Hmmm – I don’t think it leads to them being the most balanced adults – they like to be the centre of attention, find criticism hard to take, need a lot of affirmation regarding what they are doing, and is it the “best”. They have been developed in a very ego-centric world so sharing and empathy with others doesn’t come naturally.

Poor attempt at a troll… It’s true in some cases, certainly but I’ve come across just as many with siblings who would just as easily match that description. It’s more to do with how you’re brought up by your parents rather than whether or not you have siblings.

FWIW I’m an only child. Both parents worked so if anything I think it made me more independent and used to doing stuff for myself from an early age rather then developing the need for constant self-affirmation. Missed the support of having a sibling at some points growing up but can’t say it bothers me now.

Our little boy is going to be in the same boat – he’s a late arrival and we had a very difficult birth so don’t think we’ll risk another. He’s turning into a very self confident, caring and independent person and there is certainly no lack of empathy for others.

My Dad was rational as you like, ex copper with no time for the paranormal etc. He was driving home on a back road on Anglesey in the mid 80s with a friend in the car when a white hot ball of something came hurtling through the sky and hit the road about 20ft ahead of them. It was about 3ft across and exploded on impact. He had to slam on the brakes to avoid it and there was a small crater with signed edges on the road afterwards. No clue to this day what it was – ball lightning perhaps or a small meteorite or perhaps falling space junk or something discharged from a plane.

I’m running Conti Race Kings on my 29er. Fast rolling on road for such a big volume tyre and reasonably grippy in the dry.

Hi

Couple of links below to earlier threads:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/between-dartmoor-and-exmoor

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/haldon-bike-park-dartmoor

This is a copy and paste from an earlier post of mine:

There is a good route out from North Bovey to Hunter’s Tor, Nutcracker, Lustleigh Cleave and then back via Water. Check the OS map, but there is also a lot of good off piste stuff in the same area.

For more open moorland ride, there are a couple of loops you can do heading out from Bennett’s Cross near the Warren House Inn. Following is a good widescreen ride if it’s dry with a mix of XC and more technical stuff, and can be linked with the Lustleigh loop if you want a big day of it:

Bennett’s Cross > Vitifer Mine > Soussons Down > Golder Dagger > Challacombe > Headland Warren > Grimspound > Hameldown > Natsworthy > Jays Grave > Hayne Down > Hound Tor > back to Grimspound the same way or via Bonehill and Heathercombe and then back to start via Headland Warren

Also google the Stepping Stones ride out from Bellever. Again best attempted in the dry.

Further west, there is a decent loop out from Princetown to Burrator via the Widowmaker and back on the old railway line.

Gower is a great call, or as an alternative what about coming to Dartmoor?

Just a smidgen over 200 miles. Great scenery, walking and biking, some lovely pubs and not too far from the coast and you never need to go far to beat the crowds. Not many campsites within the bounds of the park itself but plenty on the periphery and you can legally wild camp up here if you don’t mind roughing it a bit.

http://www.dartmoor.co.uk/where-to-stay/dartmoor-camping

@pictonroad – that’s some serious rubber you’re packing on your van. Is it a Syncro Exclusive?

Whitesands is another lovely spot to check out down there – probably one of my favourite beaches anywhere.

If you want campsite facilities then Caerfai Farm is a great place to pitch up when you’re down that way. Right on the coast path and a short stroll into St Davids.

http://www.cawscaerfai.co.uk/index1.html

@SprocketJockey Where is that picture taken?

Newgale in North Pembrokeshire.

T4 Westfalia owner here. Van pictured with everything for a 2 week long trip to Wales last year.

We pack as light as possible and cram everything into the integrated storage which is surprisingly roomy – there are two kitchen cupboards for food and utensils, fridge, a small wardrobe (for coats, pillows etc), a cupboard with shelves (our clothes) and an overhead locker (kids toys and clothes).

The under bed “boot” has room for our inflatable kayak and a flexi tub containing wet weather gear / boots, wetsuits etc (flexi-tub also doubles as a campsite hot-tub / bath for our little boy!). Bedding and folding chairs go on the rear shelf.

Table slips into a special holder under the rock’n’roll bed, which also has storage space for lamps, hookup, folding barbecue and fishing kit. Bikes on the rack, boards on the roof. Job done!

If front mech clearance is an issue you could perhaps look at seeing if Surly Monkey Nuts will fit?

I’ve just stuck some in my Karate Monkey to get a bit of extra clearance for some quite fat Race Kings.

I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t fit in another horizontal dropout frame like the Roadrat.

We’ve got a Scout – great car, hugely capable when it gets slippy and the boot is huge – doubt there is much less room than in the crew cab versions of the small vans you’re considering. Yeti boot is actually considerably smaller than the Octavia if I recall. Could perhaps add a roof box for extra storage?

Caddy 4 Motion sounds like a good call.

I know you’ve discounted the bigger vans but it’s worth looking for a T5 4-Motion crew cab. Car-like to drive. Not much bigger footprint than a big estate and tons of room.

