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Help!
I have been tasked with finding somewhere to eat for a birthday lunch soon. I'm drawing blanks on the ones we usually frequent (you either can't book in advance, or our group of 15ish people is too big, or it's a bit expensive).

Can anyone suggest anything?

Last time we went to Wahaca and everyone loved it, so I'm looking for something along the same lines

1. Good food and the wine (we have a few foodies in the group) so pretty open to any food type
   
2. Relaxed and something a bit different - suited the oldies and the young couple with a wee one
   
3. Prices were good - think it worked out at around £20-25 per person
   
4. Some veggie stuff and ethical food sourcing etc - a few very ethically minded peeps in the group
   
5. Central-ish London - we have people coming from way outta town
   
   

A lovely long list I know so I'm thinking compromise is going to be key here ... any suggestions would be much appreciated. Ta!

Did my first cycle tour last year, Barcelona to Paris (with a couple of train journeys in there) but the nicest (flattest) bit was Carcassonne to Bordeaux. A lot of it can be done on the canal path http://www.canal-et-voie-verte.com/La-carte?lang=en but the roads are just as good if you go for the smaller ones. Averaged about 30miles a day - 90miles being the longest day (we were trying to catch up with the TdF).

We were on singlespeeds with small rear panniers. We took it pretty easy (42/16) and only had to push a couple of the nasty hills. Think our gear weighed in 25kg all up, with (steel frame) bike included. Fave campsites were the municipal sites. Each day we stopped in a village that looked nice, popped into the info centre and got directions for the local site (didn't pre-book for any sites). For the most we paid less than 15euros for 2 people + tent. They tend to have allocated randonneur sections. Love it!

Loads of good touring info here http://www.lfgss.com/thread31811.html

Surfacing again in time for another ladies ride! Really hoping to do this one but have family coming to stay around then and dates haven't been fully ironed out yet. If the fam don't show, count me in (and I'll rally Spokeydokes too). Otherwise it's going to be Quality Family Time™ FTW.

Will hopefully know for sure either way in the next couple of weeks ...

Blonde lady riding gold ss and smiley fellow on a hybrid(?) leaving The Reach, we spoke briefly outside of Amersham Arms, hi if you are on here! Sorry to I had to rush off, actually really wanted to give you mad props for the Tu Meke paint work. Maybe see you guys at the wall again?

I love this comic sans monologue
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/monologues/15comicsans.html

My Vango is a 3-person (it was our bit of luxury for the trip). The lightweights are usually pretty dang cosy (I'm a 6 footer with gangly arms to match) and we wanted to be able to keep our gear inside with us. It does weigh in at 2.5kg but it was divided between the two of us, so nominal additional weight in return for a bit of extra comfort / piece of mind.

@Wicksie - the floor is pretty thin (ala garden-strength black rubbish bag) we just had to be aware of where we pitched, and moved anything that looked overly sharp, and had a 'no shoes in the tent' policy :)

Also as a side note, if you are going to be staying in camp sites - make space for table tennis bats and a ball, all the sites have permanent tables ... a friend said to me 'economize on the necessities and squeeze in the luxuries' and if I had have known about the table tennis I would have happily left out that extra warm top I squeezed in ;)

Got the Vango Banshee tent for touring round France and Spain this year, great tent - except I'd strongly recommend, replacing the aluminium tent pegs if you are summer camping. On the dry ground they crumpled like cooked spaghetti - there are titanium pegs around for reasonable prices. Will be getting these for next time:
http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16259&category_id=253

Took these sleeping bags, and to be fair only used it half the time (it was pretty good weather) and we had liners made from cheapy single bed-sheets
http://www.simplyhike.co.uk/products/Vango/Ultralite100SleepingBag-Paprika.aspx

I have a 1980s carlton pro-am frame SS conversion set up by my gal - I ride this most at the moment but it's going through some changes soon as it's being fitted out as my summer touring bike (going to ride Barcelona to Nice, yipee!) with new wheel-set and various other goodies.

Started out with an OTP Giant bowery w/flip flop hub & various parts changed out, which suited me perfect for commuting to work etc. Still love it for crashing round on, not as smooth as the carlton but light as and pretty innocuous for locking up round town.

A few pics form my phone
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clefty/sets/72157624243297201/

Clefty, great photies! (niiiiiiice one of me stuffing my face at the top of ditchling) Though I reckon that photo of the bike pile should go into the 'How not to lock your bike' thread - if you look closely at the far bikes you can see our 'gold-standard bungey cords' wound effectively through some of the back wheels ;P

teehee!

I think maybe it's just about finding a way to show the fact that there are actually loads of women on here because first impressions don't show this at all.

Cheers VeeVee - I've just been sitting here trying to match forum names to faces through what people have written, might have to get along to a souths drinks just to get everyone's names down a bit better :)

Loving the info from the Garmin. Nice to know I can push a bike up to 740ft!

