Self-guided adventure travel is having its moment right now and there are many reasons for its rise in popularity. No one knows this better than Neil Lapping, founder of Macs Adventure, which offers more than 500 self-guided hiking and biking adventures in more than 40 destinations worldwide.
‘You can walk virtually everywhere in England by using the train’: the man connecting rail-based walks
02.05.2024 - 14:59 / theguardian.com
A British railway station can be many things. A place of tended flowers and toytown paintwork. A concourse of shuttered ticket booths and overpriced pasties. A terminus, a meeting spot, a gateway to escape. It can be heart-lifting or drab, bathed in birdsong or heaving with commuters. It can also be the starting point for a properly good walk.
National Rail serves 2,593 stations, their locations scattered across the map like cartographic confetti. Many of them sit directly on longstanding hiking trails or within a short distance of paths worth exploring. In a large number of cases, it’s possible to walk between two stations following rights of way, rendering a car or taxi redundant.
Such routes are frequently scenic but often little-known, giving value to the prospect of a dedicated database of station-to-station walks. Might a disembarkation at Ffairfach, Whatstandwell or Crianlarich be the passport to your next hike? Quite possibly – which is where the recently launched Railwalks.co.uk comes in. Its aim is to create a crowd-sourced national network of rail-based walking routes, mostly ranging from two to 20 miles.
“If you’d asked me 20 years ago how much of Britain you could walk through while using public transport, I would have imagined, like everyone else, not very much,” says founder Steve Melia, an academic, author and one-time Lib Dem parliamentary candidate who gave up flying in 2005 and driving in 2009. “I discovered that that’s not true. You can walk virtually everywhere in England by train – and bus, but mainly trains – and a lot of Wales and Scotland.”
I meet Steve near the station in the Wiltshire town of Bradford-on-Avon, from where we’re taking a nine-mile countryside walk to Bath Spa station. It’s one of the first truly fine days of spring, a breezeless morning of sunshine and plum blossom. Twenty four hours earlier we’d have got drenched, but today the skies are blue, the blackbirds are fluting and the dandelions are blinding. We head to the banks of the Kennet & Avon canal, bear west and begin.
Steve first had the idea for the website, which was unveiled in January in partnership with like-minded walking organisation Slow Ways, when he moved to Bristol in 2009 to teach transport and planning at the University of the West of England. “I started doing public transport-based walks each weekend,” he says, as the canal path leads us past narrowboats and banks of forget-me-nots. Waggy-tailed terriers zigzag the other way. “I like to walk somewhere different every time I go out, and the fact I was able to do that for 15 years and still find new routes made me think there was more to this than people realise.”
Soon we reach a path across open fields. A herd of friesian cows graze in the
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Top Autors
Popular Topics
euronews.com
09.05.2024 / 03:01
Europe's travel strikes: Flight and train disruption you can expect in May
Strikes are a regular occurrence in Europe, as employees withhold their labour to fight for better pay and conditions.
skift.com
08.05.2024 / 22:15
Airbnb International Expansion: 'We Are Ready to Step on the Gas'
Airbnb execs have used the phrase “expanding beyond the core” to mean launching new products and services for guests and hosts, and also their hope to lift growth beyond the company’s main five markets: The U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, and France.
lonelyplanet.com
08.05.2024 / 21:57
12 exciting experiences in every corner of Canada
The mind boggles at the sheer scope of Canada.
breakingtravelnews.com
08.05.2024 / 08:12
Strong Air Connectivity Fuels Tourism Boom for Jamaica - Minister Bartlett
Some 12 international and regional airlines, including carriers flying from over 200 gateways out of the US alone into Jamaica, have contributed to “impressive growth” in activities at the Sangster and Norman Manley International airports. Collectively they generated US$200.28 million or J$30 billion in revenue from a record-breaking 6.96 million passengers traversing them in 2023.
breakingtravelnews.com
08.05.2024 / 08:12
Five Star Wars Locations You Can Actually Visit
As Star Wars fans around the world celebrate May the Fourth, what better way to immerse yourself in the galaxy far, far away than by visiting real-life locations that served as backdrops for some of the most iconic scenes in the saga? Solos was founded in 1982 and now offers a wide range of holidays for globetrotters. From Costa Rica to Canada, Africa to America, India to Iceland, Croatia to the Caribbean, Uzbekistan to the UK, and Norway to New Zealand, Solos has divided its holidays into easy-to-select categories depending on interests. Solos is also keen to challenge the assumption that solo travel is purely for single people. Regardless of age, ability, circumstance, background, gender – there really is something for everyone – especially on these exciting trips below.
travelandleisure.com
02.05.2024 / 17:43
This Airport Just Took the Top Spot for Cleanest in the World — See the Ranking
Tokyo’s Haneda Airport has managed to snag the top spot as world's most cleanest airport.
theguardian.com
02.05.2024 / 14:59
‘It’s not the Zambezi, but the Tweed has its moments’: canoeing in the Scottish Borders
It was a morning of brooding green banks and dark skies on the River Tweed. Heavy rains had hit southern Scotland and the waterway had turned into a fast flood, with the deluge sweeping our two-seater canoe downstream through farmland and fishing beats as fast as a salmon escaping a rod and reel.
forbes.com
02.05.2024 / 13:39
Air Canada’s Longest Flight: New Direct Vancouver To Singapore Route
Air Canada has just launched a direct flight from Vancouver to Singapore. This new direct flight not only marks Air Canada's newest international route but also represents the only non-stop service that links the country of Canada directly with Singapore. The route spans an impressive distance of 7,965 miles (12,818 kilometers) and is the longest in Air Canada's portfolio. The total flight duration can reach up to 16 hours and five minutes.
euronews.com
02.05.2024 / 11:03
Europe's travel strikes: Flight and train disruption you can expect in April and May
Strikes are a regular occurrence in Europe, as employees withhold their labour to fight for better pay and conditions.
lonelyplanet.com
02.05.2024 / 09:33
Everything you need to know before you travel to Munich
Munich, Germany’s third-largest metropolis, is a city of tankards and tech, artworks and eccentricity. It's generally a safe place to visit, and few travelers have problems.
thepointsguy.com
01.05.2024 / 12:47
Hyatt will give loyalty members World of Hyatt points for using Peloton
Pedal your way to a Park Hyatt award redemption? It seems Hyatt is making that possible.