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Is the cycle path well marked when cycling through Newry from the Canal towpath to Warrenpoint?

In short no.  Once you leave the towpath at Newry you are really on roads unless you cycle on footpaths. It takes you past the courthouse and then via abbey way
-William st- Kilmorey st and then to the dual carriageway to warrenpoint. There is a cycle lane on the inside of the carriageway. Once you leave the carriageway at warrenpoint join the main road again to reach wpoint.
                       There is a plan to have a dedicated cycling paths through newry which will connect the towpath to the newry-omeath Greenway(not fully completed) which will join to the existing omeath carlingford greenway and then go eventually to greenore and Dundalk(all in the future fingers crossed).
             See proposed greenways

https://nigreenways.com/newry-to-portadown-greenway/

Funny, we were talking about drivers before, but some cyclists take serious risks. On saturday i seen a cylist drafting a tractor( with a grape attached) on the A1 Just before Hillsborough. One sharp brake from being impaled.

Yes really dissappointing end to a very exciting tour. Given how the final 2 days of clumbing went i cant see how AP could have retained the yellow jersey. I suppose the main question is would thomas have caught Bernal if the stage hadnt have been stopped.
      Anyway Bernal is some talent. Movistar had the talent to contest but their tactics were bizarre.

Well this tour has seen everything now! Best i can remember.

Anyone able to recommend a good bike rack? Its for 2 possibly 3 bikes, my mountain bike and the kids bikes. Id want something that is pretty handy to use, and take on and off. Cheers

If you have a tow bar these are pretty good.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/thule-rideon-9503-3-bike-towball-carrier/

Alaphilippe has had a few tough days there but Jesus he's made some improvement this past year and beating GC climbers with ease at times 
Still and all I've enjoyed watching this tour.

Haven't been on the bike much myself this past year. Only about 100mile in total this summer and every time I get on the bike I'm scared of getting killed! The roads are a disaster and people have less patience than ever. Anyone finding the same?

Nearly got cleaned a few times. What amazes me is quite often i dont think the driver even realises the danger they've caused. I always thought that this anti collision software that will engage automatically in vehicles to avoid accidents is bollix, but given the number of near misses that almost every cyclist ive talked to have experienced it can be no bad thing.     

I have started to go out later in the evening around 8 or so as things not as busy on the roads. Also ive always done a little bit of mountain biking which us a great escape from traffic.
      Funny on the flip side of things quite a lot of aggro between walkers and mountain bikers. With walkers complaining of the speed and dangerous manoeuvres  of some cyclists!

Most open tour i can remember. Pinot's time loss in those cross winds could be very costly.

Great drama and great stage today. Cicconne looked devastated not winning the stage but made up for it with getting the yellow jersey.
        Thomas looked strong at the finish with Bardet probably out of the reckoning.

Interesting tweet here. Seemed to have slipped under the radar.

https://mobile.twitter.com/emmandjdesouza/status/1112320347515375616?s=12

Why does my €25 Argos DAB clock radio adjust time automatically while my €25000 car DAB radio does not?

You running her on the Red stuff again?

Mark Durcan wtf 

Well that was unexpected.  A massive coup for fine gael, timed perfectly after the sdlp/fianna fail partnership last month.
           Seems like the call went out to abandon ship and the former captain jumped first. Sad. Sad for the legacy of John Hume and the party he helped build.

Rugby needs to make itself smaller, weaker and less dangerous
Once famously a game for all shapes and sizes, that is quite clearly no longer the case

It's still all shapes and sizes....Liam Williams MOM on Saturday.....rugby is far more athletic now, and fitness levels are far greater.....but I don't think there is much difference in player size now than say 20 plus years ago....with the odd exception.

You can get the actual link from this article. They have definitely changed in particular the height and weight of the backs.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.joe.ie/amp/sport/graph-bigger-is-better-check-out-how-the-size-of-rugby-players-has-changed-in-the-last-40-years-434067

Anyway a very interesting read. It does touch on a number of topics including bio banding in youth rugby.
        Lots of questions in the article about changing from a collission based to an evasion based sport but no real suggestions on how to get there. Still excellent food for thought.
         

