Abersoch is a lovely location and is a good base out of season but as above does get completely rammed with the Cheshire set during the season. Should be getting a bit quieter now though.

Aberdaron area is lovely – Not been for a while but the Ship Inn does decent food and Ty Newydd is great for a drink on the terrace (right on the beach) coastal path from there to Porth Oer (Whistling Sands) via Mynydd Mawr is stunning.

+1 for Ty Coch Inn. That end of Morfa Nefyn beach is also very sheltered from the wind.

Surfing can be good at Porth Ceiriad and Porth Neigwl / Hells Mouth. North end of the beach is quieter. Aberdaron and Porth Oer can also work in some conditions. As above they are all lovely to visit anyway.

Boat trip to Bardsey Island is great if you are interested in wildlife.

Pwllheli gets an undeserved bad rep (mainly because there is a big holiday camp there) but seafront is nice and the old part of town and harbour are good for a mooch around.

Slightly out of the area but the west Highland Railway from Porthmadog up to Beddgelert via the Aberglaslyn Pass and on to Caernarfon via the flanks of Snowdon is great fun – you can spot ospreys en route and there there is even a bar stocked with local ales on board.

I was there for a surprisingly civilized and grown up stag do a few years back and loved it. It struck me as a very “liveable” city – great public transport, bike friendly, lots of open space etc.

As well as visiting some great bars we did a lot of the normal tourist stuff but it’s a great city to just wander around soaking up the atmosphere of the different neighbourhoods. It probably helps that I’ve been really interested in cold war history since I was a kid – I’ve devoured most of Le Carre’s stuff over the years and The Innocent is still one of my favourite books.

Sounds tacky but one of the absolutely best things we did was to do the Conference Bike tour – our guide was really knowledgeable and zipping through Checkpoint Charley at 30kph with a beer in my hand whilst cycling a dining table is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget!

http://www.donbikes.com/berlin-guided-biketours-berlin-city-tours.html

We went to a great area with a load of outdoor bars and restaurants around a disused railway terminal – can’t for the life of me remember what it was called.

As above avoid Lands End like the plague. If you must go there to have your photo taken at the signpost then walk it on the coast path from either Sennen or Porthcurno – you’ll see some truly amazing coastline and avoid paying the parking.

Priests Cove / Cape Cornwall is a lovely spot to spend some time – good walking in either direction and fab for rock-pooling.

Now that the summer holidays are over then Gwynver / Sennen would be my pic for surfing. Praa sands can also be pretty good.

There is a great circular walk from Mousehole to Lamorna, up to the Merry Maidens and back over the fields. The Lamorna Wink pub used to be a truly bizarre little place but is now apparently somewhat gentrified.

Porthleven is worth a visit for a pint and fish and chips on the quayside (Roland’s is the best chippie IMHO). Also great for crabbing.

We use the Eclipse bonded ADSL solution in somouk’s link above. It’s pretty cost effective and works pretty well for an office of 35 people – we are in the middle of Dartmoor and get around 20mb on 4 lines.

We also looked at EFM but it’s not currently available on our exchange – I’d be surprised if that was the case in your location though so may well be worth looking into.

Here’s mine. I’ve not had a bike with suspension for about 4 years now.

1×1 – Now has Mary Bars and Schwalbe Big Apples for commuting duty

KM – Currently 1×9 with Smorgasbord / Chunky Monkey combo

I joined the fire service at 40. Bit of an eye opener doing my BA training with lads who were for the most part not much more than half my age, but it beats playing golf!

Late September is THE best time to visit the South West. Generally good weather, warm water but none of the crowds. Cheaper too.

I can recommend Porthleven on the south coast – lively pubs, good restaurants and great walking and swimming nearby. Still a working harbour so not as gentrified or crowded as other places (yet!) and a great base to explore both the Lizard and Penwith. Kynance Cove, Porthcurno / Porthchapel and Sennen all fab beaches withing striking distance.

If you want quiet then the Roseland Peninsular is ideal- take a look around Portscatho area – Towan and Porthbeor beach both lovely and almost deserted for much of the year.

St Just / Cape Cornwall area has some stunning coastal scenery and walking – Priests Cove below the Cape itself is a lovely spot for rock pools at low tide.

St Ives fails on your criteria and gets rammed in the summer but worth a visit out of season – some great places to eat. Porthminster beach cafe is particularly good and the beaches are great.

