The cycle touring bug is great :)

There’s some fantastic routes of 2-300 miles round north Wales – not ‘named’ routes, but a mix of tracks, cycle routes, ‘grass down the middle’ back roads, and minor lanes.

If you’d like a stunning coastline / mountain scenery combo, I’d suggest starting in llandudno Junction – out round the Orme, along the coast, a circuit round Anglesey, back over the bridge to the ‘mainland’, out round the llyn penisula (stunning!), back inland to skirt around the mountain tops of Snowdonia before dropping back in to Conwy.

Let me know if you’d like more specific details and I’ll see if I can sort out some kind of map

Back on topic …

Duane – to be honest I’ve yet to find a decent restuarant in Bangor. The Blue Sky cafe is fabulous, but only open during the day. Otherwise, I’d suggest heading down the coast a little and go to the Garddfon in Felinheli.

Oh, nearly forgot the Bridge Inn / Tafarn y Bont just on the Anglesey side of the Menai Bridge is also reasonable (and within walking / taxi distance of Bangor)

Sorted – got one from wingmirrorman.

DD – many thanks! I owe you a pint if we ever meet :)

PS – this is why STW is great, especially when you’re a car-numpty girl!

DD – not heated or electic.

Project – I don’t think I’d be very good at nicking them, I’d probably have to ask someone first how to remove them!

Muddydwarf – it’s not just blokes that think wot you does … girls do too! I rarely ride with guys cos I worry about being too slow / incompetent / ruining their ride etc.

Trouble is, I wouldn’t want to be in a relationship with someone who didn’t do active outdoorsy stuff – just would prefer it if they wouldn’t mind sometimes riding at a more social (aka slower :oops: ) pace.

PS – everyone looks down on me – they have no choice cos I’m only 5 ft :)

Samuri’s ‘good laugh’ description +1 (not including the numb nuts – replace with female equivalent).

I decided that suspension was invented for a (good) reason, and the marin was more fun when not being rattled to death! Worth doing once though :)

Just had a fantastic foraging start to the day – found 3 perfect, huge parasol mushrooms and picked a load of blackberries … So it’ll be wild mushroom risotto and blackberry crumble for dinner tonight :)

Is this Elfin finally admitting that North Wales is better than London? (that well known sub-region of Cymru :) )

*starts doing a slightly tipsy victory dance*

Woody – proper LOL :lol: thanks for making my evening!

Better than the friend who’s just suggested riding in a bikini to avoid being humiliated by biking with boys who will be fitter and faster than me :)

Shibboleth – don’t let my mutterings get in the way of a good dating opportunity :wink: I’m only on here for the ‘what tyre for …’ threads :)

Kev – this means one of has to give Elfin a hug for CG … was that you volunteering :)

Kev ‘me and Elfin have some cooking history’ 8O The mind boggles! I’ll contribute to the beer / cheese / cracker requirements, but I’m not getting involved in any London / Wales cook-off …

Andysbeans – after all of that I think I’d be comatose :)

Blows kiss at Shibboleth – my dog and I are very happy thanks :wink:

Ahem … It’s probably because those of us girls who do more ‘interesting stuff’ are busy doing that than hanging out on Internet dating sites (and contrary to current appearances STW isn’t a dating forum!)

I’d far rather spend my evening biking / bouldering / playing on the beach with the dog, than meeting some unknown guy in a bar feeling that I’m being judged!

Thus I might be single, but I’m having fun and enjoying my life :)

*waves to Kev* – how was the pub?

Yunki – no need to necessarily start with instruction at an indoor wall (although both can be helpful). Just go out and try things. You can learn a lot from watching others (plus this gives you a chance to have a break!), and I’ve found other boulderers really helpful with tips and suggestions.

Re shoes – fit is crucial (don’t worry about make), go for tight, but not agonising. Go to a proper climbing shop, and ask their advice. Also, many good shops will have a small climbing wall section to try them on.

Tazzy – no idea what you look like, but I’ll wave generally in the direction of any and all boulderers :)

Bikebouy +1

Especially the points about not being critical, making negative assumptions, or judging people before getting to know them. Remember that trust doesn’t always come easily, and relationships (whether friends or partners) take time and sensitivity to develop. There are many, many lovely people in the world, probably most of them won’t be the ‘one’ for you, but treat everyone with respect and consideration and see what happens.

Oh, and if snowdonia bouldering is anything to go by, don’t forget to dress in your scruffiest baggy clothes, take a few beers and a spliff, and hang out round the bottom of the hardest routes looking like a rad dude :)

Yup, basics are climbing shoes and a chalk bag. If you don’t have a bouldering mat, and preferably a friend as a spotter, then choose your problems with care – even a very short drop can easily lead to a twisted angle if you don’t have a mat to drop onto. I’d suggest opting for low level slabby traverses, so when (not if!) you drop of it, you’ll just do a short slide down the slab.

