NPR

Paddington Bear wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 4:06 pm Did the West Highland Way this week on something of the spur of the moment - done in 4.5 days.
Hell of an experience, stunning scenery, well waymarked etc, and would recommend to anyone. Similarly would recommend how I got home on the Sleeper - watching the last couple of hours of daylight pass on the West Highland Line whilst having a beer and some food, chatting with strangers before waking up in London is quite the experience in of itself.

The process of drying my clothes/kit seems likely to enter a second day!

Slick wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:05 pm Just back from Madeira. Lovely place, great food, very safe and unbelievably cheap for Europe’.

Is definitely still an older destination but big changes since we were last there and lots of stuff for young families like ours

Slick wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:05 pm Just back from Madeira. Lovely place, great food, very safe and unbelievably cheap for Europe’.

Is definitely still an older destination but big changes since we were last there and lots of stuff for young families like ours

Tichtheid wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:13 pm

Slick wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:05 pm Just back from Madeira. Lovely place, great food, very safe and unbelievably cheap for Europe’.

Is definitely still an older destination but big changes since we were last there and lots of stuff for young families like ours

What was the landing at the airport like?

It can be, interesting, from what I gather.

My wife's parents used to go there and I know others that are older who loved it there

sefton wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 8:38 pm Off to Pathos a week Sunday with the missus and kids. Never done Cyprus before.

Tichtheid wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:13 pm

Slick wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:05 pm Just back from Madeira. Lovely place, great food, very safe and unbelievably cheap for Europe’.

Is definitely still an older destination but big changes since we were last there and lots of stuff for young families like ours

What was the landing at the airport like?

It can be, interesting, from what I gather.

My wife's parents used to go there and I know others that are older who loved it there

salanya wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:23 pm

Slick wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:05 pm Just back from Madeira. Lovely place, great food, very safe and unbelievably cheap for Europe’.

Is definitely still an older destination but big changes since we were last there and lots of stuff for young families like ours

Went to Madeira in June.
Lovely island, beautiful gardens, cool to see dolphins. Poncha was tasty too!
We thought the food was a bit mixed though.
Very glad not to be driving there - some steep hills about!

Slick wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:05 pm Just back from Madeira. Lovely place, great food, very safe and unbelievably cheap for Europe’.

Is definitely still an older destination but big changes since we were last there and lots of stuff for young families like ours

Blackmac wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2023 7:06 am

Slick wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2023 9:05 pm Just back from Madeira. Lovely place, great food, very safe and unbelievably cheap for Europe’.

Is definitely still an older destination but big changes since we were last there and lots of stuff for young families like ours

Good to hear. Just booked for next August.

Glaston wrote: Sat Jul 15, 2023 8:41 pm The Med heatwave seems to be missing a lot of S France.
Had 2 days of cloud in last 4, hours of drizzle today and temp has now gone below 17c.
Re-acclimatising to UK weather

Cicadas are annoying.

C69 wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2023 2:55 pm I go to Barcelona in a few weeks. Hopefully the med will have cooled a little by then.

TB63 wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2023 4:12 pm

C69 wrote: Sun Jul 16, 2023 2:55 pm I go to Barcelona in a few weeks. Hopefully the med will have cooled a little by then.

What's wrong with visiting your hom.....oh, wait....

Blackmac wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:41 pm Third time in two years we have booked Ryanair flights at decent times, only to find them cancelling the flight months later and putting you on flights at really shit times. I know people will say 'what do you expect it's Ryanair" but sometimes they are the only option we have up here. You just wonder if it's a scheme to trap you into shit flights.

Gav wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:57 pm

Blackmac wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:41 pm Third time in two years we have booked Ryanair flights at decent times, only to find them cancelling the flight months later and putting you on flights at really shit times. I know people will say 'what do you expect it's Ryanair" but sometimes they are the only option we have up here. You just wonder if it's a scheme to trap you into shit flights.

Define really shit times?

Blackmac wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 6:04 pm

Gav wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:57 pm

Blackmac wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:41 pm Third time in two years we have booked Ryanair flights at decent times, only to find them cancelling the flight months later and putting you on flights at really shit times. I know people will say 'what do you expect it's Ryanair" but sometimes they are the only option we have up here. You just wonder if it's a scheme to trap you into shit flights.

Define really shit times?

Going to Barcelona. Initially flying at 1210 but new flight is at 2045 which means getting into Barcelona at 0030 so unlikely to be at you hotel until nearer 0200. Did the same with a Dublin flight. Moved from 0930 to 2100. As to their call center. That's another joke. Tell you its a 5 minute wait, but that's just to the first call handler who can do fuck all but direct you into the hour long queues.

Dinsdale Piranha wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 9:14 pm

Blackmac wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 6:04 pm

Gav wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 5:57 pm

Define really shit times?

Going to Barcelona. Initially flying at 1210 but new flight is at 2045 which means getting into Barcelona at 0030 so unlikely to be at you hotel until nearer 0200. Did the same with a Dublin flight. Moved from 0930 to 2100. As to their call center. That's another joke. Tell you its a 5 minute wait, but that's just to the first call handler who can do fuck all but direct you into the hour long queues.

A friend had the following stunt pulled by BA a year ot 2 back - Worth checking if Ryanair are pulling the same trick.

Flight booked London to Glasgow for 2pm. Price is pretty good. A couple of weeks before he is notified that the flight is moved to 7pm which is too late for him to make his appointment.

Now, a quick check shows that A new BA flight does London - Glasgow at 2pm the same day on the same plane type but because it's a different flight number he has to book a new ticket if he wants it at 3x the price - almost £300.

