Search found 1206 matches

by jgurney
23 Mar 2024, 1:08am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: European trains - sleeper service
Replies: 162
Views: 22168

Re: European trains - sleeper service

CJ wrote: 13 Dec 2023, 7:01pm Slightly off-topic, because we're not taking bikes, but in March my wife and I are making a bit of a sleeper-train saga, involving not one but two nights on the rails
Sounds good, hope it goes well.
We've never yet done that, but have made a few trips with consecutive nights on a sleeper train and an overnight ferry, such as Harwich - Hook follwed by a day in Amsterdam then the sleeper to Vienna, Patras to Bari then Bari - Milan sleeper or Lerwick - Aberdeen then a Dundee - London sleeper.

We had an eye on the two-night Paris - Moscow train but then first covid then Putin seem to have ruled that out for some years. Maybe one day there will be a Vienna - Kiev sleeper. I can envisage a surge of interest in Western tourism to the Ukraine once stability is restored.
by jgurney
22 Mar 2024, 8:08am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Should the BBC be privatised?
Replies: 121
Views: 4867

Re: Should the BBC be privatised?

Psamathe wrote: 16 Mar 2024, 9:51pm
Mike Sales wrote: 16 Mar 2024, 8:55pm I make a distinction between a trailer and an advertisement which you refuse to recognise.
I don't refuse to recognise it. It may be a relevant distinction for you but to me it's all unwanted irrelevant pushing something
Perhaps you are not a parent. I suspect that for many parents the distinction is obvious and significant.
Trailers for upcoming programmes do not encourage children to want things and pester for them to be bought.
Advertising is designed to do exactly that.
by jgurney
14 Mar 2024, 7:12pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?
Replies: 920
Views: 862615

Re: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?

al_yrpal wrote: 14 Mar 2024, 6:36pm Anyway we are out of the EU ...... The establishment .... will have to get over it..
The Establishment wanted us out of the EU and got what they wanted. It's the rest of us who have to put up with it
by jgurney
12 Mar 2024, 10:51pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Filthy bridleway
Replies: 61
Views: 2739

Re: Filthy bridleway

drossall wrote: 12 Mar 2024, 10:15pm
Pete Owens wrote: 12 Mar 2024, 10:04pmBut just because a route is designated as a public footpath does not mean of itself that cycling is illegal. For that you need explicit no cycling signs.
I'm not sure I understand this. As I see it, if a route is designated as a public footpath, there is no more reason to believe that cycling is allowed than for cutting across a random field where no rights of way are designated at all. That way lies anarchy, surely? Unless we are going to deny property rights at all, we have to have some respect and ride where we actively know that we are allowed to do so, rather than anywhere except where we know that we cannot.
You are both right. A route being a public footpath does not create any reason to suppose that cycling is allowed there, and neither does it of itself mean that cycling there would be an unlawful act.

A public footpath may, for example, also be a permissive bridleway or pass over land owned by a local authority (e.g. in a park) which allows cycling there without creating any permanent right to do so.

I tend to agree that in the absence of reasons to think otherwise it is wiser to proceed on the assumption that cycling is not allowed anywhere which is not a highway or other right of way.
by jgurney
12 Mar 2024, 12:13am
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Cateye cycle speedo/computer adds stealth miles overnight?
Replies: 15
Views: 883

Re: Cateye cycle speedo/computer adds stealth miles overnight?

Some years ago I had a wireless cycle computer which showed a speed reading of 99mph, and logged mileage accordingly, whenever it was near a railway with an overhead power line. I have stuck to wire-connected ones ever since.
by jgurney
7 Mar 2024, 7:43am
Forum: On the road
Topic: 20mph Did you know, FACT!
Replies: 55
Views: 6194

Re: 20mph Did you know, FACT!

Psamathe wrote: 6 Mar 2024, 10:29pm Any regulations about the max. speed of horses?
Under the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 it is illegal to ride a horse "furiously" on a public highway. The most recent prosecution for this which I have found was in 2014 when one Elizabeth Millard, aged 65, of Woking was convicted after complaints that she had been galloping around on bridleways in the Horsell area, alarming pedestrians and other equestrians.
by jgurney
15 Feb 2024, 4:54pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?
Replies: 920
Views: 862615

Re: Are you "Infected by a remainer mind virus"?

roubaixtuesday wrote: 15 Feb 2024, 11:58am I think there's no prospect of either the UK applying or the EU accepting unless there is a long term consensus in the UK that it's the right thing to do.

Current polling is very much in favour of rejoin, but current politics not at all. And anyway, that's far to short term.
There was no long-term consensus that leaving was the right thing to do. Contemporary polling was only marginally in favour of leaving at the time. That was not considered to be far too short term.
by jgurney
29 Jan 2024, 10:19am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Security on Ferries
Replies: 23
Views: 1444

Re: Security on Ferries

The first time I did that, I had not thought ahead and had to take both panniers to the cabin as the stuff I wanted overnight was spread between both. On later trips I put everything needed overnight in one pannier and took that and the barbag to the cabin, leaving the other one with the bike.
by jgurney
7 Jan 2024, 10:42am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Flight-Free Holidays
Replies: 62
Views: 2762

Re: Flight-Free Holidays

It is certainly possible to get all over Europe without flying. We have been on holidays in Spain, Corsica, Italy, Austria and Greece without flying.

