48% of airports’ revenue has not recovered to that from before the pandemic. 52% of airports haven’t been able to restore all routes served before the pandemic.
16.11.2023 - 17:51 / theguardian.com / River Mersey
I hadn’t planned my walk along the Sankey Canal to coincide with the axing of HS2 but it happened like that. It was a sunny day. I had been promising myself a hike along the towpath for ages. I grew up in the area and it holds a special place in my affections. As I wandered it struck me that this under-explored waterway was arguably the UK’s first significant development in infrastructure since the Romans built roads. It was built in two years.
The Sankey Canal connects St Helens with the River Mersey. It was opened in 1757 and subsequently extended to Widnes. Large sailing barges called Mersey flats moved coal from Lancashire to the Cheshire salt-brining towns and to Liverpool. The first canal of the Industrial Revolution built in Great Britain (Northern Ireland’s Newry Canal was earlier), its construction was only permitted because engineer Henry Berry and financier John Ashton duped parliament and other investors into believing it was a “navigation” – a widening of the existing Sankey Brook. But it is a true cut, and prompted the Duke of Bridgewater – the “father of British inland navigation” – to build his own waterway.
Several spurs were built to reach local collieries. I started at one, at Blackbrook, just outside St Helens. There I met Colin Greenall, the chair of the Sankey Canal Restoration Society (Scars), who gave me a handy historical walking guide. Colin, who is 79, remembers seeing cargo vessels on the canal when he was a boy.
“It must have been about 1956. I remember being out trainspotting at Winwick and seeing boats going up towards Earlestown with sugar. Then everything changed to road transport and the last boats stopped in 1959.”
He says the society’s chief aim is to create a nature corridor in what is a densely populated and economically deprived area. “We hope we can keep the southern section in water [ie navigable] and develop the rest as a leisure space. But in the long term, there’s nothing to prevent the canal being fully reopened. Even where it’s filled in, nothing has been built along its course.”
Scars is keen to recruit more volunteers and fundraises to support conservation work along the waterway. It hopes one day to create a fully working canal for leisure crafts.
Then, I was off on my walk; I had 15 miles at least in front of me, but it was going to be flat – the Sankey is not a “summit-level canal” linking valleys. I made a faltering start. From Blackbrook to Earlestown, it’s only three or so miles, but I took a few wrong turns where tangled vegetation appeared to block the path, and ended up on the road. I don’t mind pounding the pavements; I did a lot of roadside walking as a teenager. As it happened, this first section passed near the village of Burtonwood, where I
48% of airports’ revenue has not recovered to that from before the pandemic. 52% of airports haven’t been able to restore all routes served before the pandemic.
“If you need to update Facebook, do it now,” the conductor announces over the tannoy. The passengers chuckle but dutifully pull out their phones. As we trundle into the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains, we’re about to enter another mobile dead zone.
The travel and tourism industry has been busy the past few years acknowledging and coming to terms with the worsening effects of climate change and the environmental destruction that’s being laid bare the world over. From dramatic biodiversity loss to the scourge of plastic pollution, the planet is grappling with a long list of daunting challenges.Addressing these issues, as more than a few industry conversations have made clear, will take participation at every level—from the destination managers to the corporate offices of travel brands down to suppliers, transportation companies, and travel agents.But there’s yet another key player in the industry who also has a vital role to play in advancing sustainable travel and the proactive protection of the planet, as well. And these individuals are on the front lines of travel every day: Tour guides. Often overlooked in conversations surrounding the industry-wide transformation that needs to take place, tour guides are an essential part of realizing a better future.“Tour guides, through their direct interactions with tourists, have the power to influence behaviors and shape the tourism experience,” says Brian Raffio, senior adventure travel consultant for the travel company Climbing Kilimanjaro. “By embracing their role as ambassadors and change-makers, they can contribute significantly to the shift towards a more sustainable and responsible tourism industry.”Indeed, a tour guide’s actions, practices, and interactions with tourists can significantly impact the environmental, social, and economic well-being of a destination and ultimately the planet and its people.The good news is that many travel stakeholders have already been thinking about the increasingly important role that tour guides play. Including the tour guides themselves.TravelPulse talked with individuals from every level of travel and tourism about the role of tour guides as the industry attempts to shift toward more sustainable business models that will better protect nature, wildlife, and local communities for generations to come. Here are outtakes from those conversations and tips from these same individuals about how tour guides can actively advance sustainability and environmental stewardship on a daily basis.
here are two ways for a walker to work up an appetite. Tramp over moorland and collapse into a pub to scarf a pile of carbs. Or do a gentle pastoral ramble, so you have enough energy to appreciate the awaiting food. As my Bowland outing was going to conclude at the Parkers Arms – the UK’s no 1 gastropub, its 12th best restaurant and gold medallist at the British Pie Awards – I tried the easy option. That walk can be found here. It’s a pleasant, well-trodden route but, frankly, lazy. How can you justify a full-on feast without burning off a few calories?
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