Better late than never, just wanted to say thanks for the fab day all! Cheers to Clefty and stix esp, twas truly awesome. Great to meet all you guys, couldn't have asked for a nicer bunch of peeps to spend the day with. Loved the country lanes, poppy fields, being able to cruise and chat and Brighton Beach for fulfilling every British beach stereo-type I have ever known (including outrageously angry yelling man vs. Brighton Beach Patrol) but not including the totally blinged up, champagne and courvoisier-drinking group complete with professional photographer! Seriously, how to do it in style #101!

Not so stoked with my effort on the hills - am adamant that I would have made a better crack at bitchling first thing on a much cooler day. Mmm hmm. Clearly I need to work on both my hill climbing and my excuses.

Cafewanda, I helped(?) you and VeeVee with your p*issues - did you get your brakes sorted out too? Think they needed some love ; )

Fran, will sort you dosh for two asap (me and Anny) do you accept payment in Nyu Zulund dolluz? ; )

Cambridge ride, yus puh-leez!

Nhatt and I have been discussing this as well - definitely up for for some overnight camping.

yep, would defo be keen for some overnighters - doing a cycle trip this summer so need to get in as many test-runs on the gear as possible!

cheers oliver, & yep i should have added 'winky smiley face' when i was talking about the milk - it's all just hot air on my part ;) and I had kind of assumed the same for the others ...?

@veevee i've never been able to produce the cutting wit required in these situations & failed to come up with the goods again ... so it was either stand there like a muppet or the do license plate thing ;) I do now have this fab mental image of him as a disney bad guy doing the classic "moo-ha ha!" evil laughter whilst driving off and me squeaking out his plate on the side of the road kaff-kaffing in his dust :)

wow, emailed the person in charge of the case, and I've just had a reply back (that's been less than 24 hours) saying progress is going to be rather slow, given that the vehicle was crapping-well hired and not by an individual but by a company. no wonder they guy was laughing so maniacally when I started to yell out his license plate number. But apparently due to lack of independent evidence and the circumstances regarding the incident the worst they'll get - if anything - is a warning.

@oliver, I'm all for having presence on the road etc and it's a turn I use almost every day, I was being over-cautious that day as there was bus parked up on the left near the right turn - so was giving myself plenty of time/space. Was more than 50m between me and following car. Dude was totally speeding to cover the space between us so quickly but yeah, I communicated alright (without swearing I might add), as he was undertaking me to hoof it through the ~1m gap between me and the bus at 30mph.

So, I see little hope of getting to redistribute any rancid milk (though i have taken notes hoonz & brave, thank you, evil has just reached a whole new olfactory level) which is a dang shame as I actually just happen to have the end of a pint in the fridge which smells about ready for action.

So about a month ago I had a crappy right-hand turning incident. Apparently I took up far too much room on the road turning and incensed at me for 'being on the fuckin road you fuckin slag' and not sticking around to listen to his screaming tirade, the driver belted around the block to head me off at the other end of the street (obv. a local) and came at me on my side of the road head-on in a game of chicken I wasn't ever going to win - so I elected to get my arse off the road quick-smart and he drove off into the sunset screaming with laughter

Got his rego (unfortunately no pics/witnesses/cameras etc) and soon as I got home reported it to the police. A traffic incident report letter came in the post bout a week later but nothing since. I realise it's only been a month so I'm just wondering how long people were waiting to hear results for this kind of thing? & is it advantageous to 'nudge nudge' the case manager with the odd call/email?

Yep, defo up for drinks at Look Ma...

erm, I also don't have a geared bike so would be doing the Brighton ride SS (ie. probably not very fast) so maybe we plan to have a faster/geared group and then others - and just be prepared for a group split? Could that be an option?

. Clefty

1. Wicksie
   
2. Konijn
   
3. Long&Winding
   
4. Adaplace
   
5. Habbi
   
6. tricitybendix
   
7. Teapots
   
8. aimka
   
9. miss_socks
   
10. kattiep
    
11. Deluka
    
12. Clara
    
13. PicKle
    
14. V
    
15. Opiumia
    
16. Stix
    
17. ziska
    
18. Annabel
    
19. Polowannabe
    
20. Katie-coo
    
21. !Attack! of the 5' 10" woman (Nhatt)
    
22. kat
    
23. fixedlover
    
24. bikerchic
    
25. twelveframes
    
26. jayloo
    
27. williamshatnerpants
    
28. janejanejane
    
29. nny
    
30. the-same-sky
    
31. Wingedangel
    
32. enid
    
33. tootoughtodie
    
34. rach
    
35. stiff link
    
36. lydiasquidia
    
37. jenny j (plus one)
    
38. Tash (plus one)
    
39. Lizzie
    
40. Fixa
    
41. le petit monstre
    
42. K.T.
    
43. abs. (+2)
    
44. Valy
    
45. Cafewanda
    
46. diapo
    
47. Betty - can I be 51? or does this affect the 50 bit?
    

1. megoid
   
2. spokey-dokes
   
   

First post too! Do you reckon we can squeeze in two more? (though spokey-dokes only really counts as half a person as she's a small 'un ...hehe)