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haha - now that's quality work Stereo!! Love it! Andy

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The 2 cube crates were slightly MORE than 2 x 1 cube ones. Had another email from them and I was right in thinking that haulage wasn't included. I just assumed they'd be selling by the truck load - probably makes a lot more economic sense to export that way than a crate here and a crate there. I might send them my delivery address to let them quote for haulage just out of interest. Does anyone know if there'd be any import charges to pay seeing as Latvia is in the EU?

I guess it depends on what kind of terms you'd be able to get from suppliers as a fairly small operator - unless of course you're planning on buying in by the container load. Ebay and paypal fees could make a big dent in a small profit margin, and you could be running around like a madman making pennies on each sale. I don't know how arb guys do their shopping - I know I've sold stuff in the past that has gone for a lot more than I ever expected, and sometimes for more than the same item would cost brand new from a bricks and mortar retail outlet. That strikes me as shoppers being either click happy or just plain daft - and I don't know if you'd get the same sort of shoppers in arb world. I'm guessing most of them will have the names of the big outfits engraved in their heads somewhere, and you'd need to offer a pretty good deal to lure them away - which goes back to my first point about terms - and I'm guessing the big outfits will be buying a lot more, and a lot cheaper than you'll be able to. So - not trying to put you off - but do your homework before you commit to spending a lot of money. Arb world will be a lot smaller and more specialist than golf world - and it would be easy to lose out on the idea. Cheers, Andy

Just to reply to windfall's mention of getting into oil and petrol. I looked at this a few years back, to supply fuel to narrowboats on our local canal. It was only ever going to be a part time sideline thing for me, as our canal is effectively cut off from the rest of the system from October to easter, but we do get quite a lot of visiting boats off the main system through the summer. Anyway, the actual process of setting up legally to be a dealer in diesel and so on isn't that difficult - just a few forms to fill in really and send off, then wait for your registration to arrive. I was encouraged by a bloke I came across on the Transit forum - who had been in business for many years supplying building and civils firms - he basically went round the construction sites and refuelled their machines. This saved them a load of hassle trying to store a few thousand litres on site and keep it from getting nicked. He was doing rather nicely out of it and had been for a good few years - his dad had done the same sort of thing for 40 years or so before him. Various things got in the way of it ever happening for me - so can't give any first hand experience of actually "doing it" - but it's not too difficult to actually set yourself up as a "dealer in controlled oils" Andy

Haha - quality! I wouldn't worry too much though mate - the looks you got were probably not as "gone out" as the ones they got last night when they rolled up and did a couple of donuts on the tarmac outside!

Erm - they've been and gone mate! I posted that update last night and they arrived at about 2 minutes to eight as planned. They've been driving back north today - in the truck this time rather than on the mowers - and will probably be just about home again by now. If you have a facebook account, I posted some pics that a friend of ours took as the rolled up (she lives in one of the lighthouse keepers houses overlooking the Longships) Anyway, if you have a look on facebook for The Lawn Way Down - you should be able to have a gander. As far as making a contribution goes - PLEASE don't feel obliged to for starters - but if you do want to, have a look at North West Lawn Mower Racing Association - The Lawn Way Down and you'll find links to a couple of justgiving pages on there. Sorry you missed them bud - hope you're not at work too late! Andy

Had probably the same one today, and one from Italy a couple of days ago. Latvian prices were 50 Euros for a tight stacked cube crate of ash/oak mix - I'm guessing that price didn't include the haulage. Andy

Last update before the end of the road. Lads are now just north of Redruth, and ETA at Land's End is 8pm. If anyone in the area can spare five minutes to give them a cheer they'd appreciate it I'm sure! Andy They spent a bit longer than planned in Wellington Tom - sheared exhaust bolts on one of the mowers - the good lads at Blackwood MOT centre sorted them out. Support truck had a flat as well, and one of the mowers ran out of fuel - the bloke driving it only has about twenty years experience, so I'm sure the rest of the club won't spend the next few years taking the piss at all!

5pm - now in Bude drying out briefly. Tracker is working again. Only about 90 miles to go!!

another update - seems as though the tracker has died - possibly due to the weather. I'll try and get a report when they get to Redruth and post it here.

Hi all, Just a quick update for you. The mower lads spent the night near Trowbridge after a fairly long stint of 240 miles or so yesterday, and today will be doing the final push to Land's End. No major problems so far - couple of issues with belts overheating and with the brakes on one mower, but nothing that couldn't be sorted easily enough. One of the support bikes had bigger worries - can't remember what it was but a big Honda tourer thing with lots of bodywork. That had an oil leak, alternator failure, speedo failure and something else, and had to be swapped at Wigan for another one! If you want to follow progress over the last day and possibly meet the guys at Land's End as a couple of you mentioned, then here's the link to the tracking http://foretrackbeta.yourfleetonline.com/Devices/DeviceLocationMap.aspx?DeviceId=13559 The user email is [email protected] and the password is nwlmra2011 If you then click on Daz & Tony mowers on the left, and the the daily summary tab, and finally on the "plot" icon for todays date, you'll see where they are. I don't know if it's the same on all computers, but if you leave the site open, it will refresh the position automatically every five minutes or so. Otherwise just refresh the page yourself. Sometimes if the signal isn't great, the gaps can be bigger, as we discovered when they took an unintentional detour around the Lake District and over Kirkstone Pass to frighten a few tourists! Think they're starting to feel it a bit - Daz's steering was getting the once over last night, but they thought it might just be 'cos his arms were tired out rather than a fault! Anyway - there you go. Pop along and say hi if you can! Andy

