Foreign Exchange – Getting The Best Deal Every Time

Is there a right and a wrong way to exchange your sterling for euros when heading to the Alps? The simple answer is yes, but sadly the exact method differs from person to person and resort to resort.

As such, it’s a good idea to weigh up each and every option available to you and see which of the bunch works out best…a little forethought and you can’t go far wrong!

Cash Machines

It’s a given that there will (probably) be cash machines scattered all over the resort you’re heading to, meaning a ready supply of cash and the security of not having to carry it around with you in great volumes. However, whether or not this is a good idea depends on your bank and the cash machine you use.

For example, some banks will not charge you a penny for taking out cash abroad, some will charge a flat fee and others a commission on how much you take out. Some will charge you both! And then on the other end, some cash machines will charge you for using them, while others will be free. So it’s a pretty complex balancing act, but one that’s easy to get to grips with. Check the details with your bank, find a cash machine that doesn’t charge you and after taking out a small sum of cash, check your account online to see exactly what kind of value for money you got.

It’s a bit of a process, but it could save you a fortune and make your trip so easy.

Exchanges At Home

One of the most popular methods of getting hold of cash prior to a holiday is to take cash along to an exchange office before setting off. Now, more often than not this means you won’t get quite as good a rate as you would on the other end of the flight and you’ll also pay some sort of commission – it’s how they stay in business! However, you can still get a decent deal by all means and in most instances this means hitting up a bank or a Post Office, rather than a standalone change office.

Exchanges Abroad

A quick tip – don’t be tempted to change all your cash in the airport while waiting for your airport ski transfer to depart. While you probably won’t get ripped-off in the strictest sense, you’re almost guaranteed to get one of the poorest deals possible in the airport. You might also find that the closer you get to the centre of your final resort, the lower the exchange rate becomes. The best advice is to head away from the main tourist drags and insist on a full conversion before shoving your cash through the window.

Credit Cards

If you have a travel credit card, you might enjoy things like free cash withdrawals, no charges on purchases and loads of other goodies like free insurance. If you own a bog-standard credit card, you might get nothing but a huge fee slapped onto every single thing you use it for along the way. As such, you need to check with your service provider before making your decision.



Article written by Ski Transfer Finder, a simple and quick tool to get you quotes for airport transfers to ski resorts, directly from local transportation providers.

Suburban RetroBike Investigation - Ten Woods, Two Commons And A Slow Puncture

Introduction

Today was an excuse for a proper bit of "Old Skool" exploration, just as it was done back in the day, without any fancy GPS smart phone wizardry. Taking a rough idea for a circular off road route around the Southern limits of the London boroughs of Bromley and Croydon, checking with the map as we went. Alasdair was my riding companion, it started as a suggestion of his and two is definitely company for this type of ride. He must be at least 10 years younger and considerably fitter than me, so there wasn't going to be too much slacking today.

Alasdair - 10 years younger and considerably fitter

Stud Farms, Parks and Woods

The starting point was Bromley South railway station, quiet on a Sunday but still very much a metropolitan area. Yet after less than a mile of suburban semi detached houses on the road you are already on Bromley Common. Skirting around the grounds of Bromley FC you are soon in an area that I remember used to be allotments, but which have now become stud farms, not the sort of thing you expect to find minutes from a suburban town centre. Just the other side of Norman Park, at the end of Rookery Lane and overlooked by Bromley College the woodlands begin.
By this point you already feel that you are miles from anywhere, with plentiful single track paths and the occasional bridleway snaking their way through Mazzards Wood, Barnet Wood, Colyers Wood and Padmall Wood, but hardly a soul in sight. We were roughly following the course of the River Ravensbourne as it slowly ascends from Bromley Common onto Hayes Common towards its source at picturesque Keston Ponds.
At Keston Common we briefly joined the Westerham Road, if you followed the road a little further you would be at the historic war time airfield at Biggin Hill, but we were soon heading back into the woodland before then.