BA decided he hadn't paid enough so found a legal way to effectively 'cancel' his flight and sell it for more money.

GogLais wrote: Mon Jul 17, 2023 7:46 pm Must say we’ve flown a fair bit with EasyJet and Ryanair from Manc and L’pool over the years and on the whole they’ve been fine. Touching a big bit of wood as I say it.

There are more than 150 tripoints in the world (ed. a place where the borders of three nations meet) but only one international quadripoint and here we were. Perched precariously, in the top of a 2,000-year-old baobab tree, looking out over the only place in the world where four countries meet and two great African rivers join. We were on Impalila Island, on the banks of the Chobe River, at the eastern tip of the Caprivi Strip, a small slither of land that belongs to Namibia. From our vantage point at the top of the tree, we could see Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia as well as the confluence of the Chobe and Zambezi Rivers.

vball wrote: Mon Jul 31, 2023 11:23 am I had 2 Chobe River safaris with Pangolin Safaris last year there .... great place and great wildlife photography.
Want to go back again.

Sards wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 7:17 am Last minute dot com we decided to celebrate my 60th birthday away from home. We are inviting 4 families of our closest friends and have booked a weekend away at a 15 bed house on the Breerivier at a place called Malgas . Loads for the kids to do. Swimming at our own private beach. Boating. We have a jetty too. Fishing.....and of course as much noise as we like being quite isolated. We haven't done this for a few years now since our favorite place got burnt down . Hoping we have found our next location. We always feel that our birthdays should be celebrated with only close friends and over a weekend instead of just an evening. Makes it more special. And the kids look forward to it. Even for the boys birthdays we go away with a group of friends for the weekend. If you calculate the costs involved it's pretty much the same as throwing a big party and people get invited that are not close. So amped for this now....I was pretty meh about my 60th before.

Sandstorm wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:12 am

Sards wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 7:17 am Last minute dot com we decided to celebrate my 60th birthday away from home. We are inviting 4 families of our closest friends and have booked a weekend away at a 15 bed house on the Breerivier at a place called Malgas . Loads for the kids to do. Swimming at our own private beach. Boating. We have a jetty too. Fishing.....and of course as much noise as we like being quite isolated. We haven't done this for a few years now since our favorite place got burnt down . Hoping we have found our next location. We always feel that our birthdays should be celebrated with only close friends and over a weekend instead of just an evening. Makes it more special. And the kids look forward to it. Even for the boys birthdays we go away with a group of friends for the weekend. If you calculate the costs involved it's pretty much the same as throwing a big party and people get invited that are not close. So amped for this now....I was pretty meh about my 60th before.

When is your birthday? Swimming in the Breeriver in winter isn't for sissies.

assfly wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:33 am Just back from a week at the coast. Watamu must be one of the best beach holidays in Africa. Incredible scenery, loads of things to do, great food.

Camped in Tsavo on the way down. Had to wait for 7 lions to leave the campsite before we could set up, and had a lot of hippos nearby during the night. Didn't get much sleep but what a buzz.

Sandstorm wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:12 am

Sards wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 7:17 am Last minute dot com we decided to celebrate my 60th birthday away from home. We are inviting 4 families of our closest friends and have booked a weekend away at a 15 bed house on the Breerivier at a place called Malgas . Loads for the kids to do. Swimming at our own private beach. Boating. We have a jetty too. Fishing.....and of course as much noise as we like being quite isolated. We haven't done this for a few years now since our favorite place got burnt down . Hoping we have found our next location. We always feel that our birthdays should be celebrated with only close friends and over a weekend instead of just an evening. Makes it more special. And the kids look forward to it. Even for the boys birthdays we go away with a group of friends for the weekend. If you calculate the costs involved it's pretty much the same as throwing a big party and people get invited that are not close. So amped for this now....I was pretty meh about my 60th before.

When is your birthday? Swimming in the Breeriver in winter isn't for sissies.

Sards wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:49 am

Sandstorm wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:12 am

Sards wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 7:17 am Last minute dot com we decided to celebrate my 60th birthday away from home. We are inviting 4 families of our closest friends and have booked a weekend away at a 15 bed house on the Breerivier at a place called Malgas . Loads for the kids to do. Swimming at our own private beach. Boating. We have a jetty too. Fishing.....and of course as much noise as we like being quite isolated. We haven't done this for a few years now since our favorite place got burnt down . Hoping we have found our next location. We always feel that our birthdays should be celebrated with only close friends and over a weekend instead of just an evening. Makes it more special. And the kids look forward to it. Even for the boys birthdays we go away with a group of friends for the weekend. If you calculate the costs involved it's pretty much the same as throwing a big party and people get invited that are not close. So amped for this now....I was pretty meh about my 60th before.

When is your birthday? Swimming in the Breeriver in winter isn't for sissies.

Mid October.
It's 25km from the river mouth. Doubt the Tiger Sharks will be that high up. Up till 28km there is fishing. So just before that point. It's " the Spanish house". Located on a bend in the river, so a sandbank has built up just before the shore which shelters swimmers from the deep river. It will be nice and warm then and the kob season will just be under way

The largest bull shark known to science was caught in a river in South Africa. The shark, measuring over 3.5 meters long and weighing between 550 and 600 kilograms, was caught in the Breede River by a team of scientists

assfly wrote: Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:33 am Just back from a week at the coast. Watamu must be one of the best beach holidays in Africa. Incredible scenery, loads of things to do, great food.

Camped in Tsavo on the way down. Had to wait for 7 lions to leave the campsite before we could set up, and had a lot of hippos nearby during the night. Didn't get much sleep but what a buzz.