Some recent changes have made some routes easier but others more complicated. The reappearance of the Brussels - Vienna and Amsterdam - Vienna sleepers makes journeys to Austria and beyond simpler, but the through train from London to Marseille not being reinstated post-covid has made getting to Corsica less convenient, and the recent demise of the Thello (the Paris - Venice sleeper) complicates getting to Italy and onward to Greece.
millimole wrote: 6 Jan 2024, 11:55am
we did, and came back via Vienna and the sleeper train to Amsterdam (never again - I'm too old for that, even in the luxury compartment!)
Sympathies. Not being able to get comfortable on sleepers must be a real nuisance. It seems to vary a lot between individuals. On that particular route you might find that a private couchette compartment is more comfortable as well as cheaper than the sleeper compartment. (It is possible on that route to book a whole couchette compartment, intended for six people in medium comfort, for use by two occupants at a bit less than the fare for a two-berth sleeper compartment. The couchette compartments are a bit bigger and have two 'ground -floor' beds rather than the bunks in sleeper. The only real gains of a sleeper compartment are that you get a washbasin in the cabin and a bigger breakfast).
by jgurney
1 Jan 2024, 8:58pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Two robberies a day in London as bike-jacking epidemic takes hold - telegraph
Replies: 20
Views: 2339

Re: Two robberies a day in London as bike-jacking epidemic takes hold - telegraph

Carlton green wrote: 1 Jan 2024, 5:45pm
Is seizing some else’s bike a new thing? To my mind such things have been going on for decades - as has theft in general - and in a place so large as London I’d anticipate a lot of theft. My bigger concern for London is road safety, and in particular the safety of cyclists.
Stealing bikes by breaking locks or burgling sheds is not new. But robberies in which cyclists are knocked off their bikes by motorcyclists and threatened with knives while thier bikes are taken is a serious increase in violence.
by jgurney
14 Dec 2023, 5:04pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Why have I never thought of this route before???
Replies: 8
Views: 4521

Re: Why have I never thought of this route before???

jgurney wrote: 14 Dec 2023, 4:58pm
rjb wrote: 14 Dec 2023, 4:25pm You could have started further down the sw peninsula and taken in Brown Willy and Crapstone.
And passed through Sussex to visit Balls Cross .....
And then perhaps pass Sigmund Freud's old home in Hampstead on route. He might have been interested in our motivations for this bit of route planning .....
by jgurney
14 Dec 2023, 4:58pm
Forum: Lands End to John O'Groats
Topic: Why have I never thought of this route before???
Replies: 8
Views: 4521

Re: Why have I never thought of this route before???

rjb wrote: 14 Dec 2023, 4:25pm You could have started further down the sw peninsula and taken in Brown Willy and Crapstone.
And passed through Sussex to visit Balls Cross .....
by jgurney
29 Nov 2023, 8:46pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Cycling from London to Somerset
Replies: 31
Views: 3266

Re: Cycling from London to Somerset

mjr wrote: 29 Nov 2023, 8:54am
jgurney wrote: 28 Nov 2023, 11:53pm
mjr wrote: 28 Nov 2023, 6:04pm
Very few people enjoy riding a 60 mph single carriageway carrying 15-25'000 vehicles per day. It's not fine.
You are evading the issue. Do you continue to accuse me of being a liar or do you retract it?
I never accused you of that.
Pretending generally involves telling lies
by jgurney
29 Nov 2023, 8:44pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Cycling from London to Somerset
Replies: 31
Views: 3266

Re: Cycling from London to Somerset

Bmblbzzz wrote: 29 Nov 2023, 6:55pm parts of the A4 are very pleasant and really very quiet. Riding past Silbury Hill and West Kennet long barrow, for instance.
Yes, I have ridden on it between Marlborough and Aldermaston*. Pleasant from Marlborough to Newbury, boring but otherwise OK from there on.
it's one of those roads which is wider than would normally be considered justified for the amount of traffic it carries.
Yes, that is definitely a welcome feature of many superceded trunk roads. Lanes wide enough to allow most cars to overtake 'in-lane' do make for a more relaxed cycling environment.

(*I have also used it rather more often between Osterley and Kensington, less pleasant but functional for commuting, particularly before the ban on cycling over the Hammersmith flyover).
by jgurney
28 Nov 2023, 11:53pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Cycling from London to Somerset
Replies: 31
Views: 3266

Re: Cycling from London to Somerset

mjr wrote: 28 Nov 2023, 6:04pm
jgurney wrote: 28 Nov 2023, 5:53pm
mjr wrote: 28 Nov 2023, 1:07pm seem willing to pretend that it's fine.
I am not pretending anything. I have never thought of the A30 between Bagshott and Basingstoke as being a challenge to ride.
Very few people enjoy riding a 60 mph single carriageway carrying 15-25'000 vehicles per day. It's not fine.
You are evading the issue. Do you continue to accuse me of being a liar or do you retract it?