alan h's activity

Questions Asked

I'm planning my route down for a months visit in July.

Mon, 06/04/2012 - 08:13

I logged on this morning to my local webcam, to look at the snow on the ski slopes.

Thu, 01/05/2012 - 04:47

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14995588Loved the note about changing the locks!

Wed, 09/21/2011 - 09:20

I have just got back from my latest trip to Italy, and thought some of you might be interested to hear about a Swiss hotel that we stayed in on the way down.It is the Hotel Engel in Stans [near to Lake Lucerne, a few minutes from the motorway

Mon, 07/25/2011 - 05:21

For many years now I have used the likes of 'mappy', 'via michelin' etc for calculating different routes down to Italy - for us its a part of our holiday, so we don't always want to take the quickest/shortest route down.  We prefer to vary the rou

Wed, 06/01/2011 - 09:25

Today I received an email from the Swiss Travel Centre.  The relevant portion is;- "The GBP price for a Vignette will increase from 01 June 2011 and we wanted to give you the opportunity to purchase this years’ Vignette before the pric

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 09:45

I've just driven down and back for a [much too] short holiday, and feel that an update on how fuel prices look on the way down would be useful to fellow travellers The following is a good site for seeing what prices have been like  

Mon, 04/04/2011 - 05:02

P&O have introduced a new ferry on the Dover - Calais route - its called the Spirit of Britain. They seem to have a special offer on at the moment [on this ship only] I've just booked a return crossing [car + 2] for £60 - significantly less th

Sat, 01/29/2011 - 06:08

Does Tomato soup exist in Italy? We were feeling a bit under the weather when we went out to Italy 2 weeks ago.  As part of the R&R process, I fancied some soup, and looked around the supermarket.  There were lots of different soups, but I rea

Mon, 01/24/2011 - 08:29

The route/timings for next years Giro d'Italia have been posted http://www.steephill.tv/giro-d-italia/   My son rang me up to inform me that the route passes about 100m away from

Sat, 11/06/2010 - 07:04

Comments posted

Wed, 12/15/2010 - 11:16

Can he keep on surviving on less than a handful of votes?   YES   Will the opposition manage to unite?  NO   What is clear is that Italy does not need a political crisis right now. What do you think?  An Electorate gets the politicians it deserves

Tue, 12/14/2010 - 17:15

"Just a few minutes twice a day, morning and evening should be enough. Switch off the heating while you ventilate." This won't work when the air in the house is damp from renovations etc. The best bet is get the house nice and warm and keep it so, and dehumidify for a long time Opening the windows and turning the heat off won't help at all   In the longer term, when the house has dried out properly, small solar powered ventilators [from boat builders] may help   [http://www.solarshop.co.uk/solar-ventilation-300S.htm]

Mon, 12/13/2010 - 10:24

If the damp trouble occurs when you heat up the room - it sounds like warm moist air hitting a cold surface [the wall] and condensing on it To stop this happening you need to dry the air out - its probably a bit damp in the air from all the renovation works [cement and plaster drying out etc] and is apparent in the room as the wall lacks any plaster or render insulation - making it probably the coldest wall in the house. You could plaster it internally and/or render it externally. or you can open the windows as much as possible [great in winter!] to dry the whole house out [not just the problem room] Whatever you do, the problem should decrease as the house drys out - so you could just try living with it until the next summer when hopefully it will eventually dry out naturally De-humidifiers could help speed up the process, but whatever you do - get plenty of air circulating.   Good Luck.

Sun, 12/12/2010 - 07:22

Shortest from your place to Amsterdam - 1400km - approx 13 hrs Via the coast road [Nice etc] - 1770km - approx 16.5 hrs  [nearly all motorway - all except 22km and no Alps] I think [if you're worried about the snow and the mountains] that I'd do the coastal route to France, but then do Calais - Dover, [or Dunkirk - Dover], as it will be a cheaper option than Amsterdam to Newcastle

Sat, 12/11/2010 - 10:46

"I keep on imagining us all freezing to death crossing the alps and getting stuck in the snow!!! " From where you are, you could take the coastal route into France and then up the centre of France - you'd miss the Alps that way.  Longer, but flatter

Sat, 12/11/2010 - 10:41

"Norfolk Line have a Zeebrugge to Rosyth crossing". I think that finishes running on 15th December

Wed, 12/08/2010 - 04:39

"I'm still findining it difficult to get decent quality insulated plaster board in Italy, I want to use 92mm thick Kingspan K17 but the Gespol similar ( Italian ) product is 50% less thermally efficient anybody got a suggestion?" Have you considered buying the board in the Uk and shipping it down to Italy   If it stacks up financially, you could PM  'coperlacasa' - he does regular runs with a van to/from the UK http://www.philipwhitefreight.com/Phil_White_Freight/Welcome.html

Sat, 12/04/2010 - 06:08

"in the greater scheme of property frauds to which a foreign buyer might fall prey, this is peanuts."

Not if it had happened to you

Hopefully the prison sentence will deter others agents from doing such a 'peanuts' fraud

Thu, 12/02/2010 - 04:28

You could always post something on the thread to bring it back to the top - if you think it is important