Tam, Jade and Franky's European Adventure

[Northernraider]

Well at least I can now say I've been to "Hellin" back

Came up here for the day and went out for a good bike run round a mountain bike trail ....was roasting today it hit 25° for a good while so I was blowin oot ma erse as we say in Scotland going up those hills but good fun.
Parked in the middle of nowhere so I could get my chair out for a while and relax in the sun after.....and captured a lovely sunset tonight.

Now that's a solar setup

Can anyone tell me what trees these are ? I see them everywhere some are very beautiful , I guessed some sort of fruit apple or cherry as there's 2 different colours of them white and pink usually.

Was knackered at this point and only half way up the blooming hill.

A murcian sunset

 

[Carol]

I could be completely wrong but could they be Almond trees.
Think your photos and trip are just what it's all about exploring different history and culture and we are doing it virtually with you, thank you.

 

[Just smiffy]

Seconded for Almond trees...

 

[Northernraider]

I could be completely wrong but could they be Almond trees.
Think your photos and trip are just what it's all about exploring different history and culture and we are doing it virtually with you, thank you.

Yes I do love exploring .. ..think ive done every square foot of Scotland highlands .....so many places here it's impossible to do them all but I get bored in the one place for too long so I'm giving it a go ha ha

 

[davanne]

I could be completely wrong but could they be Almond trees.

I think they are almond trees some are pink some are white

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[Fenman]

Almond was my first thought too.

 

[PORKSTER]

Enjoy your weekend Tam

 

[jumartoo]

Definitely almonds.

Your bike doesn't look like it's built for mountain biking
However, we have a good spec Specialised mountain bike for sale here .

 

[Reallyretired]

Definitely almonds. The white are sweet and the pink bitter almonds.

 

[jumar]

Definitely almonds.

Your bike doesn't look like it's built for mountain biking
However, we have a good spec Specialised mountain bike for sale here .

@jumartoo has stated, a tougher mtb would serve you better on the trails......we ride an assortment of different bikes...we have 8 in total, 3 of them are looking for new homes.....if you pass Totana send us a message and come and look.....a few funsters are on the camperstop just now.....

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[Northernraider]

Definitely almonds.

Your bike doesn't look like it's built for mountain biking
However, we have a good spec Specialised mountain bike for sale here .

Yes your right it's more a road bike so not the best for offroading.....it did only cost me £30 though lol.

 

[Northernraider]

@jumartoo has stated, a tougher mtb would serve you better on the trails......we ride an assortment of different bikes...we have 8 in total, 3 of them are looking for new homes.....if you pass Totana send us a message and come and look.....a few funsters are on the camperstop just now.....

I'll be sure to do that

 

[icantremember]

I'll be sure to do that

Hey Tam, maybe you could swap your twintub.

 

[Lenny HB]

Yes your right it's more a road bike so not the best for offroading.....it did only cost me £30 though lol.

Blimey can't even buy one tyre for that, just spent a fortune changing the tyres on our bikes.

 

[ianthebuilder]

Morning tam,,,,

Hope your well mate,, are you still enjoying your early retirement? Lol.

Hope all is well at home now, have a good weekend mate! X

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[Northernraider]

Blimey can't even buy one tyre for that, just spent a fortune changing the tyres on our bikes.

It was second hand from gumtree just before Christmas...the guy said that the lights , computer and extras probably cost more than I paid for the bike ....its really light too and very smooth. It was a bargain for sure ...it has continental tyres on it so they probably cost more than that too lol.

But it isn't good for offroading really.

But I'm no dedicated or hard-core cyclist that's for sure so no point in me buying expensive bikes.

Although I'm really getting in to my bike over here ...i use it way more than the scooter

 

[Northernraider]

Morning tam,,,,

Hope your well mate,, are you still enjoying your early retirement? Lol.

Hope all is well at home now, have a good weekend mate! X

Morning Ian I'm doing good thanks.
Still enjoying the exploring. ..i do find it difficult to slow down and chill out though lol.

The stuff at home is ongoing sadly but that's just life eh.

Cracking warm sunny morning today ....im moving on again ...

You have a good weekend too mate

 

[PORKSTER]

Morning Tam I was wandering have you kept check on your expenditure ? You appear to be doing well on free stopovers.

 

[Northernraider]

Morning Tam I was wandering have you kept check on your expenditure ? You appear to be doing well on free stopovers.

Yeah mostly gone on food and fuel.