…just remembered another one.

Due to general poor hygiene etc we had a real problem with mice in our house. One of them used to regularly pop out of the skirting board behind the sofa and shuttle backwards and forwards between the lounge and kitchen carrying scraps of food back to its nest.

My housemate (same one mentioned in earlier post) made it a mission to terminate the rodent with extreme prejudice.

In the absence of access to napalm / heavy weaponry his method mainly involved sitting up late in an armchair in his pants and cowboy boots listening to Rod Stewart with a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand and one of those wooden meat tenderizing mallets in the other (and no that’s not a euphemism either).

From time to time we’d hear a howl of profanity downstairs followed by a loud thump as he hurled the mallet in the general direction of the mouse.

He never got it. Closest he got was to clip it’s tail whilst we were all watching TV. Mouse scurried in a blurry panic to its hole, but missed it, ricocheted off the skirting board and was lying stunned in the middle of the lounge. Flatmate pounced but was too late and the mouse recovered and scurried off to safety.

After that I like to think they developed a wary respect for each other and the mouse was left to go on it’s way unhindered.

semi-concious eating a kebab…..without the aid of her hands

Euphamism?

Unfortunately (or fortunately) not!

A good friend of mine (now director of an IT company) used to pee in the sink… perhaps not that uncommon in itself, but he used to do it over any dishes which happened to be in the sink, and would do so even when the rest of us were in the room.

He had an extensive collection of “art movies”. There was one known as “the glove puppets” for reasons best not discussed on a family forum which became particularly popular in our student household for some reason. It became a weekly game for the girls in the house to invite a fella back for a cup of tea at the end of a night out and for them to stick it on, just so they could see his reaction… I saw a number of them sprinting towards the door looking very pale. That was all until the tape got stuck in the (hired) VCR. One of my female housemates called the engineer out without realising it was THAT tape. Look on her face when the engineer pressed play was a picture…

Later that year we found one of our other female housemates splayed out semi-concious eating a kebab off the filthy (carpeted) kitchen floor without the aid of her hands… classy!

Shared a house in my final year with a mate who had dropped out in the first and devoted his efforts in the remaining years to making a fortune from becoming some sort of combination of Lovejoy and Howard Marks. He managed to stuff the flat with piles of cack bought from jumble sales and car boot sales which no one else wanted whilst dealing with the muddled reality of shifting copious amounts of industrial strength green matter. It really wasn’t going to end well…

Curried mackerel is really good (far, far better than it sounds…)

Fry off some onions, garlic and a load of fresh ginger. Add some dried chillis, turmeric and coriander and whatever other curry spices you have to hand. Add a tin of tomatoes and a spoon of sugar, season to taste and simmer down.

Stick some mackerel fillets in an oven dish, pour the sauce over and bake in a hot oven for 20 mins or so. Scatter with fresh coriander, and serve with some steamed rice and some lime wedges

Sounds like a great project…good luck with it. Any of these suitable?

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.

H. G. Wells

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

Albert Einstein

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle. ~

Ernest Hemingway

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.

Elizabeth West

The bicycle is a curious vehicle. Its passenger is its engine.

John Howard

We’ve got a Hamax Sleepy which has a fair bit of fore and aft adjustment and a tilt facility. I can get away with riding with a rucksack and my boy in the back.

I’d say it depends on the bike setup – if you have a more upright riding position you may find your backpack is in your face.

If that’s the case then what about a bar mounted bag or frame bag?

Possibly daft question but are you sure it’s the saddle and not a creaky seatpost?

I’d have the seatpost out and clean and re-grease the inside of the seat-tube before doing anything drastic.

Cadair Idris if you fancy putting the mountain into mountain biking.

http://www.theedgecycleworks.com/mtbroutes/cadair-idris/

Takes me a while to adjust to riding a geared bike if I’ve been out on the singlespeed a lot, and now find it really uncomfortable to sit and spin a low gear. I have to get out of the saddle.

I think the flow thing is the main thing in terms of speed – it teaches you about maintaining momentum and laying off the brakes.

On the fitness side you definitely get more of an upper body workout in hilly terrain but not sure it means you’re necessarily fitter. As others have said its more about technique, attitude and sheer bloodymindedness. I ride a singlespeed on Dartmoor and am definitely no gym-bunny.

We were trekking in Wadi Rum in Jordan a few years back. Miles from anywhere but could see a dust cloud on the horizon coming in our direction across the open desert. Watched it getting closer and closer… turned out it was a Unimog fire tender converted to a camper (like the one below) piloted by a couple of mental, wild-haired and bearded Belgians.

Have wanted one ever since (A Unimog that is, not a mental, wild haired and bearded Belgian)

surfer – Member
How did I forget John Martyn

How did I forget Warren Zevon!

…oh and I forgot to include a Fall album. Probably Extricate as that was the one they were plugging the first time I saw them live.

And I’ve got to include the Pogues too. Probably Rum, Sodomy and the Lash….

