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Monthly Archives: January 2011

Have you ever heard of coasteering?

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Posted by trev on January 26, 2011 – 9:55 am
Filed under Attractions

If the answer is “no”, then welcome to the crash course in rather wet extreme sport.

Until today I’d never heard of it either, but it seems this could be one of the next big crazes as people search for more adventures and realise that actually Britain has quite a bit to offer.

So what is coasteering?

In essence it can encompass many things, but essentially it covers getting up close and personal with the coastline of Britain and activities related to this. Examples include walking along rocky outcrops, diving into the calmer parts of the sea and swimming through coastal caves.

The idea is that you get to explore the parts of the coast you probably wouldn’t normally see, but in a safer way that won’t involve calling out one of those nice yellow RAF helicopters (hopefully).

Wet suits are pretty much a requirement, but if you go with an outdoor company then they will generally be provided.

For more details, there’s a British Coasteering Federation although most of their web site seems unfinished, but there is a members section.

If you want to know what you’ll need (and is usually supplied), take a look at this picture (from the Fresh Air Fix page on Coasteering).

This video came from a web site about Coasteering:

“Mystery walkers” wanted by Ramblers Association

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Posted by trev on January 26, 2011 – 9:15 am
Filed under Events

The Ramblers Association have had a new idea – to create a network of “mystery walkers” to check Britain’s footpaths.

So far as we can see, the job doesn’t involve checking on high brightly the flowers are glowing this morning or whether the sheep in the field baah’d in a nice way as you passed it.

This is more related to checking how the public footpaths of Britain are fairing up to all those walkers, with the intention of producing a map showing the best and worst maintained footpaths in the country.

The overall idea is that once they have a map, they can then go to the councils with the bad footpaths and in theory get them to do something about them. One does wonder if they’ve heard about the economic cuts and such, but the intentions might be well meaning at least and they do say that they will praise the councils with good footpaths.

So if you want to become part of the army of people with your secret clipboard hidden under the dufflecoat, head over to the Ramblers Association web site and register your interest.

UK resources:
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The 2011 Fort William Mountain Festival

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Posted by trev on January 25, 2011 – 4:45 pm
Filed under Events

The 2011 Fort William Mountain Festival will be starting soon with both a series of films and other events around Ben Nevis.

Running from Friday 11th to Monday 15th February 2011, the festival is designed to cover the full “diversity of mountain culture” with lectures and films from some of the world’s top climbers and skiers.

This year you can also get involved with a number of activities designed to help climbers of all abilities such as the avalanche awareness course, winter-climbing or winter-walking workshop.

The festival also seems to be gathering in other risky sports such as white water paddling with the opening day being dedicated “Paddling Evening”, showing three films “A drop in the ocean, and aware of it”, “Searching for the Rivergod” and “Wild Water”.

Another departure from mountaineering will be the Jump Jam where you can in essence take a mountain bike and practice all those moves the experts do, but without breaking any bones. Of all the extreme sports, this one actually looks quite fun – video of Jump Jam example.

There’s a video introduction to the 2011 Fort William Mountain Festival below:

Links around Fort William:
Hotels in Fort William
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Camping and carvanning around Fort William
Thanks to Fresh Air Fix for the heads up

The Midland Hotel in Manchester – maturing with age

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Posted by trev on January 25, 2011 – 4:35 pm
Filed under Accommodation

Just like a whiskey (or whisky), some hotels mature with age and one such example is the Midland Hotel in Manchester.

Situated in the heart of the city beside what used to be the main railway station, at least in 1903, the Midland Hotel has long stood as one of Manchester’s icons.

With 312 rooms, the hotel certainly has room to accommodate many visitors to this wonderful northern city although since the railway stations moved, the guests are more conference and wedding parties rather than industrialists from a by-gone age.

Adriaane Pielou in the Guardian recently wrote a review of the hotel, which has undergone a £12 million refurbishment, to see whether the hotel has managed to keep hold of it’s identity and to ensure that the grand old building really has matured with age.

Going by his review, it seems despite spending all that money only some of the rooms have been redeveloped so it is recommended that you check before you book to ensure you get one of the newer rooms. Assuming you do, there seems to be little to complain about although a second tip from Adriaane is to try to stay as high as possible away from the dance floor.

The hotel’s restaurant received very good reviews which as Adriaane himself remarked on, quite an achievement when you have at least one wedding going on to cater for and all the other guests too.

Overall it seems the hotel is keeping touch with modern times while still retaining the essence of what made these grand railway hotels such an iconic place to visit ever since the railways brought the masses to the cities of Britain.

More information on the Midland Hotel in Manchester.

More Manchester Resources:
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An end for the star rating classification system?

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Posted by admin on January 25, 2011 – 3:45 pm
Filed under Accommodation

Apparently a Department of Culture Media & Sport spokesman yesterday confirmed: “We are going to be publishing our tourism strategy next month and in that we back a consumer-led system like TripAdvisor rather than traditional star-rating systems.”

So could this mark the end of the star rating system in Britain as we know it? What I’ve long since felt is that we should have a system which we stick to, and that has been sadly lacking over the years.  We’ve had everything from keys to crowns, diamonds to sparking diamonds, stars to red stars, and so on and so forth.  The consumer must be highly confused by it all.

But is a Tripadvisor model the best way forward?  Of course, it is not foolproof and this has been well documented in recent years with allegations of false reviews, and various legal wranglings.

What do you think?

David Bellamy on his campsite conservation awards

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Posted by trev on January 25, 2011 – 3:36 pm
Filed under Accommodation

Earlier, I came across an interview with Botanist David Bellamy in the Daily Mail about his David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme.

