It appears that he had his gun confiscated and licence suspended last year following an allegation of assault but the gun was returned to him in July. That part of the tragedy seems a mistake in procedure as much as anything. As for legitimate reasons he could have been a member of a clay pigeon shoot, just speculation. As @reluctantjumper states, just because you hold a certificate doesn’t necessarily mean you have a firearm at home, it could be stored at an estate gunroom or at a gun club.

Mental health history is only taken into account at the time of application/reapplication so if someone develops problems, that aren’t obvious, after that then they won’t be picked up. Not everyone with mental health issues seeks help, they may not even see their views/situation as being that and others close to them might be “Oh, it’s just him being him.”, so there may not be any official record.

The alleged assault may have been an argument that got out of hand, unlikely that any firearm was involved as the police would certainly not have returned it.

I grew up on a farm and we had three shotguns. I’d shoot occasionally, usually just to scare pigeons, crows, etc. off crops. That will have been on my father’s licence. I will have been somewhere in my late teens the last time I fired one. After my dad died my brother then had a licence for the same reasons but gave it up following the Tony Martin case as, living alone in an isolated farmhouse he didn’t trust himself not to do similar.

@jimw – GP practices regularly charge for such things. Three years ago my wife and I took part in a bike event in France – the event rules stated that we needed a medical certificate from our doctor to confirm that we were fit enough to do so. That cost us £40 each for a letter that basically said: “I see nothing in his/her records to prevent them taking part”. You aren’t asking the GP to fix you but provide a service outside their normal day to day work.

Our van (Peugeot Partner) has a speed limiter. I’ve not used it but with vans having a 50mph limit away from dual carriageways/motorways it could be useful to avoid drifting up to the 60mph limit especially on the A65 where the speed camera vans tend to move about a bit.

As for “making progress”, in a car I’d get from home to J36 on the M6 via the A65 in an hour,+/- a couple of minutes. In the van it’s about 5 minutes slower. Not really worth the hassle. Coming back this evening a guy was really keen to get past me, he did so just after Ingleton. By Gargrave he was still only three cars ahead of me.

I think you have to be a bit selective in what you look at/choose from their range. Some is decent kit and good value, other items aren’t.

Five years ago more of their stuff was on the good value side of that line. Whether that’s due to having to finance the physical shops, a decline in quality or an increase in my expectations I’m not sure. Maybe a bit of all three.

The down products (jackets and sleeping bags) are a good example. I’ve an early Filo jacket which has higher fill power down than the current model. It was also well under half the price. It’s a good jacket but at the current price it’s starting to get towards PHD territory – I’ve a PHD jacket as well BTW and it’s in another class but at standard retail price so it should be. Incidentally the price of down rose dramatically about three years ago and everyone’s down products went up quite significantly.

There’s an on-going thread on an American cycling forum – quelle surprise! A mixture of views but one thing that stood out was that if anyone ate regular American beef then you’d likely fail a drugs test due to the growth hormones used. Similar to the supplements, you have to go to the “premium” beef to avoid that.

Food and supplements and legal medicines are a minefield. There was a case at the winter olympics a few years ago where a British snowboarder tested positive. It turned out his inhaler had run out so he’d bought the same brand locally. Except the US/Canadian version contained a banned substance whereas the UK/EU one didn’t. (Edit: Scotroutes beat me to it)

If anyone of us were tested then it’s highly likely that we’d fail even though it’s just as likely that we’d never “taken anything”. There’s just so much stuff in common foodstuffs. I’m trying to remember when I actually last took any medicine, even something like Aspirin, it’s probably at least a year. Even so it’s more probable that I’d fail a drugs test than pass.

Hmm, you ain’t going to be doing the Reiver in 8hrs @ 215W whether that’s normalised or average!

Just go and ride it – so long as you can chat you are going at the right pace. I’m assuming it’s still a mass start in which case you’ll be in masses of traffic for the first 5-10km and won’t be able to blast along unless you are right at the front.

@joshvegas – that descent is here http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=359592&Y=576717&A=Y&Z=120 heading west down to Crossgreens. You did need to pick your line on it when on skinnier tyres.

No milk, no sugar = no stirring

This +1000

I did it singlespeed (39×20) a few years ago. This was on an On-One Pompetamine. Had WTB Riddler 37c tyres set up tubeless. I also double taped the bars which worked really well.