St Agnes area is lovely. Further north then Trebarwith Strand and Crackington Haven are both favourites of ours.

If you are after a cottage then the following link will take you to some places the company I work for has available for the end of September, all close to sandy beaches.

http://bit.ly/1Llf9mo

If you want any further advice, then please feel free to PM me.

PS – Please don’t tar all surfers with the same brush. A lot of us surf down here – it’s a way of life for many and part of the reason they live here. The obnoxious minority you refer to are mainly wannabes and annoy us as much as they do non surfers! And don’t be put off trying it yourself, but as the advice goes, careful, it could change everything!

Hope you have a great trip wherever you end up.

Coed Y Brenin is a good shout. The skills area near the car park is good fun and a good way to get anyone who is not experienced warmed up before heading out on the trails proper. There was a stag party there doing just that when I was there a couple of weeks back (the groom had a lovely pink basket on his FS bike!). You can mix and match the different grades of trail fairly easily too.

As above, tyre and brake clearance would be my concern rather than the integrity of the bike.

It does sound like a CX or hybrid may be a better option for you rather than a full on road bike – curious as to the comment about price. How much are you looking to spend?

I moved all our work handsets to EE a couple of years back – we have people working across the south west and EE is the only network which works in a lot of places down here.

My handset has just come out of contract with O2. Coverage is rubbish so I’ll be porting it to EE too shortly.

Reliability has generally been pretty good. I think I’ve had to make one call to customer support in 3 years and that was following a mast outage locally which had all the networks down.

Spray loads of penetrating oil in and around the seat-tube and leave for a bit- if you can remove the BB, you could turn the frame upside down and spray some in from that end too.

Remove wheels, turn frame upside down then as above clamp the seatpost in a vice (flattening the end) and use the frame for leverage.

If you don’t have a vice then you could perhaps clamp on a pipe wrench or some mole grips or else drill a hole through the seatpost and feed through a length of metal bar (big screwedriver perhaps?) to give you some extra leverage

zippykona – Member
Can you hide them inside hollowed out Goth boots?

Thanks. I just sprayed coffee on my keyboard.

Although it does suggest a good idea for a halloween costume

interior nice heated leather seats all electric too’ but needs cleaning.

I don’t doubt it…

In a previous life I was an application specialist for systems used in engineering asset management. Worked 9 years in the rail sector and a similar amount of time in the telecoms industry prior to that – initially working on call centre implementations before moving more to the engineering side.

For the last 4 years I’ve looked after IT for a small travel company so jack of all trades, master of some. Do everything from web, networking, telecoms (inc contact centre), DBA, data analysis and development to fixing the dishwasher and unblocking the drains (really!). Was quite a steep learning curve as working for bigger companies we always had backup for that sort of thing or the physical kit was hosted offsite so wasn’t really exposed to the sharp end of IT all that often.

Is anyone else seeing an eclectic collection of Amazon suggestions at the bottom of this thread? – as I write this it includes including the Kris Kristofferson Guitar Collection, Ted Heath & His Music and random Blade runner memorabilia.

Links here relating to oil pump problem
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/2-0tdi-oil-pump-balancer-shaft-problems-the-definitive-guide-audi-vw-skoda-seat.140949/

We had a 2007 one which we bought 3 years old and ran for 5 years until it crapped its engine following an oil pump drive failure at 120k in January his year. It had a full main dealer history on a long life schedule.

If you have a Google around the VAG forums you’ll find this is a pretty common problem with the PD 140 – note the 8V SOHC version (BMM engine code) in the Scout is different to that in other Octavias.

If it’s a later model which has the CR engine then you may be OK but we also had other issues during our ownership: DPF failed after we had it for 2 weeks but we bought from a main dealer so that was sorted under warranty. ABS module also went kaput but again this is a well documented problem and I was able to argue for Skoda to sort it under goodwill despite it being out of warranty by that point.

It also had a few problems with exhaust sensors early on which were mostly sorted gratis by Skoda assist roadside.

DPF light used to come on fairly regularly and need a 5 or 10 minute run at 2500 rpm to clear it. If you do a lot of short journeys this could be a major annoyance.

Economy not too bad but nowhere near as good as a standard Octavia due to the extra weight of the Haldex 4×4 system. We averaged 45 mpg which we could stretch to low 50s on a run.