Furze Bottom Downhill

By Keston Court Farm we joined the excellent fast bridleway descent down to Furze Bottom. For me this was the highlight of the day, it is straight and open in places, firm and with great visibility ahead, my first chance of the day to be a Gonzo and get up some speed, my eyes were watering by the bottom. Payback came with a slow slog up Higham's Hill, rewarded with a brief rest at the top to admire the open view South towards Chelsham.
A brief sprint through Jewels Wood put us on a section of the National Cycle Network Route 21 for the short ride to The White Bear pub at Fickleshole and a chance to grab a drink and consult the map for the next leg.

The White Bear pub at Fickleshole

Ging gang goolie goolie goolie goolie watcha

Suitably refreshed it was time for a nippy descent down Featherbed Lane to The Bungalow for a ride through Fryland's Wood Scout Camp and on to Crab Wood above it. Some of the trails were reminiscent of Swinley Forest that we had both ridden a few weeks earlier, but with no other traffic. This lead us onto Chelsham Common and thanks to a couple of wrong turns to the big Sainsbury store at the edge of Warlingham.
Realising our mistake, we turned around and headed back into Great Park Wood towards Farleigh. Farleigh appears to be quite a horsey area, there are plenty of bridleways, but some were quite churned up. With the dry weather they were just very bumpy, but I imagine in Autumn they could well become a bit of a quagmire. It also seemed that some of the paths had branches and logs deliberately laid across them, could there be a bit of a horse vs bike conflict going on at the moment?

Nature Reserve

We were now on the home leg heading North towards Selsdon. There was a very rapid and slippery chalk descent through Frith Wood onto the edge of Addington Golf course. I enjoyed this so much that I missed a turning and we had to back track uphill. The correct turning took us through Bears Wood and onto Selsdon Wood Nature Reserve. You would never guess how close you are to a town here, it is so peaceful and quiet, the trails are wide and undulating with a firm base. Alasdair particularly liked the riding and we put in few laps trying all the different combinations of routes.
I was feeling quite tired after the exertion and mooted that it was time for a bun at Forestdale before the ascent of Gravel Hill.

Outstanding Vista

Climbing up Gravel Hill, with a busy road nearby and cris-crossing the tram tracks you feel very much back in an urban environment. But once at the top there is some good, but ultra slippery riding in the Shirley Hills. Gravel Hill is aptly named, the stones are so small that it is like riding on ball bearings, braking is a challenge and climbing impossible, even on foot it took careful effort. A short flight of steps took us to the unexpected pleasure of the stupendous vista from The Lookout. Local landmarks such as Crystal Palace FC were easily visible, along with buildings in the City, such as The Shard, buildings around Canary Wharf and even as far as Wembley Stadium with The Chilterns as a back drop.

Windy Miller

Our final descent of the day was down Shirley Hills Road to Postmill Close, to visit Shirley Windmill, one of London's last surviving windmills. We finished with a gentle ride through the suburban streets of West Wickham back to our starting point at Bromley.
With the excitement over, I noticed my front tyre was looking about as deflated as I now felt, just making it back to Bromley South before I was on the rims. I bade farewell to Alasdair, popped on a spare tube and took a leisurely ride back home.

Shirley Windmill - one of London's last remaining

Conclusion

To keep future rides along this route snappy, we might miss a few of the more tortuous off road sections and use a bit more road to link it all together. Likewise some of the potentially boggier sections might have to be bypassed in Winter. But this is a great circular route, with so much isolated woodland, all within easy distance of major transport hubs it is holds great potential for future rides.
Almost the entire route can be found on Transport for London Cycling Guide 13, if you want to receive a free copy please look here.

RetroBike Investigation - Swinley Forest

Sir Thomas Beecham is often cited as the originator of the quote, "Try everything once except incest and folk dancing." So with this in mind, I made my first ever visit to a proper mountain bike trail centre today. I was following an invitation to do a tour around Swinley Forest.

Should you have never heard of it, Ride Swinley have the following to say about the area:

Situated to the South-West of Windsor Great Park, Swinley Forest stretches from Bracknell in the north to Bagshot in the south.  It is owned and managed by the Crown Estate and comprises over 2600 acres of woodland and gently undulating hills.

