Thank you all

depending if you need to get any mail forwarded to you, it seems a PO Box is acceptable, so long as it has a real address to go with it.

Opening the door of a bothy, not knowing what (or who) you’ll find.

Also:

Yellow gorse flowers against a cloudless blue sky on a bright spring day.

I have a question.  Why do we say gorse smells like coconut, when really coconut smells like gorse?

Recent slow leak in an old tyre fixed successfully with about 100 ml of latex.  I’d say go for it.

I subscribe to the school of thought that says if you are outdoors it doesn’t count, so if you are up a hill or on a bike or whatever then just get tucked in.  Pork pies, malt loaf are the current fuels of choice.  Tesco jelly beans are 3 bags for a quid and have got me out of bother once or twice (or maybe even three times…)

I think probably the answer to your question is take actual food with you rather than gels and all that crap.  Just eat what you like eating.

The withchipses popped their collective cherry last weekend.  Smallish ‘family’ festival with a very friendly vibe meant that we were pretty happy throwing shapes down the front of everything/one that was on.  Bit of an odd sensation in that the kids were up at the crack of dawn, so we saw more of the 10am acts than might have otherwise been the case, but a lunchtime nap sorted that.  minifishspecial *loves* The Orb now, having spend most of the wee hours of yesterday in front of a strobe light – I’m not sure what lasting effect that will have…

We took a knackered stand up indoors family tent (vango eos 550), with holes in the fly and cracked poles.  I was worried about drunken fools (self included) falling over it in the night, but that turned out not to be too much of a problem.  We aimed for the far corner of the family camping, to avoid too much through traffic – like above had folk pitching in the doorway before we’d finished getting organised – that’s just odd.

Chairs were a waste of time.  OK in and around the tent, but picnic blanket as mentioned above would have been a better bet.  Red Wine in a box (free pillow!) and spirits meant no cooling issues, supplemented by beers from the bar as necessary.  Basic approach to sleeping bag/mat/tent will see you right, so long as you are moderately happy in your own squalor.

Spare keks, wet wipes, hand gel, battery pack, tea and coffee making facilities would be sufficient.  No glass on site so don’t bother.  Wide range of grub, drink and other substances available.  Ear plugs might have been a good idea in retrospect (both for chatty neighbours and the pit).

Surprises for me were quite how fragrant some of the crusties get, quite how fragrant some of the tents got (zero tolerance my arse, but that’s part of the fun I suppose – don’t mean to be a prude about it but more than i expected in the family camping), and quite how old I’ve become.  All good – you’ll have a blast.

access at mine’s much easier… ;-)

mt – that’s very Brailsford!

Thanks – my accountant now suggesting that there may be a spreadsheet upload option in the offing so might hang fire a little while yet.  Googling (and the accountant) suggests QB probably does what we need and might encourage a little automation elsewhere too.

zippy – my thoughts exactly: thanks an effing lot HMRC.

I’m wondering if the flat rate scheme might be a good bet

MrSmith: not a hijack – pretty much the essence of my question!  Happy to discuss circumstances if its of use, but I don’t have an answer yet.

Yes, mandatory registered.  I’ve no interest in sending invoices from mobile. 6 invoices would be a busy month, not really sure I want to reconcile with the bank, but my head of finance might like it.

I thought so too, but my accountant says that MTD changes all that.

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/tax/hmrc-policy/mtd-vat-regulations-have-been-passed

6 seems more generic than some of the others, happy with Cairngorms but where in the Cairngorms? Scotroutes?

5 got me wondering about the devils beef tub, but that’s not in a NP.

2 – Bowerman’s Nose, Dartmoor?

Do they need something a bit more specific – that’s the German children, what about the rest of the clue?

Oh – yeah possibly – if you go down to the woods today/teddy bears picnic – kinder downfall

4 = peak district (Kinder)

10 = Yorkshire Dales (Wensleydale)

got at least one I think.  Are we posting answers on here or keeping them to ourselves?

I’ve got a helium 2 and access to banshees via the scout group.  Both good tents imho.  Helium is light but not stupidly flimsy, pitches as one. My scales say 1.4 kg packed ready to go (including my homemade footprint), vs about twice that for the banshee.  They are different designs though – did you mean the zenith?

Vango/F10 are the same folk – F10 stuff seems to be lighter/more mountainy, rather than family/occasional use.

I get a little condensation in the helium, and the skins are closer together when pitched than the banshees, so you need to be a little more careful not to roll about.  Nothing that’s a problem though.  Banshee was dry in v heavy rain, no worries at all, and a well ventilated tent.  Easy, bombproof, scout/DofE use.

The helium 2 is comfortable for me and a bag or for me and minifishspecial (bags outside).  One downside is that it seems to be quite sensitive to finding a flat site (admittedly a small one) to get it pitched just so.

I would suggest you skip the newborn size if you go for clothing – they’ll get loads of that and it lasts about five minutes.

Doors that way is deliberate – it’s to give you time to do your trousers up.

Clydesdale, cos they used to have a branch here.  Most have a free intro, but think carefully about whether you’d move after its all established.

Fickle buggers carrots.

I think what you are seeing is a combination of transplanting and irregular watering. Both really easy this year. One option (next year) is to set toilet roll inner in situ and sow into them. Water regime is still a nightmare .

I’ve no idea how the farmers do it…

yup, that’s a fair old lick to be going up the inside of a bus.

entirely avoidable (from the comfort of my armchair at least)

Tory free-market policy **** things up for us since 1979.

Slowly, but surely, they drew their plans against us.

1. wotw – and that’s this morning’s listening sorted, thanks

2. its the sensor – give it a squirt of gt85

3. parking lights as above

4. yes, see 3.