On a positive note, it was great to drive, had loads of space and was hugely capable on rough ground and in snow (we live on Dartmoor). The 4×4 system was brilliant and made the car feel really sure footed. I still miss it to be honest and I’d still consider buying a CR or petrol version at some point.

They are quite sought after, so you’ll pay a premium over the standard Octavia – I was able to sell ours on without a working engine for about 60% of the list price.

Firstly congratulations on your impending new addition to the family.

There is no way I’d even consider taking the new job in your position unless there was concerns about the stability of your current job. Even then my first port of call would be to look for alternatives locally.

New job + not at home + away from friends and family, seems like a risky move for her to me

This nails it…

If you are going to be working longer hours it is going to put a huge amount of stress on your partner at the same time as moving her away from her family support network. This is not a good thing, believe me… post natal depression is a horrible thing to go through for all concerned, and you want to do everything you possibly can not to set the conditions for it.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Postnataldepression/Pages/Causes.aspx

To put this in perspective, we did the exact reverse of what you are considering 4 years ago, both leaving well paid careers, halving our joint income and moving 250 miles away to be closer to my wife’s family and in a better place to raise our family. It’s the best move we ever made.

Money and career isn’t everything and other opportunities will come, perhaps even better ones, at a time when you are better able to take advantage of them.

I lived between Rotterdam and Delft for a few years and have to admit the novelty of endless visits to Amsterdam with friends and family visiting from the UK did wear off after a bit but I’m sure kids would love the museums, parks and canal tours.

I’d go for it if they haven’t been before but if you want to avoid the crowds then Haarlem is a good shout as an alternative, lower key trip.

As an off the wall suggestion I’d also recommend a trip to Rotterdam – the harbour tour is great for kids interested in ships and engineering. There is some really mad architecture (Cube Houses, Erasmus Bridge etc), always something going on around the waterfront areas and kids would love the adventure of getting a water taxi from the Binnenhaven to the Hotel New York for afternoon tea.

https://en.rotterdam.info/visitors/places-to-go/attractions/family/?sort=random&nextN=10&pageNum=1

Some further inspiration in these threads ;-)

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/friday-spaniel-thread

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/what-dog-1

Great pics!

Pigface » Cool, used to bump into a seal every time I surfed Abereiddy scared the heck out of you first time as you could feel something around your feet and it would give the leash a yank. Very big close up but was never aggressive just curious and playful.

I think I had encounters with that one too. He used to swim around into the blue lagoon sometimes.

I had a collision with a seal whilst surfing at Whitesands early one morning too. Had just taken off on a wave and felt a thump from underneath, came flying off the board and when I surfaced looked back to see a huge bull seal diving back under the next wave in the set. He seemed OK thankfully which was more than could be said for my board which had a 8 inch crescent shaped ding in the rail right through to the foam. Paddled in and patched it up with duct tape and wax and then went back out and he joined me on another couple of waves.

Here’s Lucas, last weekend at 8 months (Springer/Lab cross)

..and one from a few weeks back which I think I posted on another puppy thread (any excuse!):

WD40 / Gt85 should do the trick

I’ve got a cool inflatable type Sevylor canoe. Its brill, sea, lakes, rivers including the length of Wastwater and back.
However, if you have the storage space / transportation i’d go a rigid. They paddle / track much better and faster

I’ve got a Sevylor Colorado – it’s been loads of fun – we’ve done sea trips and also paddled in the Lakes, Wales and on the Wye. It packs down into the size of a large suitcase for transport and paddles pretty well for an inflatable (but isn’t great paddling up / cross wind) but as I’ve got a van I’m now thinking of selling it on and replacing it with a hard shell for the reasons described above. We also need something bigger to accommodate our son and dog!

I’m in Devon – if you are nearby you are welcome to take a look and try it out. Ping me a message if so.

Earlier model of the Specialized P2 perhaps?

My dad was always good for impetuous purchases.

Popped into a chandlers to buy some fishing line. Came back with a 16ft wooden dinghy and Seagull outboard. Forgot the fishing line though.

Went to the pub for a pint, came back with a series I Land Rover.

Went to get petrol. Came back with a puke yellow ex GPO Comma van.

Went to the pub for a pint, came back with a goat.

Goat ate shed and most of garden. 3 weeks later, took goat back to pub, came back with 3 geese.

