My trip so far
 

Ariived in Blighty, met by Mum and sister. Played the compulsory 'where did I park the car' game with my sister :lol:

Driving to Bucks was great, a beautiful sunset over the fields. Went walking in the morning with my sister's dog over the estate they live on, listening to the birds and watching the deer and squirrel. Felt really good to be back. Arrived in Somt yesterday and had a great drive down, the weather was hot, we had the a/c on!

Today is cloudier but dry, went for a 2hr bike ride through the lanes and on some main roads. The drivers were ultra curteous compared to the Oz rednecks. Found myself in Cheddar so I rode up the Gorge and acroos the top and dropped down into my own town. Luvverly. Off to Tescos in a minute:thumbsup:

Everthing is exactly as it was last time, great.:thumbup: I'll take my camera on my next ride and post some shots.

Re: My trip so far
 

Glad you're having a wonderful time so far. Hope it continues :thumbsup:

Re: My trip so far
 

were are the pictures LOL must mean you are having a brill time not to have posted any yet :thumbsup:

Re: My trip so far
 

Well I went for an ultra hilly 3hr sufferfest yesterday and didn't want the extra weight. Tomorrow I'm out with a fast local group from the bike shop so I won't have a chance, Sunday will be a recovery ride, so I'll take some then.:)

Today is a rest day :thumbsup:

Having a brilliant time, went fishing with my Dad on a lovely local lake. That brought back some memories :thumbup:

Re: My trip so far
 

Hey i was wondering how you were getting on..I have been away managing motels for the past week so didn't have time to get on the expat site.

Pleased to hear that you are having such a great time oh memories aye.....Looking forward to some pics soon.....:)

Re: My trip so far
 

Whats the cycling like there Tr1boy? I've always thought it would be a bit too dangerous over there. I was going to flog my bike over here before going.

Re: My trip so far
 

You can't even compare. The drivers here are very curteous compared to Oz. Of course my colleagues on my UK Tri forum don't think so as they don't have any comparison, to them, Britain's drivers are the most inconsiderate homocidal maniacs ever to walk/drive the earth. The ones that have been to Oz say they couldn't wait to get back to Britain to cycle because they didn't feel safe at all. Even London is way safer to cycle in than Sydney and London has 3 times the population!

Admittedly I'm in Somerset at the moment, so not exactly metropolis central, but the roads are narrow, and cars parked on the street and the drivers are still very respectful. Some of them even waited for me! And if you wave one through climbing a hill they'll toot in appreciation rather than throw a beer bottle at you:sneaky:

Road surfaces I've found are very good. Very little 'dead road' and rolling resistance is at a minimum. The hills around my way aren't as long as I'm used to but way steeper.

Cyclists everywhere here, all types, roadies, mtbers, commuters and lots of recreational cyclists, always a good sign of safe roads. I love the fact I can go for a ride in the middle of the day if I want and not have to worry about heat/cars.

I'm loving it:thumbsup:

Unfortunately I must have my position a bit wrong on the bike I've borrowed and it's alloy as opposed to my Ti and carbon bikes in Oz, and my back has been very panful since Saturday's ride. So no ride on Sunday and now the weather has trurned a bit craptacular (first rain in the 10 days I've been here though), so no piccies yet :(

Re: My trip so far
 

Re: My trip so far
 

Heard the weather has been nice in UK too.:thumbsup:

Re: My trip so far
 

[QUOTE=Tr1boy;6832266]
go for a ride in the middle of the day if I want and not have to worry about heat/cars.


Your spot on about the heat, if I don't get a ride early in the morning I don't bother cos it gets too hot. I'll definitely take the bike over then. :thumbsup:

Re: My trip so far
 

OK here's one for the shopaholics. Mum and I went to the new (only opened last Thurs) Cabots Circus in Bristol, loads of nice shops including Harvey Nicholls and House of Fraser, T.M Lewin etc. Didn't buy anything as nothing realy grabbed me. Parking was £5!

Yesterday we went to the Swindon Designer Outlet Ctr which I'd been to on my last two trips. Had a better day there. Bought two pairs of jeans, Levi 501 and 506 and got the pair for £60:blink: Bought a new merino t-shirt type of thing from M&S, reduced from £25 down to £12.50. I usually wear fairly upmarket shirts so I get my formal ones either tailored in Sydney from my suit tailor or I buy from Charles Twyrhit or Thomas Pink (both of which are at Swindon) but I needed some casual collared shirts for wearing with jeans so a very helpful lady fom Lithuania helped me in the Van Huesen shop, where all shirts were BOGOF yesterday, so I eneded up with two very nice shirts (collarless are back in btw) for £30 and a £10 discount voucher for next time, which I'll give to my sister.

Oh and I bought my boss a nice candle set from Yankee Candle as she is very nice to me :thumbup::D

Parking was free if you spend over £100 as we did, but the lady didn't want to see te eceipts she just gave us a free exit ticket. Parking would have been £1.

I'm not going crazy this trip as my shape is changing, because I've lost 10kgs in 3mths and am still going. Major shopping will be done on our US Xmas trip though :rofl:

My sister has put me onto another outlet village near her house called Bicester Village. They have Church's shoes which I like so I may not have to go to London after all:thumbup: Going there on Sunday, before flying back to Oz :thumbdown:

One thing I wanted to buy was a really nice English quality umbrella. Any brand suggestions?

Re: My trip so far
 

Bicester village is pretty good from what I remember, can't remember if there is a Church's outlet (I come from Northampton though - the home of Church's!) I do remember that they had an LK Bennett - my personal fave!

Happy shopping! (oh, how I miss it! :()

Re: My trip so far
 

Hey there sorri no recomendations for a brolly from me but im pleased to hear you are having a great time and getting some bargains as well.....Have a great trip back.
Cheers
Cally:)

Re: My trip so far
 

Briggs are supposed to be good brollies. I dont know because I havent had one but DH had one during his sartorial elegance years. (I asked for his input on this important question!) He was partial to SAB http://www.swaineadeney.co.uk/products/brigg_umbrellas/

Re: My trip so far
 

Haven't been in here as much as I used to so didn't know you were in the UK, you lucky sod. Pleased to hear you're enjoying it there.:)

Where abouts in Northants are you from 3?