Oh dear. <brain explodes>

So riduculously subjective it probably changes on a weekly basis but at the moment, again, in no particular order:

Love – Forever Changes
Massive Attack – Blue Lines
John Martyn – Solid Air
The Smiths – Queen is Dead
Stone Roses – Stone Roses
Mercury Rev – Deserters Songs
Television – Marquee Moon
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
Neil Young – Harvest
Joy Division – Closer

If I could make it a top 15, I’d also include

Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel
The Clash – London Calling
Bob Dylan – Blood on the Tracks
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly

I could easily add another 20 or 30 from those posted above!

Was up walking through the Cleave yesterday afternoon with the family. As Bucko said, it was as dry as I’ve ever seen it – proper dusty.

Not been up over Hound Tor over the last few weeks but did a quick loop out round Vitifer Mine, Soussons, Challacombe / Grimspound / Birch Tor on Thursday night and it was also riding really well – most of the open sections would be the same.

You’ll have a blast – will be out myself tomorrow night!

@Sprocketjockey,
that pint at the Warren House Inn??

Well spotted.

Did an East Dartmoor loop after work, ending with this…. ’twas lovely.

All cyclists are a danger, but cars are only a danger if not driven with care. Can you see what he did there?

What a plank.

Getting a bit long in the tooth now but she’ll be missed when she’s replaced next year.

Plockton, Wester Ross, view from the cottage we were staying at last Easter.

Cougar I’ll buy you a pint if you post that on there.

I’d really like to think that it was someone from here who started this thread.

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1739894-To-hang-out-my-washing-wearing-just-bra-and-knickers

Pic (robbed from letmetalktomark’s thread) of the shifter / handlebar extension combo:

I had the same dilemma with my similarly configured RR after moving to Dartmoor a couple of years ago. I sold mine on as I already had a 1×1 MTB and needed something with gears for longer / gnarlier rides on the moor…. really regret getting rid of it now as I loved that bike.

If in the same position again, I’d be looking at going 1×9 with a RH bar end shifter or a standard shifter on one of those handlebar extensions a la Stoner. Could be done fairly cheaply I reckon.

Or you could sell the Crest rims and use the money to buy an Alfine setup.

OP – to clarify, LogMeIn and the like allow you full remote access to the computer provided that you have admin rights on that PC.

If that meets the requirement then pretty sure the licensing is irrelevant – it’s still the same user and still the same CPU which the software is installed on unless I’m missing something – we use it all the time and can access everything on my work PC from anywhere provided I have an internet connection.

Mikenewsmith is talking about online versions of the software you’re already running on the desktop which is a different kettle of fish entirely and may well have licensing and setup implications but could be a better solution for you long term.

+1 for LogMeIn free.

If your firewall /security allows, there are also a number of RDP clients which will run on tablets. I use Rdesktop on my iphone and ipad.

If you’re looking for something to supplement your AV then can really recommend malwarebytes.

I have a leatherman sidekick with me pretty much constantly for general use at work and home and it’s great. Nice and compact with lovely spring loaded plier action, good selection of basic tools and a really good blade. It’s something I use probably 3 or 4 times every day without thinking about it – just really well designed.

It will be popped into my pack for longer rides, and has been used several times for bodging trailside repairs, repairing kit and preparing lunch but there is no getting away from the fact that you will still need some hex keys and a chain tool to deal with any bike related issues, so it’s an addition rather than an alternative to a normal bike tool.

You could of course get a set of hex drivers but I see two problems with that:

1 – You’ll inevitably end up losing some of the bits
2 – The short shaft on the hex bits and bulk of the tool will be a big compromise when trying to access difficult bolts.

I carry one of these:

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TOPHMICRO/phaart_micro_multi_tool

And one of these:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7843

+1 for Pembrokeshire if not taking the bikes. Coast path is stunning, great wildlife and there are loads of nice restaurants and pubs. St Davids is lovely, as is Newport which is also handy for the Preseli hills. Some good boat trips out to the outlying islands too.

Aberaeron is also a good call – this place does great food – not stayed there though. http://www.harbour-master.com/

Gower is great too – Three Cliffs Bay, Oxwich Bay and Rhossilli / Llangennigth

Further north, Aberdyfi and the area around Mawddach estuary are also lovely but you may be frustrated if you don’t have your bike as there are some great trails locally. Some lovely spots on the LLyn and Anglesey too (I grew up on Anglesey).

To be honest you can’t go too far wrong on the coast anywhere between say Swansea and Conwy Bay. It’s all good provided you avoid the caravan shanty towns of the far north coast and the heavy industry of the SE, but even around those bits there are a few gems.

A fair few complete builds of 456 / inbreds and the like crop up on here and ebay from time to time around the £500 mark and I’ve put together a few bikes for less than that from ebay / classifieds finds before.

Personally I’d be going down that route – unless you get a real bargain a new bike at that price point will be perfectly serviceable but your mate will get more for his money S/H.