Went for the second half of the game tonight taking advantage of the £25 after 6.30 offer. An excellent evening out, making up for having to miss the cycling yesterday. But I've just realised that I can catch the final stage of the Tour of Britain after the Fulham game on Sunday.

The tunnel at Farnworth is being rebuilt to accommodate electrification of the line to Preston. The line between Salford and Bolton is therefore shut at weekends. It should have been done by now but it's been extended to Dec/Jan. Separately direct trains from Manchester to Burnley have now been introduced via Todmorden so that provides an alternative route.

I've just done the reverse. Just come home from Birmingham for the game tonight then back on an early train in the morning for the cricket.

I think most of the tickets go well before the semi-final teams are known. The ordinary seats were sold out some time ago apart from the few left for each team (800 in Lancs case). As I will be in Birmingham on Saturday I've opted for the cheapest corporate package. On Friday I got one of the last of those.

And all completely random luck. We had landed in Cape Town that morning a day earlier as we had used some air miles for the flight. We were settled in our hotel by 9am and I saw the second day of the game was on and just decided to go. Got a ticket for the equivalent of £7 and saw Australia complete their first innings of 284 and then bowl South Africa out for 96. Then the Aussies were bowled for 47 in exactly 18 overs, 3 balls less than yesterday although it took them a bit longer to bowl them. Then SA batted without trouble and knocked the runs off by early the following day.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before on this thread but I was at the SA V Aussies game in 2011 the day they were bowled out for 46. I think still the only Test match ever when there was some part of all 4 innings in a day.

I've always found the odd dubious character at the bar there myself. I went to Thyme & Plaice a couple of years ago in a large group and it was very good - often not the case with otherwise good restaurants.

I'm actually coming to Seoul next March but sadly only to an airport hotel at Incheon in transit back from new Zealand to the UK (where I will be getting some cycling in). Did the RideLondon again yesterday. Still haven't managed the full 100 mile circuit though as they had to close the top of Leith Hill as a rider had a heart attack and sadly died. I completed the 96 miles i did in 6 hours 20 minutes, so a bit faster average speed than last year. With the better weather many more people than last year - I believe close to 26,000 in the end. It's wonderful to ride on closed roads for a day.

I was there at 1.30. I didn't go in on Monday but the cafe at one end of the Midland is perfectly fine for cyclists to use. Not a cheap option but good quality.

No - we were there Sunday night/Monday morning and the races were on Saturday and Monday. I left about 10.15. We must have passed close to each other around Morecambe.

As it happens I did some of the Bay Cycleway in reverse on Monday. I cycled from Cartmel to Lancaster via Morecambe before my body gave up - probably something to do with the 17 courses and 10 glasses of wine at L'Enclume the night before.

Well Baz, I hope you enjoyed today's stage. A quite extraordinary sprint from Froome from way out. I'll need to take a good look at the route for the TOB, to work out where I can get to see the race to the best advantage. My first thought is to aim to see either the start or finish and a hill top.

You didn't find the uphill finish and the cobbles exciting then Baz? You're a hard taskmaster. If you can knock out 100km on an inappropriate bike without much practice you'll be fine for the big ride on the Trek.

Absolutely Abbs. Yesterday was a bit pedestrian but the days before that were as dramatic as the last few days in the mountains usually are.

We were at Northcote last Saturday in the Louis Roederer Room in a party of 42! Given the size of the group the quality of the food was fabulous. Usually a large function is a challenge to deliver high quality but not last week. We didn't stay over this time but we have few times in the past and the experience has never been less than excellent. We're hoping to go to L'Enclume in the next week or so, so it will be interesting to see how the two compare.

I'd also have a look at the Cannondale Synapse Claris. It's a cheaper version of the bike I have, which has been excellent. It's selling for £600 in the UK.

For that length of ride I'd say the road bike would be best, assuming the ride is all on tarmac. I think whilst a hybrid would be a more comfortable ride it would be a lot more effort. I don't know whether hiring a road bike is an option in South Korea, if you don't want to commit a big lump of cash for something you might not use again much.

I'd agree with Paul's advice. The only point I would add is that your speed will be very dependent on what bike you have. Assuming you are not a regular cyclist I assume you don't have a decent bike. If the ride is on Tarmac then a road bike will be a lot easier than a hybrid or mountain bike.