5. euro car parts if they have a deal on, topcashback works there I think.  Local Factors or battery supplier otherwise

6. edi council are renowned in transit planning circles!  you could have spent half an hour tinkering with your bike and still been quicker.

from your description I think it’s a bad week.  Maybe the sun’s got to them.

1. sounds like that’s a layout that encourages ‘short cuts’ in the sweeping lane you describe.

2. possibly aim to take primary (i.e. outer wheel track of cars), rather than lane centre to prevent the illusion of a space, but sounds like you did the right thing

3. not quite sure I understand the layout, ‘give way to traffic from the right’ but also it’s give way to traffic already on the roundabout – sounds to me like van man was coming through regardless.

I learned recently that at mini roundabouts you are indeed supposed to go round.  I had previously been convinced that I was taught that you could go over the paint.  I don’t know if that’s a change in the rules or lack of knowledge on my part – but a similar misunderstanding could have led to the situation in number 3.

I don’t subscribe to the subservient notion, but there is a difference between confidence and aggression.

vango banshee has an optional awning – the 300 would work for two I reckon, plus awning for 3-up.  you might need to be quite good friends though…

perhaps a bit heavy for solo use, but zephyros and its equivalents are good for that I reckon (I got the f10 helium but it’s basically the same design).

Some good advice here – I’ve recently helped out with a couple of trips, and would reflect that foot care is the essential element.  Our group doesn’t permit trainers (fine for a stroll, but less so when fully laden over longer distances is the reasoning).  Compeed is magic stuff, but as usual prevention is better than cure. 2x thin socks, or proper walking socks (Decathlon is your friend here).  One kid we saw used his football socks which caused no end of grief – don’t do that.

Less is more.  The bronze group had a mountain of food packaging that served no purpose whatsoever except to add weight and bulk.  There was a thread on here about bikepacking grub which might be worth a look.  I discovered recently that kids aren’t allowed to buy lighters, so you might organise that on his behalf rather than damp matches.

Get him to work out with his group who’s carrying which bits of the shared kit.  The one taking the food has a pack that gets lighter as time goes on.  The one with the tent isn’t so lucky.  Plastic bags are even cheaper than cheap drybags and weigh less too.  Don’t be the one at the back with everything hanging off the outside of their pack – if it doesn’t fit, don’t bring it.

I’m sure if you say on here what you are short of you’ll get lots of suggestions.  Have fun!

with apologies for the slight hijack, anyone got a pic of the PX bags on a bike?  It sounds like it might fit my Camino with two bottles.

Oh yes indeed.  Standard issue hill fodder.

I was told once by an EHO that deep custard tarts (the set kind) were high risk, but only after they’d been cut open – the point of it being a pie was that it was all sealed, so risk was low until opened (as you suggest).

I think this means you shouldn’t muck about eating half a pie.

Sounds like you’ve got most of it covered (and quite a lot for 3 weeks).  Have a look at Yoho national park (between Revelstoke & Jasper in your list), There’s plenty of decent walking options depending on how strenuous a day you want.

edit – i forgot: do a hot spring somewhere, lots to choose from.

robocopy into a fresh location?

edit: good luck with the syntax though: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/robocopy

http://vat-search.co.uk/

and

http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/

might help double check, but I think you’ve answered your question already.

We got good mileage out of a littlelife one.  Just looked and they’ve changed all the models, so sorry I can’t tell you which one.  2nd hand is your  best bet

^username checks out!

I know of one for sale in Cornwall if that is any use (a roadie touring one) if martin’s isn’t useful to you.  PM and I’ll put you in touch.

tilt & turn window to meet fire escape requirements?

if i remember rightly window ‘replacement’ doesn’t require the involvement of planning / bldg stds whereas alteration (to a door) would.

it is quite cheeky though isn’t it?

I think that c2w might be the real compromise here.

As noted above, there’s lots of dead good bikes for £1K (bird, sonder, voodoo, etc) as well as second hand options which mean none of the compromises mentioned need to apply – except they’re either not in your provider’s scheme, or charge a whack for the use of the voucher.

To answer your actual question, I agree with the others start with the fork as everything else is sufficiently functional, or cheap to replace.

yep,

rhs: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=218

I wouldn’t wait a month to start spraying your side.

I never quite saw the appeal of the dehydrated stuff – seems to need the weight of fuel/water that you save by dehydrating in the first place.  I wonder if curry and stew might take a lot of cooking?

My recent trips have included stir fry (tesco £5 deal gets you noodles, veg, pork/chicken and a packet of sauce).  Easy enough and doesn’t use tons of fuel.  Other consideration for me at the time was minimising waste, so cans and jars were out.

Simple pasta stuff can be quite tasty too – i tend to find I want a bit more seasoning than I do at home for some reason.  Again packet sauces are easy and don’t generate much waste, but maybe you’ll be limited by what you can pick up along the way?

Couscous (plus the obligatory chorizo) works well as a lunch – boil a little water, chuck in couscous let that sit while you prepare the sausage (fnarr).

brekkie tends to be porridge: bag up pre-measured oats and powdered milk (but a week of that would be heavy and dull).  eggs bacon and black pudding for a mid trip treat?

Kit:

jetboil and trangia sound ideal to me.  keep the rest of it simple – opinel for chopping, spork for stirring/eating, or find a stick.  washing up with sphagnum or a handful of grass.

edit – hadn’t really thought of couscous as a dehydrated food, but see your point.

have you tried taping the rims, then putting inner tubes in and pumping up really hard (like 80 psi hard).  Leave overnight, then remove tubes and fit valves and tyres.  You seem to be saying you are getting the bead mounted ok, which is always the bit I find tricky (soapy water for that).