The scheme has been running for 14 years now and the interview gives an insight into how the scheme works and what it means when a campsite says it has won the bronze, silver or gold award in the David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme.

David Bellamy is now 77, but as enthusiatic as ever about environmental issues, and we can assume still retains that trademark voice and way of explaining things in a way that doesn’t patronise us all for being a disaster for the planet.

He lives in County Durham, but has an army of inspectors who visit each campsite which is either in the scheme or wants to join. As you would imagine the main focus of the scheme is on wildlife habitat generation with planting the right plants, alongside not trimming the grass right to the edge to allow butterflies etc.

However another important factor for the gold award is to ensure the campsite fits in with the neighbourhood. Big gory signs for example are a really big no-no for the awards as they don’t blend in with the people.

The scheme currently ranks around 620 campsites in the three category, with more joining each year.

David Bellamy Conservation Award Scheme web site.

More resources:
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Catching a wave in Britain’s best surfing spots

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Posted by trev on January 25, 2011 – 2:01 pm
Filed under Miscellaneous

Many years ago, surfers who couldn’t quite afford Hawaii found Devon as a good surfing location in Britain, but is that the only place?

It turns out there are plenty of places to surf around Britain although you might not be served cocktails on the beach, but if you want to catch a wave and don’t mind the water being a little chilly….try these.

Croyde in Devon isn’t the most famous surfing spot, but according to many it’s up there with Minehead and Illfracombe on the north Devon surfing coast.

Sennen Cove in Cornwall is for those who want to experience the full force of the Atlantic, being located very close to Penzance on the south west tip of Cornwall. It’s also the most westerly surfing point in Britain.

Alnmouth Beach in Northumberland is more known for family holidays, but the miles and miles of sandy beaches which bring the buckets & spades, also attract surfers. The gentle slopes also make it good for the less experienced surfers.

The Witterings in Sussex is surprisingly warm and sheltered, mostly due to the location of the Isle of Wight. This means you’ll have gentler waves, but with the English Channel funnelling the water through, there will still be some strong rips.

Thurso East in Caithness is where the pro’s go and those who like their surfing wild, along with the water being very cold. Probably best for the surfing experts as the waves can be anything from 2 feet to more than 8 feet high, and that’s Hawaii Five O’ standards.

We can’t promise any waves as in the picture, but there are plenty of options for beginners to experienced surfers.

More useful links:
Hotels and B&Bs around Britain
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Things to see and do in the UK (when not surfing)

Experience the four ages of steam in Loughborough

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Posted by trev on January 25, 2011 – 1:14 pm
Filed under Transport

For those who have a little nostalgia about steam trains, the The Great Central Railway in Loughborough might be the ultimate experience.

There are of course a number of steam railways around the country running trains from a by-gone age and generally staffed by enthusiasts, so what makes The Great Central Railway any different?

1) According to the people who run the railway, it is the only place in the world where you can see two steam trains passing each other at full speed. Even having two steam trains would make many railways envious, but this really will bring back the full magnificence of the old railways.

2) They have what are termed “The four ages of steam”. In practical terms this means there are four stations on the line, each set out at a different point in time with the Sixties, Fifties, World War II and Edwardian even including authentic gas lighting.

You can take a trip from any of the stations and if you really want to make the whole experience complete, why not book a First Class restaurant car table on a Saturday or Sunday which includes round trip and a pause on the Swithland viaduct to admire the view.

More information and booking times can be found on the The Great Central Railway web site.

More Loughborough resources:
Things to see and do in Loughborough
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The true get away from it all holiday in Scotland

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Posted by trev on January 25, 2011 – 12:19 pm
Filed under Accommodation

Getting tired of the daily commute? Would you like to get away from all those cars? How about a holiday where there really are no cars?

As spectacular as the Scottish Highlands are, it isn’t always easy to find a place not surrounded by lots of cars, caravans and other tourists….at least it isn’t unless you head for the Knoydart peninsula on the west of Scotland.

On the peninsula you’ll find the family run Doune bed and breakfast which is ideally suited for true escapism walking, sailing and diving holidays in the beauty of the Scottish Highlands.

We did promise you no cars didn’t we – well at Doune we can keep that promise as there are no roads to the Knoydart peninsula. The only access is via one of the family boats from Mallaig, around 30 mile drive west of Fort William and accessible on the Fort William to Mallaig railway.

This is one of the few places in Britain where you can really and truly get away from everything and totally forget about the daily commute, at least for a few days.

More resources: If you prefer to keep the car, there are plenty of hotels in Mallaig, along with Fort William hotels. There are lots of visitor attractions in and around Mallaig.

Half price champagne afternoon tea in London – today only

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Posted by trev on January 25, 2011 – 11:12 am
Filed under Miscellaneous

Marie Antoinette may have said, “let them eat cake”, but if she’d been really nice she would have included champagne with it.

Afternoon tea seems to be an increasingly popular way to wind-away the stresses of London life, so why not take things a little more upmarket with afternoon tea for two including fingers sandwiches, scones, pastries, tea or coffee and champagne.

As you might expect, champagne afternoon tea at the Terrace restaurant in the Le Méridien Piccadilly, central London, does not normally come cheap, but today you can save a massive 55% if you book through LivingSocial bringing the price down to just £25.

More information on the champagne tea for two.

An introduction to the Terrace Restaurant at Le Méridien Piccadilly

If you’d prefer another venue, there are plenty more afternoon tea venues including some very special hotels.

More Piccadilly resources:
Things to see and do in Piccadilly
Hotel accommodation in Piccadilly
London car hire