Back yesterday from another wonderful week at Glastonbury - my ninth. Reading the comments above shows what a gap there is between the perception of Glastonbury from those who have never been to the actuality of going there. Not anyone's fault but the image the media portray is the problem. The BBC coverage hasn't changed for years except that they now film a couple more stage and the website and iPlayer allows them to make more available. The shows on BBC2 every night have followed the same formula for a long time - show extended highlights of the main headliner (unless they can't) and a couple of numbers from a random selection of others on the main stages. Then a few live performances in their studio (usually the most interesting bit). Then a desperately embarrassing series of films from some third rate young BBC3 presenter about the other "wild and wacky" things that go on across the site. In truth there could easily be a three hour programme on all those which would be a lot more entertaining than most of the other coverage. It's not helped the rest if the media, who are only interested in three things - if it's sunny, then pictures of young girls getting burnt, if it's wet then pictures of people covered in mud and then anything controversial a performer does. It used to be the traffic as well but they've pretty much sorted that out. Meanwhile everyone who goes just gets on with having a good time in whatever way they choose, many thousands not going anywhere near the main stands and many not seeing any music at all. I spent Saturday night from 8 to 12 working in King's Meadow and talking to an amazing range of people, from the guy who drives the performers into and offsite to a guy whose job is to go round every night kicking people lying on the floor - if they move he leaves them, if not he gets the medical services in. Anyway to the music I saw: - Raghu Dixit - wonderful life-affirming stuff and probably the best set of the festival The Unthanks - with a full orchestra at 11am - a first time for clog dancing on the Pyramid Stage Songhoy Blues - excellent rock from the home of the blues Wilko Johnson - the lazarus of rock and roll, back from the dead and still duckwalking across the stage Goat - weird but wonderful psychedelic rock Kate Tempest - the person to see if you think you don't like rap FFS - a fantastic collaboration. Notable for my moment of the festival - Ron Mael disco dancing in his wellies Lolaloop - never heard of them - found them in the Small World tent around midnight on Friday after having given up on Florence (she was OK but the crowd of @#/? up teenage girls were too irritating to last more than 3 numbers) and Lamb (not who I thought they were!) King Creosote - as wonderful as ever on the Avalon stage Clean Bandit - classical/pop combo with last year's biggest hit. My eldest son knows the parents of the two brothers in the band - imagine how old that makes me feel I didn't see Lionel Ritchie or Kanye West - I was working when both were on but doubt that I would have gone anyway. Motorhead I could have seen but they're not for me (although modest claim to fame - I once had a pint with Lemmy in the Marriott in Cardiff. We were having a nightcap after a long day's work and I think he'd just got up). I would have loved to have seen Belle and Sebastian but again was working.

I'd second the suggestion to get a proper bike fitting for anyone but particularly if you have an issue with your back. I had a fitting by Paul Hewitt in Leyland. He charges £50 (or he did a few years ago), but it's free if you go on to buy a bike from him. I have two bikes, a Cheviot tourer from Paul and a Cannonade Synapse Tiagra road bike from Broadgate Cycles in Preston. The Cannondale was about £950 in April 2014. I see the new Tiagra has disc brakes - mine doesn't. There are a couple of models in the range cheaper than that. I've found it very comfortable at rides up to almost 100 miles. On where to buy, it depends a bit on how you bike maintenance skills are. Mine are beyond useless so I make sure I buy from a local bike shop that will look after you. You will be able to buy bikes cheaper from the internet and bike warehouses buy you might find it difficult to get a local bike shop to help you with servicing etc. That's not a problem if you're confident enough to do it yourself. Overall I'd recommend a local bike shop. The 2 I've mentioned are good and I think Paul recommends Ewood Bikes. Of the big multiples Evans are decent - they now have a shop in Preston. Decathlon's own brand bikes have a strong reputation for value but the nearest shop to round here is in Bolton. Don't go anywhere near Halfords.

I worry for your eyesight then Al. To suggest that the majority of bad behaviour on the roads is by cyclists is frankly ludicrous. On Tuesday I went out for a ride across West Lancashire. It was a nice warm day so there were lots and lots of cyclists out, both out for longer rides like me or just pottering round locally. The only incident of bad behaviour was a car driver (I think it was a BMW for the record), who overtook me dangerously on a country lane and screeched into a gap between me and two other riders forcing me to break suddenly and almost come off. Now, like Paul, I don't assume that because I came across a driver behaving stupidly that the majority of car drivers behave badly. But it seems to be OK to make these sweeping generalisations about cyclists.

There's no need to go on the A6 at all on that ride. If you come off the Jubilee Tower road and head south for Bay Horse you pick up route 6, which you can follow through Scorton all the way south to Preston or cut off at Grimsargh if you want to go further east. Or you can avoid Jubilee Tower by taking the first left after the top of the Trough and meeting route 6 in Scorton.

The cafes in Chipping and Slaidburn are better. To ease your way back have a look at national cycle route 6 - it goes north from Preston to Lancaster along the Bowland foothills. Beware the Lancs cycle way. Beyond Whalley it gets seriously lumpy. Although if you go the other way it's flat as a pancake for a long way.

The A59 is a road to be avoided along its whole length on a bike. Luckily there are plenty of alternatives. For your ride you could have followed the Lancashire cycle way from Mellor over to Ramsgreave & Wilpshire station then back up over York to Whalley. Lumpier than the A59 but pretty quiet and a fabulous long descent not Whalley. If you're on Strava you should be able to see my rides all over Lancashire over the last few years.

I need to have a good look to plan where the best place(s) will be to see the race. Ideally the top of a hill followed by the finish in Colne. Still, plenty of time to sort it yet.