OV9

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:19 am**

DeskJockey wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:59 pm We're off to Thailand in October. Flying into Bangkok, spend two nights there and then we've not decided yet.

Any recommendations? Want to spend some time at a beach place, was thinking Phuket, but apart from that we're open to ideas.

Edit: obviously have the children with us.

Koh Tao is excellent. Not as commercialised or built up as Koh Samui. We had a fortnight stay in Sairee Beach at Sairee Cottage Resort when we were travelling. It's quite chill and relatively quiet, mainly chill bars, restaurants and dive schools. We got a flight from Bangkok down to Chumphon then the ferry from Chumphon to Koh Tao.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:25 am**

I'm off abroad right now as a matter of fact, an action packed driving holiday touring around a beautiful island...

I'm just waiting for the red funnel ferry from Southampton to Cowes!

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:41 am**

Rich B wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:25 am I'm off abroad right now as a matter of fact, an action packed driving holiday touring around a beautiful island...

I'm just waiting for the red funnel ferry from Southampton to Cowes!

Overseas !!

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:50 am**

I suppose I should have done a write-up of my holiday last week.

Bruges is nice.
Phantasialand theme park outside Koln is very good indeed.
Belgian drivers are much more aggressive than German drivers, it’s the French influence I guess.
After getting back to Folkestone, ten minutes of driving on the M20 had me absolutely raging at the horrendous lane discipline here. It’s so easy to forget what it’s like. Four lanes but probably 80% of the traffic is trying to cram into lanes 3&4 while 1&2 are almost empty. Most of the motorways we drove on holiday were only two lanes but they flow well because drivers there aren’t moronic selfish pricks.
If it wasn’t for learning a new language, I think I’d quite like to live in Germany.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:54 am**

duncs500 wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 5:10 am @McSwede FWIW I spent some time in Cusco some years ago, and the story went that Machu Picchu wasn't too taxing. Huayna Picchu is supposedly a lot tougher, so if you're going that bit it might get more fun.

Hopefully Cusco is still as lively as when I was there anyway! Look forward to the trip report.

Looking forward to it now. Just packing ready to leave tomorrow. Map below shows a lot of what we're doing.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:44 am**

McSwede wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:01 pm
McSwede wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 pm I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!
Other than the fitness thing I'm really excited about what should be a fantastic experience (so long as my heart doesn't explode).

On the plus side I've raised £5k for charity

You'll have an amazing time! Peru is one of my favourite countries, I ended up spending nearly 8 weeks there. The only thing you might face is altitude sickness, however there's no way to tell, apart from doing it and finding out. AFAIK most of those treks are fairly easy tbh, I think it's more about the experience and the landscapes you'll get to see. Cusco is a lovely place too.

There is one place in Peru that is on my bucket list. Most people do the Inca trail because you get to see Maccu Piccu, so you get a great hike and also see a wonder of the world. However people who go for specific climbing/trekking only got to Huaraz, a town to the NE of Lima. There's one trail called the Huayhuash trail which takes around 10-14+ days to complete and takes you well over 5,000m past some glaciers. You walk past peaks that are 6,768m. It looks mind-blowing, like another world. A couple of years ago it was around $100 per day to do it, including guides/sherpas etc, you just need to get there with the right kit. Seems like good value to me.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:56 am**

Gavster wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:44 am
McSwede wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:01 pm
McSwede wrote: Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:45 pm I'm booked to go on a charity trek to Peru doing the Inca trail and visiting Machu Picchu. Trip is 10 days and trek is for 5/6 days and goes up to 4200m.

Excited about it and having to get fitter in the next 6 months. Should be fun while raising some money!
Other than the fitness thing I'm really excited about what should be a fantastic experience (so long as my heart doesn't explode).

On the plus side I've raised £5k for charity
You'll have an amazing time! Peru is one of my favourite countries, I ended up spending nearly 8 weeks there. The only thing you might face is altitude sickness, however there's no way to tell, apart from doing it and finding out. AFAIK most of those treks are fairly easy tbh, I think it's more about the experience and the landscapes you'll get to see. Cusco is a lovely place too.

There is one place in Peru that is on my bucket list. Most people do the Inca trail because you get to see Maccu Piccu, so you get a great hike and also see a wonder of the world. However people who go for specific climbing/trekking only got to Huaraz, a town to the NE of Lima. There's one trail called the Huayhuash trail which takes around 10-14+ days to complete and takes you well over 5,000m past some glaciers. You walk past peaks that are 6,768m. It looks mind-blowing, like another world. A couple of years ago it was around $100 per day to do it, including guides/sherpas etc, you just need to get there with the right kit. Seems like good value to me.