I ended up rolling back to the finish in 11hrs45mins, riding time was 10hrs so a fair bit of time at the food stops.

Singlespeed, but not the above ratio(!), is a pretty good way to do it: you are out of the saddle for most of the ascents and most of the descents so little chance of a sore arse! I got to around 100k before I came across a climb that I had to walk. Then some of the long drags towards the end became a bit much. Again a more suitable ratio would mean more likely to ride those.

Make sure you sort your bike out before the event – at least 20% were having drivetrain problems when I did it.

From the Cotic front page:

If you’re wondering what all this MAX thing is, it’s our name for the bikes which have 29er or 27.5 Plus wheel compatibility. They’ll do both, for maximum versatility and fun.

I looked at it and thought it was “anai” but it’s been done with the first three letters as uppercase and the last as lowercase so “ANAl”

Go to openstreetmap.org, register then update/modify to your heart’s content.

Don’t do silly things like changing footpaths to bridleways or vice versa, just make sure things are correct which is actually quite hard to do. Worth reading the documentation about paths, RoWs, etc. as it’s not UK oriented and there’s separate markup for legal status, what the path or track is actually like on the ground along with preferred route (this is used for something like sending horse riders on a quieter loop to avoid traffic)

Your changes will only appear on maps when those who generate/distribute them do another pull of the data for that area and then publish them. I think someone mentioned that Garmin do this just once a year.

We got our last dog when we were living in N. Wales. We called him Mot which is Welsh for “mut”, “pooch”.

Then we moved to Yorkshire …

Alternatively go the farmer’s route: “Lie down you f***er! I’ll kick your arse when I catch you!”

You’ve got it wrong!

You knock the 27kg off your weight so you know how someone that light feels when they ride.

@thestabiliser – jeez! Those are two of the toughest hills in the South Lakes. I grew up just outside High Newton so know Tow Top well.

@slowpuncheur – a family friend who’s an HGV driver reckoned the A590 was one of the worst roads in the country before all the improvements. I don’t think those improvements have been to the benefit of cyclists. I always wince when I see riders on the A65, some very poor sight lines on that road.

I just want to know about taps / water stops / kit / timings etc.

The GPX route has taps and similar marked I think. Download it from the KAW site.

@slowpuncheur – the skid marks were in the inside lane so doesn’t (to me) look like the van was overtaking anything.

@crazy-legs – you’ve got what I said the wrong way round: I’m fine with riding along it, I wouldn’t want to cross it.

Ha! Getting off Thursley Common and up to Devil’s PB, by any chance?

No, it was somewhere around Liss.

@chevychase – hence my last paragraph/sentence.

When I lived there I would use that road to commute, by bike, into Kendal and TBH it isn’t that bad providing you are just riding along the road and not trying to cross it, there’s good sight lines all the way.

@martinhutch – coming from Milnthorpe you get to Levens Bridge then head into Levens village then cut across the Lyth Valley on minor roads either from Levens or via Brigsteer. NCN route 700 & route 70 do this.

We did the KAW earlier this year taking it steady, i.e. lots of pub and café stops, my actual riding time was 30hrs. By steady I mean my HR was in zone 1 for virtually the entire ride – just Butser Hill and one or two others pushed it a bit. Just checked, a total of 7mins in Z2 and 1m in Z3. I wouldn’t want to do it later in the year, we did it on the second BH weekend in May) due to vegetation.

I was on a rigid 29er (Cotic Solaris with carbon forks), probably ideal. As James notes a gravel bike may help on the road bits but you’ll be beat up the rest of the time. Not knowing the area or route we made quite a few nav errors on the eastern part even with GPS – blast down a fire road, but wait, you should have pushed through those bushes back there! type of errors. Once on the SDW, Salisbury Plain and the Ridgeway it’s a lot easier nav wise. Again not knowing the area meant that we didn’t know where the resupply/water points just off-route were (a bit of a cockup on my part concerning GPS “routes” and “tracks”).

I’d aim to do the tricky bits at night – sounds counterintuitive but you are going slower anyway so has less impact than getting the fast bits done in daylight where you can make good time.

The riding on the BH weekend was pretty busy with lots of people doing the route plus others walking or riding. The Tuesday along with Wednesday morning we hardly saw anyone, just a couple on Salisbury Plain, so I’d suggest heading out mid-week if you can.

