As the world seeks a path to net zero over the next crucial decades, travel must play its part too. There are many areas where action is required, such as reducing the impact of flying and other carbon-based transport, and making accommodation greener and food and drink more sustainable. But as the tourism industry prepares for… Continue reading
Sometimes the case for rail over road is so overwhelming it scarcely needs to be argued. The short branch line from St Erth to St Ives in Cornwall is a shining example. It now carries more passengers than in any year since it was opened in the 1870s. That’s an awful lot of cars taken… Continue reading
For years Llansteffan has been a tantalising prospect for people in Ferryside and the many tourists who pass through on the railway that hugs the coast and the Towy Estuary in Carmarthenshire, Wales. So close, with a line of prettily-coloured waterside houses and the magnificent ruined Norman castle on the hill, yet quite out… Continue reading
Dyma fy erthygl deithio gyntaf yn Gymraeg – This is my first travel article in Welsh. (There is an English translation below.) Cerddais i mewn i’r Erskine Arms, ychydig ar draws y ffordd o Orsaf Conwy, yn union fel oedd fy nhren o Lundain yn tynnu allan o’r platfform. Yn fy llyfr nodiadau ysgrifennais… Continue reading
When The Story of Holly and Ivy was first published, it was set in the Buckinghamshire market town of Aylesbury. In later editions the location was switched to somewhere called Appleton. (There is a village of Appleton in Oxfordshire, but the descriptions in the book don’t fit it.) Has the book lost something as a result? “And where does your grandmother… Continue reading
Did one of the finest British travel writers of the 20th century start his epic adventure across Europe on a meteorological fib? Patrick Leigh Fermor – “a thousand glistening umbrellas tilted over a thousand bowler hats in Piccadilly”. The Sunday Times – “At Kew it was 33° (1°C). Light falls of snow again occurred locally.” But does it… Continue reading