Is this a misprint?

, after the death of 18-year-old Stade Francais academy player Nicolas Chauvin, it bluntly outlined the reality.
•   Boxing needs a single, unified world heavyweight champion
•   League of Ireland should appreciate what it is – not fret about what it isn't
•   Something cringey about recent evidence of unbearable 'Corkness' of Cork

['super spad', putting him over the party's team of spads and ministers – something which civil servants agreed to, even though it was against the spirit of the law]

Sinn Fein and the DUP. Working for the people of the North on Brexit. Delivering, accountable.

https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/key-foster-mcguinness-brexit-letter-was-actually-written-by-civil-servants-1-8816000


The pinnacle of the DUP-Sinn Fein Executive's efforts to present a united front on how Brexit should be handled was actually overwhelmingly – and perhaps exclusively – the work of civil servants, new material reveals. In August 2016 the then first and deputy first ministers wrote to the prime minister to set out their agreed priorities for the Brexit process. Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness's letter was presented as a significant development and has since been cited by those who defend the previous Stormont regime as an example of how opposing sides could pragmatically agree to work together. However, material released under the Freedom of Information Act shows no evidence that Mrs Foster, Mr McGuinness or any of their political advisors played any role in the letter beyond requesting it at a meeting which was not minuted and then the ministers putting their signatures to the letter.

Given the culture of verbal government within Stormont where certain communications were deliberately not written down to avoid the public ever getting to see what went on, it is possible that either the ministers or their special advisors (spads) were more involved but did not want that to be known. However, the material released suggests that three senior civil servants were responsible for the overwhelming bulk of the letter. The letter called for an open Irish border, the retention "as far as possible" of the current ease of cross-border trade, access to EU labour, consideration of the energy market and the preservation of farming subsidies and EU Peace funds. The first written mention of the letter came in a memo from the then head of the civil service, Sir Malcolm McKibbin, to Andrew McCormick, permanent secretary of the Department for the Economy, and David Sterling, permanent secretary of the Department of Finance.


The brief August 3 2016 memo was titled 'meeting with DUP/SF representatives' and said: "I had a meeting with Timothy Johnston and Aidan McAteer at which it was agreed that: Officials would prepare a letter from FM/dFM to the Prime Minister articulating the priorities that are emerging from the scoping exercise we are carrying out on the implementations of leaving the EU." Mr Johnston was the most senior DUP spad and is now the DUP's chief executive. Mr McAteer was barred by law from acting as a spad because of a serious criminal conviction. However, Sinn Fein circumvented the law by making him a 'super spad', putting him over the party's team of spads and ministers – something which civil servants agreed to, even though it was against the spirit of the law. Stormont Castle has not acknowledged the existence of minutes of the meeting between Sir Malcolm and the DUP and Sinn Fein spads, suggesting that no minutes of the meeting were taken. The following morning, Sir Malcolm emailed his two senior civil service colleagues with a draft of the letter which he had drawn up and asked them for any comments by lunch time. Three hours later Dr McCormick replied to say that he had discussed the issue with Mr Sterling and they had agreed a series of changes to the text. Mr Sterling felt it contained a section on agriculture which was "too long", something which "unbalances the overall thrust of the letter".

Five days later the amended letter was sent to the private secretaries of the first minister and the deputy first minister. Not a word of that letter was changed by the ministers or their spads before it was sent to Downing Street the following day.



Interesting line this...
Mr McAteer was barred by law from acting as a spad because of a serious criminal conviction. However, Sinn Fein circumvented the law by making him a 'super spad', putting him over the party's team of spads and ministers – something which civil servants agreed to, even though it was against the spirit of the law

The spirit of the law is pretty much like a verbal agreement i.e. Not worth the paper it was not written on.