diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0ea9c0b99..b2fdfd7d9 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -67,9 +67,6 @@ matrix:
     - os: linux
       python: '3.6'
       env: TOXENV=py36-notebook
-    - os: linux
-      python: '3.5'
-      env: TOXENV=py35-notebook50
     # OSX tests, python 2 & 3
     # Use generic language on osx, get python via terryfy during before_install
     - os: osx
@@ -86,7 +83,6 @@ matrix:
     - env: TOXENV=appveyorartifacts
     - env: TOXENV=docs_linkcheck
     - env: TOXENV=lint
-    - env: TOXENV=py35-notebook50
 env:
   global:
     - LD_PRELOAD=/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libSegFault.so
@@ -108,23 +104,24 @@ before_install:
   - 'if [[ ${OSX_PYTHON} ]]; then if [[ $(which python3.3) ]]; then ls -l $(which python3.3); else echo "missing"; fi; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${OSX_PYTHON} ]]; then if [[ $(which python3.4) ]]; then ls -l $(which python3.4); else echo "missing"; fi; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${OSX_PYTHON} ]]; then if [[ $(which python3.5) ]]; then ls -l $(which python3.5); else echo "missing"; fi; fi'
-  # install conda for conda recipe env
-  - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then wget https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-latest-Linux-x86_64.sh -O miniconda.sh; fi'
+  # stuff for conda recipe
+  # Note we're currently installing 4.3.11 specifically, since conda 4.3.14-16
+  # have a bug which stop them intalling anything on travis (see
+  #     https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/5033
+  # for details).
+  # This has been fixed in mewer conda versions
+  # (>=4.3.17), but the current 'latest' installer is still 4.3.14, so we need to specify the
+  # previous version. This should change in future once an installer for
+  # >=4.3.17 is released!
+  - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then wget https://repo.continuum.io/miniconda/Miniconda3-4.3.11-Linux-x86_64.sh -O miniconda.sh; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then bash miniconda.sh -b -p $HOME/miniconda; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then export PATH="$HOME/miniconda/bin:$PATH"; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then hash -r; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then conda config --set always_yes yes --set changeps1 no; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then conda info -a; fi  # Useful for debugging any issues with conda'
-  # conda >4.3.13 seems to fail with TypeError thrown by sginal_handler on travis.
-  # for further details, see
-  #     https://github.com/conda/conda/issues/5033
-  # conda's auto-update strategy also means that installing or updating anything else will cause
-  # conda to attempt to update itself, so we may need to re-specify conda version at each install/update step
-  # Thus instead of running
-  #    conda update conda
-  # we install conda & conda-build together, specifying the versions that we
-  # wish to avoid
-  - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then conda install "conda<4.3.14" "conda-build"; fi'
+  # update conda, this should skip over the problematic 4.3.14-4.3.16 anyway
+  - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then conda update conda; fi'
+  - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then conda install conda-build; fi'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then conda info -a; fi  # Useful for debugging any issues with conda'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then conda config --append channels conda-forge; fi  # add conda-forge channel at lower priority than defaults'
   - 'if [[ ${TOXENV} == "condarecipe" ]]; then git fetch --unshallow; fi'
diff --git a/docs/requirements.txt b/docs/requirements.txt
index 986ddf2e2..f4f734f61 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.txt
+++ b/docs/requirements.txt
@@ -4,5 +4,5 @@ jupyter_latex_envs>=1.3.4
 jupyter_nbextensions_configurator
 readthedocs-sphinx-ext
 recommonmark>=0.4.0
-sphinx>=1.3.6
+sphinx>=1.3.6,<1.6
 sphinx_rtd_theme