Search found 455 matches

by CliveyT
19 Jan 2024, 12:54pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Stena line to Holland with a Brompton as foot passenger
Replies: 25
Views: 2394

Re: Stena line to Holland with a Brompton as foot passenger

mjr wrote: 19 Jan 2024, 10:36am
Foot passengers board on level 10 or so, so it's only two flights of stairs to cabins and there are lifts but they will be busy at first and especially last thing.
Worth checking as well that the gangway is in operation- it was last time I went as a foot passenger but not the time before. If it isn't you are bussed to one of the car decks and then the whole busload has to climb the steps together.

Using the gangway I've never found it that busy, but I normally come in of the train from Cambridge arriving about 9:30 so 45 minutes before final boarding
by CliveyT
19 Jan 2024, 9:28am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Winter cycling photos and writeups
Replies: 205
Views: 24148

Re: Winter cycling photos and writeups

pjclinch wrote: 12 Jan 2024, 8:19am 15cm is the depth needed to run the Elfstedentocht, which is for tens of thousands of skaters all at once in a hurry.
40cm is specified for the Finnish ice roads, but then they are for up to 7 tonnes, which would be a lot of skaters all in one place, even after Christmas.
I know people in Finland who were desperate to get out with crampon like things for their gloves, so they could drag themselves out onto the ice if they did go in. Of course you're then soaking wet in sub-zero temperatures but at least the first problem is averted
by CliveyT
17 Jan 2024, 11:06am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: How's your weather?
Replies: 1941
Views: 94199

Re: How's your weather?

Cloudier here in Cbg this morning so a touch warmer but so far this week has been a breeze, sunny and cold but no fog and no ice. Even managed to get clothes (freeze) dried outside.
Well I say no ice but they're working on a fractured water main on the hill outside my village, so the pool of water on the cycle lane is rather exciting. I'm keeping the studded tyres on just for that, there's no need for them otherwise.
by CliveyT
17 Jan 2024, 10:59am
Forum: Bikes & Bits – Technical section
Topic: Bar end or downtube shifters
Replies: 49
Views: 2736

Re: Bar end or downtube shifters

What about my setup on the Galaxy? Downtube for the fd, bar-end for the rear, both on friction. Created during a full service when the half of the expander bolt for the (then) bar-end front shifter pinged off somewhere in the garage and has still not been found. I'm sure I could get a new one but the alternative was to rig the shifter up on the downtube boss and go for a ride. Setup works for me- double shifts are easy.
So what do you think- best of both worlds or a frankenstein abomination?
by CliveyT
12 Jan 2024, 6:51pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Is there a hole in the universe?
Replies: 17
Views: 722

Re: Is there a hole in the universe?

Measurement errors etc. aside I want the OP's GPS. I'm sure any circular route I take has more ascent than descent :lol:
by CliveyT
8 Jan 2024, 10:27am
Forum: On the road
Topic: First ride in four months
Replies: 130
Views: 19031

Re: First ride in four months

Mick F wrote: 8 Jan 2024, 9:05am As for pushing up a hill, living in deep valley needs a steady climb.
However, I often walk up Stony Lane .............. double chevrons ............... as it is quicker and easier than riding up the main road.

Note the long downhill. It may be further, but it's easier.
And it goes past the pub- win++
by CliveyT
5 Jan 2024, 1:54pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Cymru not Wales.
Replies: 24
Views: 1270

Re: Cymru not Wales.

mjr wrote: 5 Jan 2024, 12:32pm
Mike Sales wrote: 5 Jan 2024, 12:25pm English is Saes or Saesneg derived, like Sassenach, from Saxon.
Which seems a bit disrespectful to the rest of the English, like using "Cardiffian" for all inhabitants of Cymru.
No more so than calling it England (land of the Angles)
by CliveyT
5 Jan 2024, 11:18am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: How's your weather?
Replies: 1941
Views: 94199

Re: How's your weather?

There are two responses to the cold https://satwcomic.com/two-ways-about-it (contains an expletive so won't embed it on here)
by CliveyT
4 Jan 2024, 9:58am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: How's your weather?
Replies: 1941
Views: 94199

Re: How's your weather?

syklist wrote: 3 Jan 2024, 10:15pm In our first year there the difference between the warmest and coldest temperature was 65'c.
No sauna? I suppose that's Norway and not Finland
by CliveyT
4 Jan 2024, 9:56am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: How's your weather?
Replies: 1941
Views: 94199

Re: How's your weather?