What type of briquettes are they? If they're cylindrical - 3-4" diameter and look a bit like a packet of squashed biscuits, then they'll expand when burning so don't overfill the stove or fireplace. They'll also tend to collapse into a pile of hot sawdust if poked or disturbed, or when fresh ones are added to the fire. The expanding also means that burn time is shortened as the exposed surface area increased as they burn. If they're the small cylindrical ones about 2" diameter (what I call garden centre specials) they'll generally burn very quickly and you'll go through a bag in no time. These are generally very soft and low density compared to a decent briquette - several of my customers have tried them in the past and when asked what they thought, they said "they were exactly how you said they'd be - rubbish"! A good many of my customers, and me personally just burn briquettes and nothing else as they are so handy and reliable - though the ones we sell are a little different and don't have any of the problems I mentioned above. All wood based briquettes should light easily with a handful of kindling or a firelighter as they'll generally have about half the moisture content of kiln dried natural logs. So basically - a lot depends on the briquettes themselves - there's as much difference between good ones and bad ones as between ash and elder. Our stove has easily gone through 15 kilos plus of poor ones in an evening - compared with probably slightly less than half that amount of the ones I deal with now. Only other thing to say is don't burn them, or any other wood fuel, at the same time as coal or smokeless fuel - this can produce sulphuric acid in your chimney which won't help anything! Andy

or a realistic price for that matter! And it still says Stihl in the "brand" description. I get the feeling that this particular "old man" knows exactly what he's selling - at least the last guy took his down once the messages from here started arriving! Andy

The listing has now been altered to "Stihl look a like", with a start price of £75 and a buy now of £150! Andy

They get the code by entering the serial number of the radio unit into a code generator for that particular type of radio. The most common radios in Transits have serial numbers starting with an M. Takes about three seconds to do, and there are code generators available on the net. If you don't want to do it yourself, there are threads running on virtually every Ford forum (and I guess on other manufacturers fan forums too) where people just ask for a code and someone does the three seconds work for them for nowt. I've found the generator for M series units now, so if yours is one of them, just let me know the serial no. Andy

Do you have the serial number of the radio? If it's a M followed by numbers let me know. I did have a code generator on the pc somewhere but buggered if I can find it now - but I can get you the code if its an M series. Andy

That's damned decent of you mate - nice one!! Somewhere on that info page I linked, there's an online fleet tracker which will tell you exactly how far they've got. Hopefully it will be working once they get logged in and set off. If all goes according to plan, the last day they'll be starting out from Trowbridge. Just checked now and the link is working - there's a log in and password on the info page. I have friends who live in one of the lighthouse keepers cottages at Longships - they're hoping to get along as well. I'm sure it would really make the lads day to have a bit of a welcome when they arrive. Not sure how fast they're going to be going to be honest. I think they're supposed to do like 25mph according to the DVLA or whoever makes the rules - as they're registered under some agri or horticultural category. I do know they've been clocked at 53mph on the GPS on a recent test run in Derbyshire though:biggrin: Just as a bit of contrast - I also posted the original message on the Transit forum, where I'm also a member. The first response was: Jeepers - it's a nasty twisted world some of us live in eh?! Thanks again mate - appreciated! Andy

Hi all, Nothing at all to do with trees, but thought I'd post it up anyway. I raced lawnmowers for many years as some of you will know, and two of my old club mates are doing a top to bottom run starting on Sunday, in aid of Cancer Research and Help for Heroes. They're expecting to do around 200 miles a day on two race prepared Wheelhorse mowers, with a few mods to make them road legal. If anyone could spare a pound or two to support them, they'd really appreciate it! There was a piece on Granada Reports last night which is here: Granada Regional News | Granada Reports - ITV Local and full details here, along with a link to the detailed route, and how to contribute if you'd like to help: North West Lawn Mower Racing Association - The Lawn Way Down Worth bearing in mind that these machines have no suspension at all, and whilst the roads are generally a bit smoother than the places we normally race, I reckon they'll be feeling it after 200 miles a day! If you're along the route somewhere, keep an eye out and give them a wave as they go past! Cheers all, Andy

Haha - wonder how many messages they got from here - I did exactly the same! Andy

...or of course that they didn't know any better, and have been had themselves? Andy

£310 delivered mate, and these don't do the expanding thing which decreases burn time, or the falling to bits if disturbed thing either - they form proper briquette shaped embers which keep chucking the heat out long after the flames have died down. We have quite a lot of customers living on boats, and they love them as they can keep them in overnight in a small stove - which is something you'll be very lucky to do with any other variety. Andy

I generally tell customers that a woodburner is unlikely to be the cheapest option unless they have sources of free logs. However, most of my briquette customers will get through the winter - as we do ourselves at home, with a single pallet of 100 packs. The stove is not our only source of heat, but it's on every afternoon and evening for most of the winter, and on all the time during periods when we're at home. Cheers, Andy

They don't have much in the way of burn time though by the sounds of it - the super cedars I mentioned burn for well over 40 minutes each! We generally used to break each one in half. Don't suppose anyone knows if Coghlans firesticks are available anywhere in the UK? They're the very hard brown square section "sticks" - appear to be made of some kind of fine brown fibre. I had a bunch of them with some woodgas camp stoves I imported from the States and they were excellent - way better than the big stinky paraffin jobs and much more compact too. Andy

Here's the low down on the Super Cedars: Super Cedar Firestarters - Guaranteed To Start Your Fire Every Time! Andy