I lived over there – mainly in winter – the south side of the harbour is a surprisingly decent wave on a big North swell. It’s also really popular for kite and wind surfing (there’s a reason for that…).

The Jordaan area of Amsterdam is nice for a wander with a good selection of cafes and brown bars. I’d definitely recommend a canal cruise – touristy, but gives you a good perspective of the canal system and fills you in on a bit of the history.

It gets slated by people living in Den Haag and Amsterdam but Rotterdam is well worth a trip if you have the time (only 20 mins from Den Haag on train). A really vibrant, modern city with an entirely different feel to the medieval cities – very striking modern architecture and a really impressive waterfront. Good art galleries and museums too. Must sees are the cube houses, Erasmus bridge, get the water taxi to Hotel New York for coffee and apple cake and have a mosey around the Oude Haven and Veerhaven. Harbour tour is also good – takes you right out to the mouth of the Maas to see the huge container ships and oil tankers.

doesnt matter how many wheels are driving if your using the wrong rubber.

..Which was kind of my point? :roll:

Zokes. Yes, I admit it, I made it up completely. Premium 4x4s with slick road tyres which weigh the same as a small planet are actually really great in the snow.

I’d agree that’s a toy. Avoid.

What are you looking to use it for? If just pootling about then what about an inflatable kayak?

We’ve got one of these – great fun and very robust. Doesn’t track as well as a hard shell but packs down into a duffel bag which will fit in most car boots. We’ve paddled the Wye and also done some sea kayaking in ours.

http://www.marshallleisure.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=146528&cPath=343&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=MLexport_feed&gclid=CM6z76HPgbkCFQbJtAodsDoADQ#googlebase

Showing a massive lack of originality but another vote for the Octavia here. We have the Scout which is excellent in the snow. The basic 4×4 is more or less identical mechanically – we’ve just got a few extra MM ground clearance and some rufty tufty trim.

With a decent set of tyres I was getting through stuff in it last winter here on Dartmoor which was defeating “proper” 4x4s.

For a more minimalist option, I’ve had one similar to this (but without the stand) for years which I bought in B&Q for about a tenner in the sale. Still going strong. Folds down to about the size of an A4 folder and doesn’t weigh much.

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/folding-bbq-p262903

Great – thanks. My boy did the Green at Coed y Brenin on a top-tube mounted seat at about 9 months and comes out on rides on Dartmoor with me now so he’s used to it!

Thanks guys.

Wife’s bike is a Gary Fisher MTB with rigid forks and Conti Travel Contacts. Think I’ll stick some knobblies in the van.

Reckon the green is doable with a child seat if I take it easy? My plan was to do the Green as a family pootle and then do an extended / faster ride incorporating the Blue on my own later.

@Cloudnine – hoping to save Nant yr Arian for another trip.

Clobber – if cr500dom doesn’t have them then I may be interested.

Conti Travel Contacts are pricy and a bit heavy but very very good. Fast rolling at high pressures and I’m yet to get a puncture in mine after about 5 years! Cope fine with a bit of light offroad too as they have knobbly edges – we originally bought ours for a mixed on / off road tour of the Western Isles 5 years ago and they are still going strong on the commuter today.

Seriously, would you trust a seller who let his lawn get in that state?

The bike also appears to have a milk carton in the bottle cage.

Some bucket scraping southern shandy routes to inspire! :wink:

I’d agree with JonEdwards that you’re missing out by restricting yourself to the North. To further address the northern bias (exiled Northerner here), I’d also suggest a weekend taking in a few South West options. A long weekend could easily take in the following:

A day taking in the best of the Quantocks combes
An epic Exmoor loop
East Dartmoor singletrack and granite

I remember Achnacloich and Tarskavaig being particularly good spots on our trip if that helps. Stunning scenery around there too with great views of the Cuillin

As above, Devon and Cornwall would be a good trip.

We live in West Devon and spend a lot of time on the N Cornwall coast, our favourite places for rockpools around here are as follows (low tide best for all of them obviously):

Crackington Haven
Polzeath
Trebarwith Strand
Port Gaverne

Further west then Priest’s Cove, Cape Cornwall is well worth a trip. Stunning.

Further afield the beaches on Sleat peninsular on Skye have some great pools – we spent hours messing around in them when we were up there last Easter.

It’s 110mm – BMX spacing. I’ve picked up the frame cheap and got enough bits for a build but wanted to avoid cost of getting another rear wheel built up given that I’ve got 2 spare 26″ MTB wheelsets which are now surplus to requirements.

My guess would be a DNS / DHCP issue. If your flatmates laptop is working correctly it may be that he has his WiFi adapter set to use a specific DNS provider (possibly from an earlier ISP) and that the one specified on the router is playing up. If yours is set to get it from the router using DHCP then that may be the source of the problem. Ideally check his network adapter settings and make a note of them.

Take a look at the WiFi adapter settings on your laptop. Is it set to “Obtain DNS Server Address automatically”? – if so change it so that the preferred DNS server is 8.8.8.8 and the alternate server is 8.8.4.4 (Google’s Public DNS servers).

Skoda Yeti?

Or Octavia Scout (I’m assuming you want 4×4). Scout has a bigger boot than the Yeti but seating not quite as flexible

Just thought of another. Stayed here with a big group of friends last year: http://www.burrowhayes.co.uk/

Lovely spot and walking distance to Porlock – Ship Inn and Culbone both pretty good. Millers down at Porlock Weir for posh. Some cracking riding around there too.

Hit Enter a bit too quick there….

If countryside then there is a great little farm campsite at Talybont on Usk near Brecon which is handy for the Star Inn, which is a lovely pub on the banks of the canal within striking distance of Pen Y Fan.

http://www.talybontfarmcamping.co.uk/Welcome.html

Reviews here:
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/reviews.asp?revid=8756
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g186455-d1392019-Reviews-The_Star_Inn-Brecon_Beacons_National_Park_Powys_Wales.html

For coastal then Croyde in North Devon is worth a trip – lovely beaches, surfing good walking etc although it can get very busy in the summer. Several campsites – Cherry Tree Farm and Bay View are probably the most sedate. Also several pubs. The Thatch is great fun, very lively and does reasonable pub grub. The Manor is a short walk and does more restaurant style food. The Rock in Georgeham is about a mile away though and would be my pick of the bunch – it’s a lovely litte place:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g2168025-d1788043-Reviews-THE_ROCK_INN-Georgeham_Braunton_Devon_England.html

Coast or countryside?

Had one on hire for our trip to Scotland last year. Quite liked it, and I’m not generally a fan of Fords.

Good

Comfy, good driving position, reasonably amount of torque. Well equipped and nice enough to drive. Quite like the look of them too.

Bad

Cabin space was OK but I thought the boot space was pretty woeful for a a vehicle that size. We struggled to fit in all our luggage and kit (1 big duffel, folded buggy, rucksack carrier and hand luggage.) We also found it to be quite thirsty over 10 days of mixed A and B road driving in the highlands & islands. Quite a lot of wind noise at speed too.

Overall impressions were pretty good, but I was glad to get back to our Octavia Scout which drives much better and has masses more room inside.

Worth popping into the Kegan Teg cage in St Just if you’re passing that way. Not sure whether he’s on here but the chap there is a mountain biker and can probably give you some local tips. Fab cafe too… brilliant burgers!