syklist wrote: 3 Jan 2024, 10:11pm
After having lived in Norway for some time I now smile when I hear a UK weather forecaster saying that "temperatures will plummet to -5'c tonight". We will get some cold air from Siberia in the next couple of days and temperatures are set to drop below -20'c from our current -8'c. :D
I know that feeling. I wear shorts all year round and people always ask me if I feel cold. Having worked in Finland then it's simply not that cold over here.
That said I did forget once that in some of the airports in Finland you have to walk from the plane to the terminal. I was still in my UK clothes. in February. THAT was cold
by CliveyT
22 Dec 2023, 10:59am
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Fountain pen use
Replies: 34
Views: 1569

Re: Fountain pen use

I still do a lot of writing by hand for work, but it's mostly in my lab-book so there's always the chance I'll spill something over it. I know you can get waterproof fountain pen ink but pencil or biro works as well for what I want, especially when suppliers are always happy to give me new ones for free.
My handwriting is honed through years of conference note taking designed to be as fast as possible but only needed to be legible by me. I know my lab-book is meant to be a permanent record of everything I did so someone in the future can come back and check- I suspect it would take a team of AI specialists to train their model on some of my notes before it would become legible to someone else :lol: , but it's at least there and protected from computer hardware failure.
Interestingly looking through some of my notes the only characters that are perfectly formed are A,C,G and T - years of writing DNA sequences that have to be right have ensured that
by CliveyT
17 Dec 2023, 9:09am
Forum: Does anyone know … ?
Topic: Toxic armpits
Replies: 37
Views: 9385

Re: Toxic armpits

Get a cat? One day in June (when it was hot, anyone remember those days?) I came back from a long ride and laid down on our stone kitchen floor to cool off. Our old cat (now sadly no-longer with us, but I don't think it was anything to do with this) came over to see what was happening, took one whiff of my quite-ripe pits and was in ecstasy-purring head jammed right in my armpit nuzzling and deep breathing. If a cat, with a sense of smell many times more sensitive than ours, can find my pits not only inoffensive but down-right delicious then why shouldn't we?
On a more sensible note is this a recent thing or more long term? There are a number of metabolic changes that can change your body odour so if it is new it wouldn't hurt to be checked out. Also some people do just smell more than others- different microflora, different body chemistries all play a part. You just may be one of the unlucky ones in which case things that work for some of us may not help I'm afraid.
Finally +10 for avoiding synthetics. I wear them for day to day use and cycling his time of year but I wouldn't dream of it when ski-touring where I'll be wearing the same base layer for multiple days. If I tried that in synthetics I'd be waking the bears from hibernation.
by CliveyT
11 Dec 2023, 10:39am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Tour Plans for 2024
Replies: 79
Views: 9710

Re: Tour Plans for 2024

We're planning on taking the tandem for a loop from Hoek van Holland to it's birthplace of Waltrop and back because- well why not?

Also my in-laws go on a lot of cruises and they're always hinting that we could join them but it's not really our sort of thing, so we're thinking of one of the bike and barge holidays so we can get out and go cycling every day and they can get an (inland) cruise stopping at interesting places every day. Only issue I can think of is they're obviously not designed around cruise based sightseeing so I'm worried they'll only dock towards the evening when everything is closing so won't actually see anything at the stops. Anyone been on one of these that can advise?
by CliveyT
11 Dec 2023, 10:28am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Tour Plans for 2024
Replies: 79
Views: 9710

Re: Tour Plans for 2024

bohrsatom wrote: 6 Dec 2023, 9:59pm Other than that, got a long weekend in NL at the start of May which is becoming an annual tradition. We'll take the overnight ferry to Hook, cycle to Gouda where we have found a nice apartment, then go out on a few day rides.
My favourite town in the NL. Are you staying in the centre? because you can easily spend a day walking around the town itself. Especially if you go on cheese market day
by CliveyT
4 Dec 2023, 4:46pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Suggestion for 3 day trip in East Anglia?
Replies: 18
Views: 2694

Re: Suggestion for 3 day trip in East Anglia?

Just one thought about the trains is that a lot of routes are very London-centric so if you're going between two stations I would check the journey before any planning. Chelmsford to Cambridge for example is a 2hr trip via Liverpool St (or Tottenham Hale/Stratford).
I've done several routes Cambridge to Chelmsford and/or Braintree and I agree- surprisingly lumpy and some very attractive villages. I'd also add some of the routes south of Cambridge (to Newmarket via West Wratting e.g) or the Cambridgeshire Alps around Gt Chishill are nice and you get some good views of the flatlands.
I also quite like cycling across the fens themselves, although if you pick a day with a headwind there are only so many games of "guess which brassica will be next" you can play before you lose the will to live