Get the topo’s of the boulders that you’re heading to, and read the descriptions. You’ll generally find that outdoor boulders are harder than the equivalent grade problems on an indoor wall.

Enjoy! I love bouldering (both outdoors and in).

Happy Birthday Geoff!

Being in your 40’s in great :) for my 40th I headed off on a 3 week road tour round the biking hotspots of Utah and Colorado – had such a great time I nearly forgot exactly which day was my birthday!

Does life go downhill from now? Does it heck! Just got back from 2 weeks high alpine mountaineering in the Mont Blanc area, and planning of doing lots more. Age in years doesn’t define who you are or what you do, it’s your attitude that counts. I’m more keen now to head off and explore the world and challenge myself than when I was younger, combined with being more confident and honest about myself.

So have a fantastic time today, and get ready to enjoy your 40’s cos they rock :)

Managed my first 100 mile day mid-tour round the east of Englandshire, and a (sorry on foot …) tour round Mont Blanc

Deferred, but to be done next year and / or the year after – from the Channel to the Med across France, and the TransAm

Oh, and would love to do more touring in Scotland, and still want to cycle the circumference of Wales … too much planning and not enough holiday time!

OMG! 8O

Fantastic! Well done mcmoonter :)

Definately would like to read about the trip, and any advice / tips etc would be welcome as I would really like to do it (hopefully some time next year).

Ah, the ice cream in Llanberis – now you’re talking :) And in Beddgelert … pretty good in Llanfairfechan as well.

Maybe time for the inaugral ‘Snowdonia icecream road ride’ – a cycling tour of the best icecreams in North Wales … any other connoisseurs up for it?

The pizza and a pint place is the Gallt y Glyn – a short walk out from llanberis, but the best place to eat (the pizza’s are fantastic). Good to get there early if you want a table, and for extra kudos just turn up with chalky hands and talk about the rad route you’ve just redpointed :) As mentioned, the Caban in Brynrefail is the best place for daytime food (and is occassionally open in the evenings) – you can walk or cycle to it from llanberis along the path beside llyn padarn.

Pete’s Eats is usually frequented by the tourists as most locals know the food is better in the gallt y glyn and the caban!

If you fancy a bit further away, the Garddfon in Felinheli does great food (especially fish), and you can hang out watching the sun set over the Menai straits. If you fancy biking to dinner / pub, then take the old track / bridleway from
llanberis to Waunfawr over the hills and head for the Snowdonia Park – good standard pub food and a microbrewery.

I don’t have any desire to retire early. Like druidh, I’ve made specific decisions about work, but mine have been to choose a career which I enjoy. Consequently I enjoy my job – the work is interesting, I’m constantly learning, and the people I work with are fun. So for me, going to work gives me mental stimulation and social enjoyment as well as an income. Sure, sometimes it’s stressful, and I work long hours, but I also get 6 weeks annual leave plus bank holidays and TOIL, so I do have a fair bit of time off to travel etc (although my biggest problem is usually having too much work to do to be able to take all my leave).

I don’t have a problem with working til I’m 67 / 68, given that the average lifespan has increased significantly, and I suspect that even after that I’d like to continue doing part-time research.

As for pensions, I do have one but I’m increasingly questioning if it’s worth it, and whether it would be better to put the money into property instead.

hora – just to be clear, I was filming the CJA riots in London (about 20 years ago!) – nothing to do with events of this week.

user-removed +1

I too remember the CJA (and was down at the London riots filming for a documentary – some incidents of illegal action taken by a few riot squad officers were so bad we sent the footage to Liberty to assist in court cases)

But similarly, I am also extremely appreciative of the work that easygirl does – and am bloody glad that we have a police force for protection and support. Take the police away and the mind boggles how society would survive.

So user-removed – budge over, and make a bit of space for me on the fence.

nedrapier – did I interview you for my PhD about 15 years ago? It’s just that you remind me of a somewhat vitriolic old chap … when asked about what he thought was the solution to the causes of environmental problems, he worked up a sweat (and reasonable amount of spittle) to sound forth about ‘the need for birching and public humiliation … punish the yoof by putting them in stocks in front of Morrisons’ …

(and to this day I still struggle to see how this will resolve desertification or climate change :-) )

Kevevs :lol:

45kg and 150cm (obviously a fatter version of emsz :oops: )

Emsz – can we be ‘Team Lightweights’ with elfinsafety at some point? :)

Sorry – stupid opening comment. Of course I’m not the only one who feels saddened by this, and I’m lucky that I’ve not been directly affected. It’s just after a night of news updates and talking to various friends in Manchester and London, I feel utterly pessimistic.