I’ve been working over at my brother’s near Newby Bridge and he’d had to work his way round the back lanes to get home that day. It happened about 1330 and the road west bound was still shut when I headed home at 1830 with the accident investigation unit doing their thing. The following day I was back over there and the skid mark from the van was plainly visible and maybe 40-50 metres long.

The accident didn’t happen where I thought it would have been, i.e. where the A5074 meets the A590 here – http://streetmap.co.uk/map?X=347122&Y=485292&A=Y&Z=115, (that junction and the minor road to Foulshaw a little to the west have been the scene of a number of fatalities), but a little to the east. This is the view at roughly that point – Google streetview That shot looks as if it was taken around the same time of day as the accident so no sun in eyes of either party. So not sure what was going on, possibly the cyclist was trying to turn right and didn’t see the van or the driver didn’t see the cyclist until too late.

Knowing the area it’s not a junction I’d use on a bike.

Why the f*** are you putting the heating on at 18C? That’s part of the problem! Just put a jumper on.

Probably a deliberate deflection tactic: visits Scotland; refuses to meet NS; rest of visit is completely naff; make an asinine comment to cover it up.

He really holds a grudge doesn’t he?

We approached from Walden Head which I wouldn’t want to do again as it’s a bit of a hike and as the lady in the cottage told us nobody uses bridleway so doesn’t really exist any more (there’s an alternative path parallel). There’s actually a track further back on Temple Lane which would be an easier ride most of the way up the Walden side, not marked as a RoW but I’ve been thinking of going up that way sometime.

We went up from Walden Head – not something I’d wish to repeat TBH. The bit above the track that traverses the hillside was weird: a plastic netting nailed down on top of the heather, a bit like riding on top of a stack of mattresses.

Probably a better way to get up to the top would be up Raikes Wood from Buckden then just accept that you’ll be pushing up the marked BW to the summit.

It’s the wired Apple ones that I’ve tried, probably came with the phone. Simply refuse to remain anywhere near my ear!

I’m quite happy with earphones that have hooks to go over your ears but just wondered if there was a technique/trick to using the earbuds.

I love the Torridon descent into Achnashellach, it’s long, it’s got some steep technical parts and some faster more flowy parts plus the granite bits are great fun with immense grip.

If you are riding on granite in Torridon then you are seriously lost!

A Dales one: the summit of Buckden Pike down to Starbotton. Probably the biggest descent in the Dales, not technical but a blast.

Either disable auto-upload as suggested earlier or set the rides to private. You can always make them public at a later date.

Was out working today – about 18C all day with a breeze. I drank 4 x 750ml water bottles, i.e. 3L. That’s doing physical work, dry stone walling, for eight hours. I’m 85kg and wasn’t dehydrated.

I was chatting to an endurance runner a few years ago – he’d been attempting the Paddy Buckley Round in Snowdonia and got hospitalised with hyponatraemia, basically he’d drunk too much water and had diluted his body salts.

I (sort of) lift weights for work, walling, and it doesn’t make much difference. It might be that lifting weights strengthens other muscle groups such as the lower back and abdomen so the leg muscles aren’t doing more work than they should be.

Age seems to be a factor, I get cramps much more than I did ten years ago, I’ll cramp in bed or just walking around the house. Usually it’s something like pushing the muscle past my normal range – flicking my heel towards my bum will light up that hamstring as an example. One thing I don’t do as much these days is stretching but I’m not sure if that’s correlation or coincidence.

All the above is N=1 so anecdotal rather than “data”.

Yep, mainly in the winter

Not doing either but intend to pop down in the morning to see the start. See you then.

Lots of good memories from the Paddy Buckley

But not Bwlch y Ddwy Elor?

A couple of outliers of the Carneddau: Pen Llithrig y Wrach and Pen yr Helgi Du, easy to do together if your partner has the energy.

Moel Siabob, Cnicht, any of the summits along the Nantlle ridge

How long in total did that trip take you?

From his strava link: 2hrs40mins moving time; 4hrs22mins overall.

Edit: something looked a bit odd on the profile – was the tide going out when you crossed Little Loch Broom? 😄

I’ve actually driven off without paying (I know – string me up from the nearest yardarm!). I got to the cashier and she mentioned something about my snack purchases that threw my train of thought. I was about ten miles down the road when I suddenly thought “Shit! I didn’t pay for the diesel!”. Turned round and went back. Fortunately for me they’d been so busy that they hadn’t had time to call the police so I paid up and went on my way.

