The forest fires in Turkey in the summer of 2021 were a catastrophe. Images of blazing mountainsides were seared across nightly news bulletins. Holidays were cancelled, resorts evacuated and suspects arrested, although as the Turkish fires were only the worst of a series of conflagrations across the Eastern Mediterranean, it was quickly accepted… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
How upstart train company plans to speed the way to the west
When Britain’s railways were privatised in the 1990s, the plan was that passengers would benefit from competition. It didn’t really happen. 30 years on, and many major routes are still only served by one company. But, belatedly, that most traditional of market forces is beginning to assert itself. Independent company Grand Union proposes to take… Continue reading →
Green stay – the hotel that will produce more energy than it uses
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 →
How Cornwall’s ‘lost’ Beeching railway beats the car to St Ives
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 →
Ferry force – two villages linked by swift boat across the Towy
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 →
Ymweliad byr â Conwy – A short visit to Conwy
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 →