Altitude has been my biggest concern but I've started taking Acetazolamide (Diamox) to help deal with it when I get there.

It looks a phenomenal place to visit so it was a great opportunity to do a bit of an adventure whilst raising money for charity.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 4:53 pm**

Drove the Stelvio. There's much better passes around there, but the box needed to be ticked.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 5:37 pm**

Oh, there were some absolutely amazing roads in Peru ! Roads in towns were often a bit rough but outside were generally excellent. Possibly federally funded rather than local ? I don’t know. I want to go back now. With some cars.

The descent into Ollantaytambo:

: 03BE5C1D-6C42-4A88-8B54-731E9BFB6D47.jpeg (152.22 KiB) Viewed 942 times

Although our taxi got slightly stuck on this one

: ABE31EC8-A168-4327-8038-A8A049E4B50A.jpeg (151.28 KiB) Viewed 941 times

The locals with us in the taxi were utterly unperturbed however, and set to digging away at the earth bank with their hands until there was *just* enough space to get through.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:56 pm**

Where we're staying on the Isle of Wight seems to be home to a Ford club meet. Everything from Lotus Cortinas, loads of RS turbos, orions, a 94 Granada Scorpio!, a beautiful wide arch mk 2 escort, etc... quite interesting walking round.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 7:25 pm**

Rich B wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:25 am I'm off abroad right now as a matter of fact, an action packed driving holiday touring around a beautiful island...

I'm just waiting for the red funnel ferry from Southampton to Cowes!

A ferry's a ferry

A pity the hovercraft can't take cars though. Good luck with the Ford meet

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:01 pm**

Rich B wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:56 pm Where we're staying on the Isle of Wight seems to be home to a Ford club meet. Everything from Lotus Cortinas, loads of RS turbos, orions, a 94 Granada Scorpio!, a beautiful wide arch mk 2 escort, etc... quite interesting walking round.

I'd urge caution driving about the roads there. Two of the three children ended up revisiting meals due to the winding roads. Managed to stop in time for one, so he threw up in someone's driveway (they were very nice about it), second time not so lucky and I had to take his car seat apart.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:14 pm**

Rich B wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 6:56 pm Where we're staying on the Isle of Wight seems to be home to a Ford club meet. Everything from Lotus Cortinas, loads of RS turbos, orions, a 94 Granada Scorpio!, a beautiful wide arch mk 2 escort, etc... quite interesting walking round.

Did they all have their bonnets up? Every Ford meet I’ve come across does.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:22 pm**

I visited the IOW for the first time in July and really liked it, it helped that we were there for the heatwave though. We went over on the ferry from Lymington as foot passengers then collected our Toyota Aygo hire car from Yarmouth. I doubt there is a car less suited to the hills of the IOW

. The military road from Ventnor to Freshwater Bay was a good drive with coastal views.

Posted: **Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:36 pm**

I've been over a few times on day trips over the last 2 years in a friends yacht (37 foot power boat) (we went to Bembridge from Portsmouth once, then Yarmouth from beaulieu.)

I'm taking the family over this time and trying to go to a few of the restaurants I went to last time. That and the family places like the needles that I've never been.

Posted: **Sat Sep 03, 2022 11:00 am**

Been meaning to go to the IOW for ages. I had lunch at a pub in Yarmouth on a work sailing awayday a few years ago but I used to go to Bembridge on my stepfather’s yacht as a kid and had some lovely times there. We stayed near Bembridge on land once or twice too. I bet it hasn’t changed much in 30 years, other than Blackgang Chine.

Posted: **Sat Sep 03, 2022 11:05 am**

Jobbo wrote: Sat Sep 03, 2022 11:00 am I bet it hasn’t changed much in 30 years, other than Blackgang Chine.

It hasn't, that's exactly why we like it.

(I mean in a nice way, things are slower & smaller, I'm not longing for a return to smoking in pubs & overt racism)

Posted: **Sat Sep 03, 2022 11:10 am**

That’s exactly why we need to go. I’d like to use the hovercraft since I can’t see how it is commercially viable but it’ll inevitably be the car ferry.

Posted: **Sat Sep 03, 2022 1:36 pm**

My favourite thing about people from the IOW is being able to refer to them as Wight trash.

Posted: **Sat Sep 03, 2022 8:51 pm**

Jobbo wrote: Sat Sep 03, 2022 11:10 am That’s exactly why we need to go. I’d like to use the hovercraft since I can’t see how it is commercially viable but it’ll inevitably be the car ferry.

I remember you posting on my FB when I used the IOW hovercraft a few years ago. It was rammed that day, both ways. There's no doubt they make their money from it, seeing as you're only aboard for about 15 minutes and it's not 'cheap' time.

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