I’ve also had the filling station try to pull a fast one: filled up, value of fuel something like £42.50. Get to the cashier and it’s “£42.50 please”, “Err, it was £41.50”. After a bit of arguing I paid £41.50. The rules are that the monitoring equipment has to show the value dispensed up until the point you pay, I think this is the same as any Point of Sale equipment. This guy had cleared it before I got there so there wasn’t the evidence to support my side of things.

Great Dun Fell – really smooth road with no traffic to gain height. Cross fell is rideable to about half height and then it’s a mix of pushing and riding.

Just checked The Great North Trail – I thought it went over Cross Fell to get to Alston but it goes via Great Dun Fell. We did that bridleway last weekend – some shots here: https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=20380 we actually came up from Garrigill but heading downhill it will mostly be rideable apart from the sections that have been washed out by the beck plus one or two ditches. Best after a prolonged dry spell as there were still some boggy bits after all this dryness. It’s an easy BW to follow as you just drop into a shallow valley and follow the beck – if you are bashing through heather then you’ve gone wrong!

Aware that the OP might have already set off …

Generally:
Reduce
Repackage
Reuse

The list doesn’t look too bad but as ever the devil’s in the detail. Things like the first aid kit – is it an all singing all dancing paramedic kit or a few plasters and antiseptic wipes?

1x clean socks
1x clean bib shorts
1x apres ride keks
apres ride light trousers
apres ride merino T
Thin fleece for disaster weather warmth
waterproof jacket
waterproof shorts

Ditch the items in bold. No need for underpants, just go commando, no-one’s going to be checking. Wash socks and shorts when you get to your B&B and dry them overnight. A pair of lightweight shorts rather than full length trousers.

Not sure what you are doing with a Garmin to only get 8hrs battery life, I’ll get 12hrs out of a 510, even so a 10,000mAh powerbank will recharge it five or six times. If push comes to shove, plug the powerbank in while you are riding. Phone on airplane mode, you are on holiday. Should last three days with just a bit of “phone home” each evening. Also many of the tracks in Scotland go on for hours you don’t need to be keep checking the GPS – something like the Corrieyairack are one track that takes 3 to 4 hours where you are just following the one track. Just ride.

Both the phone and the Garmin can lose a noticeable % of battery overnight (both could really do with new batteries I suspect)

What!???

Fit new batteries! Li-On batteries should hold their charge for weeks if not months if not in use. Not doing so is just bad preparation.

If your bike’s well maintained then other than an accident there’s little chance of things going wrong. Your chain is unlikely to need oiling unless you go through that wet paste that grinds everything off, as above those little plastic fish hold enough oil to oil a chain twice.

Your responses indicate that you are trying to justify packing your fears rather than thinking about what’s actually needed.

Since someone mentioned me!

Gargrave to Bell Busk via Markhouse Lane BW, when you get to the road head towards Otterburn but after about 200m there’s a BW on the right, take this to Airton. Short section of road to Calton. BW up to Weets Top, down to road, turn right and head to Lee Gate Farm then Mastiles Lane. Turn left along ML, go past Malham Tarn. Keep going on the road over a hill, there’s then a steep drop and equally steep climb back out. Turn left at the next junction then in about 200m turn right onto a track. This leads over to Helwith Bridge. When you get to the road turn right and head to Horton in Ribblesdale.

Turn right by the pub and up a long BW. Before you get to the forestry there’s a new BW to the left, take this and at the houses you join the Pennine Bridleway. Turn right on this, go past Ling Gill and up to a logging road. Two options here: go right up to Cam Head then cut back left still on the PBW and descend to Newby Head; or go left and drop to the road. Turn right and take the farm road on the left which leads to a BW which ends up on the Dent road just down from Newby Head.

Rejoin the PBW and follow this around the top of Arten Gill to reach The Coal Road (a really steep road between Dent and Garsdale Head) go right and blast down to Garsdale Head. At the main road turn right and head to the Moorcock Inn. The PBW cuts up onto the next hill here but it rejoins the road further down Mallerstang so choose what you want.

Once you get to Kirkby Stephen there’s a myriad of back lanes to get to Appleby.

HTH

There’ll probably be a “handling fee” from the carrier/importer. Not sure if that only applies if there’s duty & tax to be paid/collected at this end.