Am I the only person who just feels genuinely saddened by all of this? Sad about the ransacking, theft, burning and destruction, about the people who are scared to either go home or be at home, about the people who have lost everything from either their business or their home, about how we have a section of our society which has been marginalised so much that it has lost any sense of hope / morality / community spirit such that they feel their actions are OK, and about how on earth we can go forward with rebuilding society after this.

And we are all responsible – this is OUR society, we have all contributed to make it what it is in some way or another. Maybe it’s time for all of us to reflect on how we need to change.

Overall, just gutted :(

Blimus – I thought most of Western Europe had an NHS-style system. Didn’t realise that in Germany and Switzerland (and others?), it is effectively private healthcare. And based on the comments from those that have experienced both, the NHS / public healthcare system wins hands down over private.

Don’t have time to read all of this in my lunch hour, but TJ / Binners / Elfin / Yossarian are making the most sense.

We are most economically unequal of all the developed countries apart from America, and this huge gulf between the richest and poorest sectors needs to be reduced – there is neither need nor justification for these levels of income disparity.

My only other addition is to consider how, as a society, we can ALL (and not just the poorer sectors!) value other aspects of life than just money. The research I do on understanding what people value in life, and what they consider contributes to their ‘well-being’ does not just focus on monetary attributes, but recognises social connections, health etc. Changing our society’s aspirations away from the purely financial needs ot happen at the ‘top’ – ie lets see a lead being taken by the more money-grabbing elements in Canary Wharf, than just putting all the responsibility of the ‘poor’ to change.

I’ve got the gore alp-x ones and they’re great. They’ve been well-tested as I live in the somewhat wet environs of snowdonia.

Not cheap (although I got mine half price in a sale), but worth it

Taking the internet out of all of this..
I bet if sue and supertramp met elsewhere,they would get on like a house on fire.Having read some of the above,its so unlikely at a glance.. but very likely in reality.
Sorry,ive probably just made sue spit her tea over the table!

martinxyz – didn’t have time to spit my tea – I was hastily running a mile :)

Ahem – steering this slightly back towards the positive and away from the politics (not that budgets / cuts etc aren’t important!)

Another big, appreciative thanks to Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital – treated my brother from birth til he was 19 (when they could no longer smuggle him in as a child :) ). Without them he would have died at a very young age, and now he’s still with us at 39, and (as he constantly mentions), has won a gold medal in the Special Olympics for cycling. Without the NHS, there is no way my family could have afforded the specialist care and expert consultants that he needed, and it is unlikely any insurance would have covered it without exorbitant premiums.

So, yes, the NHS gets my full support, even if it does require substantial budgets and isn’t always perfect.

Supertramp – no offence taken :)

TSY – hope I don’t give off any ‘whiffs’! But I like people, enjoying chatting to people, and would rather be smiling and enjoying life than being sad or cross – maybe we’re just not that used to people being cheerful!

A few basics …

Right now, I’m happy being single, believe it or not, but it can be a positive choice! So no ‘whiff of desperation’ here :)

Propositions from attached men being appealing – nope. If I get together with someone then I need to like and respect them, and I have zero respect for anyone who lies to, or cheats on, their partner.

Misinterpreting expressions of friendless from married guys cos I’m a delusional woman who doesn’t look in the mirror often enough – LOL :lol: Not really, they were quite blatent! And the answer was a clear and straightforward ‘no’.

Hels +1 :-)

From the opposite perspective, how come so many ‘attached’ guys (married / long term partners etc) seem to think that as I’m single I’d of course want to go off with them for a quick and dirty couple of hours before they trot back to their OH’s? erm, no thanks!

mmm … as a good guardian reader, I’ve been watching c4 news – lots of talk of inner city areas being a ‘tinderbox’, followed by the inevitable political point scoring about ‘why’. Just made me think about the ‘location assumptions’ that exist – ie if you live in certain places you must be a violent criminal, whereas in other places the police are more likely to assume you’re a fine upstanding member of society.

Used to happen all the time when I lived in Leeds – if you walked through chapeltown you’d often get stopped and searched for no particular reason, but as soon as you’d crossed over to headingley or chapel allerton, you were fine. Same person, looking / acting the same – but in one location regularly stopped by the police and in others you weren’t. Maybe the continous differential treatment people get in different places leads to some of the ‘tinderbox’ that politicians are so keen to refer to.

I’ve noticed it even more since I’ve lived in rural backwaters of Scotland and Wales – despite living in inner city Leeds for years, the only place I’ve been shot at or threatened with a gun has been in Scotland. And the police reaction has been completely different – no armed response unit swooping down, just the local bobby strolling down to have a look and going ‘ah yes, slightly different angle and it would have gone through the back of your head rather than just shooting out the rear windscreen – I’ll go up tomorrow and have a chat’

maybe we need to consider how we treat people and communities, and how that then affects how they react?