 

[Northernraider]

I'm about to throw this bloody satnav out the window ......stoopid thing hasn't a clue where it's going

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[Northernraider]

Considering I left hellin in murcia this morning heading to elche ....can anyone tell me how my stoopid TomTom managed to get me here ?

Honestly can't believe it ....i wondered how at a roundabout miles back id seen 2 signs for elche and then nothing but miles of motorway and signs for alicante .....and bevause there's no laybys I'm driving solo with no one to check a map this is the first bloody chance i had to check the map .....its still programmed for the coordinates I set in elche but this is the craziest route I have ever seen and added about 50 miles to my journey.

Technology at it's best

 

[Lenny HB]

I'm about to throw this bloody satnav out the window ......stoopid thing hasn't a clue where it's going

Is it a classic case of "Real men don't read instructions"

 

[Lenny HB]

Better not try Greece then every town has at least 3 different spellings and thats only the western spelling, even the road signs change as you drive along.

 

[Mikey RV]

The problem is It’s a Tom Tom. Says he who has just bought a new Garmin but does not know how to use it, wife is on the case with that.

 

[mikebeaches]

Elche is good and well worth a trip to the palm tree gardens!

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[Northernraider]

Is it a classic case of "Real men don't read instructions"

It's done me good every other trip I have to say ....not sure if I've accidently hit a visit on route or something. But I reentered the coordinates when I stopped and it's got me here now ...but it was miles off the first time

 

[Northernraider]

Elche is good and well worth a trip to the palm tree gardens!

Yeah that's what I came for and then to meet up with Dave and marsha at catrel nature reserve

 

[Riverbankannie]

@jumartoo has stated, a tougher mtb would serve you better on the trails......we ride an assortment of different bikes...we have 8 in total, 3 of them are looking for new homes.....if you pass Totana send us a message and come and look.....a few funsters are on the camperstop just now.....

Were on our way, hoping you can provide some sun which we haven’t seen yet since we arrived in Spain Thursday. After a very wet run through Madrid we are now at Aranjuez and would like a walk around but it’s still coming down in stair rods!
We will try and make Ricote just south of Cieza tomorrow and maybe Totana next day, fingers crossed for some

 

[Riverbankannie]

Considering I left hellin in murcia this morning heading to elche ....can anyone tell me how my stoopid TomTom managed to get me here ? View attachment 218188
Honestly can't believe it ....i wondered how at a roundabout miles back id seen 2 signs for elche and then nothing but miles of motorway and signs for alicante .....and bevause there's no laybys I'm driving solo with no one to check a map this is the first bloody chance i had to check the map .....its still programmed for the coordinates I set in elche but this is the craziest route I have ever seen and added about 50 miles to my journey.

Technology at it's best

I don’t know how solos manage, it’s a full time job both navigating and driving for us.
I am sure you do this, but I always examine the full map of the set route before starting off to make sure it corresponds with the route I can see on my map. Mainly so I can check I have not entered coordinates incorrectly or selected a different town with the same name. I do sometimes pick up errors in routing this way especially with Tom Tom.

I have both an inbuilt Tom Tom and a dash top Garmin so can compare side by side. Much prefer the Garmin and I can update it.
Keep hold of that sun for us please we need to dry out and only have one set of woolly winter clothes which we have now been wearing for 4 days!

 

[nicholsong]

[QUOTE="Riverbankannie, post: 2752758, member: 41967"]I don’t know how solos manage, it’s a full time job both navigating and driving for us.
I am sure you do this, but I always examine the full map of the set route before starting off to make sure it corresponds with the route I can see on my map. Mainly so I can check I have not entered coordinates incorrectly or selected a different town with the same name. I do sometimes pick up errors in routing this way especially with Tom Tom.
[/QUOTE]

I do the cross-checking of the whole route as you do.

On the solo bit, I used to drive a minibus all over England for travel company passengers before we had satnavs. Obviously they would not appreciate one looking at a map whilst driving, nor having to stop.

We used to just memorise the route by M40, J10, A565 west, after Church Getting 3 miles turn rt for Allenbrook etc. we then had photocopies of street map for pick-up point in Allenbrook, usually Station or Town Hall so memorised that too. It is surprisingly quite easy with practice, and becomes even easier when one has had a few months/years traversing England. One carries a mental map in one's head - it's still there, just

When we took them back we took them to home under their directions for the last bit. Funny one was two passengers who lived in East End of London and as LT retirees had passes no car and went everywhere on Public Transport, usually Underground - they did not have a clue how to navigate on roads - then they saw a No. 68 bus 'Follow that' to which I replied 'Are you sure it is going in the right direction?'

Geoff

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