The woods provide some of the best mountain biking in south-east England, with many off-road single track as well as extensive fire road.

The trails through Swinley Forest were originally created and maintained by a group of local enthusiasts known as the Swinley Action Group. In September 2012, the Crown Estates began to close the trails and implement their own designs, this has caused a lot of sour grapes, especially as the new trails were designed without any input from Swinley Action Group. This type of heavy handed behaviour goes against my libertarian outlook and smacked of overly sanitising a natural resource too. However, as some fellow RetroBikers wanted to give the new layout a go, I decided to join them and decide for myself.

Swinley Forest is in easy reach of London, probably little more than an hour by car from my home. But I really wanted a break from being in a car and decided to take the train. It's not an especially long distance to cover, but the branch line service from Clapham Junction to Martins Heron stops at every station which gets a bit tedious. From Martins Heron station it is just 5 or so minutes ride to The Lookout Discovery Centre where all the trails begin and end. 

It was a joy of being able to ride with experienced locals and just play "follow the leader", without any consideration of the route or need to refer to maps.
We started on the intermediate "blue" section, which seemed quite tricky at first, until you got into the flow of all those berms (another first for me). After an hour or so we had covered everything and it was mooted to move on to the expert level "red" sections. I was the only rider on a totally rigid bike, but not wanting to be a party pooper, immediately elected to give it a try. Some of these red sections were quite a technical challenge, narrow, steep, bumpy and twisty too. I took it all at a snail's pace and imagine I must have looked somewhat geriatric, but made it through without any involuntary dismounts.

RetroBikers at Swinley Forest

When we progressed back onto blue graded sections to return to the start it seemed so much easier than just an hour earlier and started to become fun rather than challenging. I can see how with practice and familiarity, the speed of both riding and crashing would begin to climb.

In conclusion, I was pleased to find that there are an excellent mix of trails at Swinley Forest, perfectly maintained and very professionally organised.  It is also unusual, in this day and age, to find a leisure venue that is effectively free too. Or perhaps the Crown Estates have already put up "Wanted" posters for the geriatric RetroBiker who failed to buy a ticket.

Urban RetroBike Investigation - The Thames Path

Introduction

So the recent spell of swelteringly hot weather continues and today I had scheduled to do a rather long and exhausting ride, my plan was to investigate a new route for one of my "Urban RetroBike" rides following the River Thames.

I had an idea that it would be possible to find a suitable route from Greenwich, crossing to the North side of the River Thames, then heading East and following the river bank all the way out to Thurrock in Essex. I would then cross the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, using the free "bike taxi" service and returning to Greenwich along the Thames Path.

Phew what a scorcher

Due to the hot and sunny weather, I chose to leave after lunch, with the anticipation of riding long int the cool of evening. It was certainly a hot day, no doubt The Sun newspaper would choose the headline "Phew what a scorcher!" but a light breeze stopped me from feeling the force of the heat.

The route from my home in Purley to Greenwich is by now a familiar one and follows parts of the National Cycle Network Route 21 also marked up as "The WaterLink Way" at various points. This gets me from Croydon to Greenwich in just over an hour, following a variety of quiet roads suburban and gravel paths as they wend their way through the parks and recreation grounds of South London.

Here come the Germans
 

From the Cutty Sark at Greenwich, I followed the foot tunnel to get to Island Gardens on the North bank, annoyingly one of the lifts was out of order, so I had to descend the 100 or so steps with my bike on my shoulder, taking great care not to wipe out any of the multitudinous German tourists coming the other way, "alles sehr gut mein lieblings?"

Island Gardens, ExCel and the Emirates Air Line

Island Gardens is a lovely spot to pass an idle moment, but today there was no time to admire the view, from here you can follow the Northern section of the Thames Path towards Leamouth, it yields a few good vistas of Greenwich and the 02 Dome, but it is quite dismembered as it passes through various housing developments.

The O2 Dome - funky design

A quick 5 minute burst alongside the A1020 gets you to the ExCel Exhibition Centre. It is noteworthy as one terminus of the Emirates Air Line, London's only cable car system. Oh how I love cable cars, that hyperspace shortcut from the bottom to the top of the mountains, but sadly there are no mountains here, it simply crosses the River Thames to North Greenwich. It is worth noting that bikes are permitted to travel on a regular ticket, costing £4.30 for an adult.