You could say there was a common theme.

I run winter tyres on my T4 Westy all year round. Not noticed any degradation on braking and I doubt the van would get to a speed where it would make all that difference. Main advantage is not getting stuck in muddy camping fields. I’m still here.

Horner is a good shout.

If you drive up to the top of North Hill there is a flattish bridleway ride over to Selworthy Beacon. Nice fairly non technical downhill through the woods from there to the tea shop in Selworthy itself.

The riverside route from Tarr Steps to Withypool is good fun – flattish but with a couple of mild technical sections and involves a couple of fun river crossings – one via a ford the other by stepping stones. You can do a complete circuit via a steepish climb on a quiet road and try your skills riding over the steps or just head back the same way. There is a pub at either end too!

I live in the NE of the Dartmoor National Park.

Exeter is 25 mins away. Plymouth a little more. Bristol a tad under 90 mins. Lot’s going on locally, and quite a few similar businesses, and we’ve just got fibre in the village. Direct access to the high moor in one direction and forests and river the other. Great MTB and road riding from the door. North Cornwall and South Devon coasts both within an hour. Loads of decent pubs in the area too!

I really wouldn’t live anywhere else.

350K would get you an average sized property of a good standard in the National Park itself but if you venture north of the A30 then you’d get something really quite substantial with views of the moor for that sort of money (5 bed detached place with views recently went near Winkleigh for under 300K).

Re grain wen. Although the main facilities are up the hill, there is a composting loo down near the main site I think which was absolutely fine. There is also a camping area with hookup close to the facilities. Worth a call to check.

Home

Not actually on the beach but not too far from it. Fab views and direct access to walking and cycling trails. Coed y Brenin just down the road, Cadair Idris behind you and Barmouth and Fairbourme an easy jaunt down the Mawddach trail.

The Horse in Moretonhampstead is very good (we’re admittedly a bit biased as it’s our local!). Pub at the front, informal restaurant out of the back. Mediterranean style food – also does good tapas and pizza. Not cheap but very good.

http://thehorsedartmoor.co.uk/

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g315958-d1636471-Reviews-The_Horse-Moretonhampstead_Dartmoor_National_Park_Devon_England.html

We also like The Cleave in Lustleigh, interesting menu, good beer and lovely garden. May be a bit too pubby though.

Or if you really want to splash out, then there’s Gidleigh Park near Chagford.

http://www.gidleigh.co.uk/restaurant

Here’s our Lucas, now 7 months. He’s a springer / black lab cross (Springador) although often gets mistaken for a collie due to his markings – most are one colour and just have a flash of white on their chest.

A few folk have the same mix around here (Dartmoor) – really recommend it as a mix. Bags of energy, intelligent, loves water, great with kids but also really chilled at home. Just don’t leave your shoes lying round or he’ll have ’em. He gets 2 decent walks a day but is quite happy left on his own for up t 3 hours on the 3 days a week my wife is at work.

It’s all nice basically but Croyde gets particularly rammed this time of year so best avoided if you don’t like crowds.

Saunton or Putsborough would also be my recommendations for this reason. Barricane beach at the N end of Woolacombe is worth a look too – great for shells and generally a good bit quieter than the main beach, although you need to watch the tide.

As above it sounds like you need to lock out your firewall to only accept traffic from your SIP provider

Out of interest is the router you’ve daisychained the one you were using with your old ISP? Have you cleared all the connection settings / disabled DHCP etc so it’s genuinely just acting as an extender.

Do you get the same issue if you disconnect the daisychained router and connect the phone direct to the BT router?

Reason I ask is that I had issues with one of our home users last year who inadvertently had two ADSL connections from two different providers (Sky and Eclipse) live on the same line! Not sure that’s possible with fibre however.

Why trail centres? Be a shame to miss out on the great natural riding around there for the shake of a hot shower.

An OS map, a big tub of MTFU and a dip in the river will see you right. :wink:

This is something I appear to have to explain VERY SLOWLY to an increasing number of people these days…

JUST BECAUSE I RIDE A BIKE DOESN’T MEAN I USE CHUFFING STRAVA

We do its called the retained fire service, need some holiday money, big credit card bill? Well start a fire in your local area and get a turn out fee

If you genuinely believe that, I think you may have a somewhat inflated view of how much we get paid to do the same job as our wholetime colleagues!