Montana is way out of my league. I may still get back to Wales and Scotland though.

As for B&B, I try to budget for £5 a day though i take food as well. Lithuanian army rations off eBay most recently and very good they are too.

<t>We're taking a late lunch. The morning involved a stroll along the riverside and several shopping malls, the boy is mesmerised by shops and loves air conditioning on days like today. We found three floors of a specialist art supplier which took a good half hour to explore. There are unguessable t...

<t>He has membership at the Backpackers Club, they have a list of phone-first friendly wild camping areas which might end up useful. There's a wild camping section at Camping in the National Parks: National Parks UK which shows the state in England and Wales, I much prefer the Scottish position. He'...

<t>Jowan and I are now in Shanghai, in an apartment just off Renmin Square, having travelled something over a thousand miles in under six hours on a train the like of which Britain will never see, never afford, never come close to. The scenery was diverse and eye-popping, the rivers immense, the cou...

<t>We're getting on very competently, the apartment is ideally placed and we're finding our way about. What I've never managed to immediately work out from one country to another is how waste disposal is organized, it always takes me a while to discover the local equivalent of the dustbin, but other...

<t>You're quite right about treating foul winter weather with respect. When I had a car, getting down from remote places in an emergency was a simpler fallback to provide and I'd take the family onto the Brecon Beacons overnight in low temperatures. Dartmoor and no car? No, I can't see me trying, th...

<t>I'm not sure whether I've mentioned the boy backpacking but since I'm typing I'll put up a thread. He's been out along bridleways and rural footpaths and he likes it. I've carried camping gear and he likes nights out in a tent too. We're building up from there.<br/> <br/> Being seven he can't car...

<t>I brought with me a pocket memorandum book in which, under the heading FG, to jot the occasional reminder of any passing incident. It reads, to date:<br/> <br/> Ad stream tunnel<br/> <br/> Wainwright skunk<br/> <br/> I'll address the second entry first.<br/> <br/> Were I to be asked by St Peter w...

<t>I brought with me a pocket memorandum book in which, under the heading FG, to jot the occasional reminder of any passing incident. It reads, to date:<br/> <br/> Ad stream tunnel<br/> <br/> Wainwright skunk<br/> <br/> Perhaps I could address the second entry first.<br/> <br/> Were I to be asked by...

LarsMac;1520127 wrote: You might find 7-11 useful. They have a few things like that.


I'll try in the morning, there's one a hundred yards down the road.

As for initial impressions of the locals, people have been uniformly helpful and well disposed. We've not been near any touristy places yet. The food shop was a reassuring sight but there's no hint of breakfast cereals there yet.

<t>It's been a long trip, the boy grabbing the odd hour of sleep when possible. I had several hours once we were here. He built some Lego so he's settling in. We shall take some photos tomorrow. The underground is well signposted, we registered our arrival at the local police station, we bought food...

We're away again, this time in Beijing. I'll update this thread with this account it I may. It's warm here and 3am while jet lag persists so the boy is flat out on a sofa.

How might one attach the two parts of the drip tray of an inissia Koenig coffee machine to each other? They appear to be made to swivel or pivot but I don't want to force the plastc.



ETA

Ah. Discovered. Now it swivels.

<t>It was -15 centigrade (3 Fahrenheit) with blizzard style falling snow and wind at Jungfrauhoch yesterday afternoon, the boy was disbelieving until we went outdoors in it. Even in Zurich there was an inch fell as we walked from the train to the apartment but that's gone this morning. Today we're h...