The Emirates Air Line - London's only cable car

City Airport and the Thames Barrier

The ExCel Exhibition Centre is next door to the tiny London City Airport, a single strip of runway set between the Royal Albert and King George V docks. It even has a bike rack outside the main entrance, yes I have used it for a flight and yes my bike was even still there (and complete) upon my return 2 days later.
Next on my agenda was Thames Barrier Park in Silvertown, it is a pretty piece of landscaping in what is otherwise an utterly derelict area. There is a great view of the Thames Path itself, a flood defense system used in extreme surge tide conditions to save the low lying areas of London from inundation.

Thames Barrier Park - Silvertown

Beckton and the Dagenham Dustbins

From this point on the next section became a tale of unrelenting bleakness. I had to skirt around the Docklands Light Railway Depot, Beckton Gas and Sewerage Works following a dismal route alongside busy roads. I was hoping to see some interesting industrial archeology at the Ford Factory in Dagenham, now standing as a silent monument to a bygone age of British industry. But there is not much to see, just endless empty factory units and the odd scrap yard. Dagenham Dock must now rank as the UK's recycling centre, with giant facilities in all directions.

Sadly there is no respite from the monotony in the adjacent residential areas, only street after street of identikit social housing, originally built to serve the domestic needs of Henry Ford's serfs.

The Worst Pub in the World

I know how fellow RetroBikers like a rest stop or three, so I was keeping an eagle eye out for a suitable venue, but the venue I spotted would have rank as the worst pub in the World. Let me paint you a picture, imagine this... a 1970's concrete block house with a flat roof, a beer garden comprised of nothing more than tarmac with 2 tressel picnic tables and a pair of derelict caravans to the side. The clientele, sat soaking up the sun, comprised 3 middle aged obese skinheads, resplendent in "wife beater" string vests and baggy shorts. I am not making this up!
I was so very parched and a lovely cool beer would have been a welcome respite, but somehow I found the strength to keep going. I really wanted to take a picture, but I sincerely thought that the inmates, sorry, customers of the establishment might have "shooters" on them.

Rainham and Wenington

And then suddenly the urban sprawl ended and you find yourself in the charming village of Rainham, which would be quite a nice place to stop and have a beer. According to the maps, National Cycle Route 13 heads out onto Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve, but after checking the time I was shocked to find that it was nearly 6pm. I needed to keep rolling, I didn't want to be out in the wilds of Kent after sun down. So I made for the Wennington Road and followed the signs to the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge.

Queen Elizabeth II Bridge

Queen Elizabeth II Bridge Southbound

Before setting off, I had phoned the bridge operations room to confirm arrangements for crossing the bridge by bike. Their instructions were simple and proved to be correct. You follow London Road underneath the bridge and by the Ibis Hotel, you see Gates blocking an access road up to the bridge, there is a gap for cycles and you ride up the incline to the blue control room. Once there a phone is provided to contact bridge control, you explain the direction you're heading in and they send a van to pick you up. I hardly had time to snap a picture before the van turned up and we were off. It made a pleasant change to be making the journey in the passenger seat and be able to enjoy the views for once. 

Bike Taxi Service - completely free

Trapped in "The Village" and Dartford Salt Marshes

Back on the South side of the river I had the chance to consult the maps and take some more snaps, but with the sun ever heading lower towards the horizon it was soon time to get a move on once more. I wanted to find the path that runs alongside the river by Littlebrook Power Station, but after 10 minutes of futile effort I gave up and found myself in a new development called "The Bridge". Annoyingly it is planned with no through roads and once inside it is actually quite difficult to get out again. I began to feel more than a little like Paddy McGoohan in "The Prisoner", if a giant white inflatable ball had started to chase me I wouldn't have been at all surprised.
Eventually I found the way out and was able to pick up the Thames Path onto Dartford Salt Marshes, finally this was the sort of hard pack off road cycling I had been waiting for all day. The area is a delight and is worthy of further exploration.

Dartford Salt Marshes - the riding I had been waiting for all day

First pint of the day

The riverside Running Horses pub in Erith High Street provided me with the hard earned pint that I had been denied on the Essex side, it hardly touched the sides on the way down. I would have liked to lingered longer, but the sun was low on the horizon and to my surprise the Thames Path marker showed I had another 12 miles to go before Greenwich.

Erith Yatch Club - the sun was low on the horizon

Beer Skates

Thanks to my isotonic energy drink aka Fosters lager I had quite a boost and decided to make the most of it before my reserves were depleted. The Thames Path is a refined pavement surface running through Belvedere, Thamesmead and onto Woolwich. Around the Thames Barrier and Woolwich Ferry the route becomes broken up by a number of recent infrastructure improvements, so I cheated a little and skipped the section around the Greenwich peninsular, following the main road back to Greenwich. After this I just had the "easy" 12 mile run back to Purley to contend with.

Sunset over Essex

In Conclusion

I don't think that I would follow this route again, especially in the company of other bikers. Trying to follow the river Thames along the northern side is pretty much an impossible task.

Firstly, there are a number of minor tributaries that you have to cross, each one involves an energy sapping deviation to find a crossing point further "inland".
Secondly, there are too many industrial areas closed off behind giant fences dogs and angry guards.
And lastly, a new cross rail route is under construction, which, in addition to the current railway lines,  high speed rail links and trunk roads all serve to carve the area up into one giant soulless transport corridor.
As a result of the above factors you are forced to ride alongside busy roads for the best part of the route, with no respite till Rainham.

I had a few stops along the way, but the loop starting from Greenwich took the best part of 7 hours.

But, I will definitely run an Urban Retro Bike ride along the Thames Path from Greenwich to Dartford and back in the near future. Perhaps with a trip over/under the river to the North side for a quick excursion into Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve.

Telford Ski Centre - SkiBikes On Test

Having spent the night at The Shakespeare Inn, Coalport, I arrived at Telford Ski Centre just after opening and set up my skibikes. Both resident instructors Richard and Duncan were quite excited and keen to have a go on them as soon as possible. After a single test run on the nursery slope, they both headed up the main slope to give the bike a go.

Telford Ski Centre

For Richard this was his first experience and bravely made a number of runs in a pair of shorts, you don't want to fall on Dendix at speed as you can get quite a bit of a rash, as I was to find out later.
Duncan had used a SnowScoot previously and took to the skibike like a duck to water, immediately preferring to ride standing on the pegs, Enduro style. Duncan commented that the balance skills needed reminded him of his instructor training where he had to ski on just one ski.

Richard skibiking in shorts - risky

Before long the first customers of the day arrived for an over 50s group session and the boys had to get back to work. Whilst this was taking place I was able to put in a few runs and get used to the feel of riding a skibike on Dendix. The system at Telford Ski Centre has water misting to keep the slope running smoothly and not melt the bases of skis. It is not as slippery as real snow, but the tipping point between grip and slip is progressive and in my humble opinion a whole league above the "modern" carpet systems being installed elsewhere. I even managed to get a few runs in on a pair of SnowBlades and soon began to "dial in" to the new medium.

Duncan - Enduro style

The over 50s group were due a coffee break, but one of the group wanted to have a go. With minimal instruction he made 3 runs from halfway down the slope to get used to controlling the skibike and then made an excellent run from the top.

A completely empty slope

There was somewhat of a lull afterwards which gave me the chance to put in a few runs on a completely empty slope. I put myself in the position of a complete numpty and went for a run from the top of the extension slope above the top of the drag, straight down the fall line, I picked up a lot more speed than I was expecting and almost ran off the end of the slope into the underbrush, but crashed as a result. Due to the heat, I was wearing a short sleeved top, the result, one bloodied forearm, ouch.
Still you have to find the limits.

Numpty skibiker - finding the limits

Well overdue to return to London, I bade farewell to Telford and made the return home. But I will be back to Telford Ski Centre, mainly because they now have my 2 skibikes on evaluation for the next month.