No Fence Farming in Romania (May23)
We cycled for over 100 miles and didn’t go through a gate. The Transylvanian landscape was without fences, hedges, or ditches. Travelling by train across Europe to get to Romania the lack of fences signalled an entirely different type of farming. In this case, there were huge ploughed fields or monoculture crops stretching into […]
Why aren’t restaurants more sustainable? (Oct11)
Bluefin tuna is one of the most endangered species on the planet but it’s still being served in London restaurants. Monkfish is not very sustainable either – if it’s on the menu, ask the restaurant about their sustainable fish policies The Hive Beach Cafe in Burton Bradstock is one of the first […]
Walking into Slovenia (Jul11)
We walked over the mountains from Italy into Slovenia. At the top the view was blue – we could see mountain ridges into the distance. No-one else was there. We didn’t come across any other walkers all day. The first person we saw was an elderly farmer scything grass in a meadow. The other striking […]
How Green is Scarlet – Eco-hotel in Cornwall (Jan10)
My first impression of the building was horrendous. It was sitting on the cliff top surrounded by bungalows and modern seaside houses. Looking at the website for the Scarlet Hotel near Bedruthan Steps in Cornwall, I had thought that it stood on its own in a beautiful bay. The picture of the distinctive red hot […]
Hong Kong was dirty (Dec09)
Photo I took of the smog in Hong Kong – it should have been a sunny day! Air conditioning in Hong Kong is having a huge impact on climate change Kowloon Christmas tat in street market We flew through a brownish smog as we descended into Hong Kong airport. During my four days in […]
Greening hotels (Apr09)
I stay in hotels all the time. And I quite often give feedback. Most hotels are incredibly wasteful. Common practices include: -Leaving lights on in bedrooms when they’re unoccupied -Double beds with lots of pillows for only one person (resulting in lots of unnecessary laundry) -Individually wrapped soaps, shampoos and other products -Over-heating or cooling […]
Supermarkets vs french markets…. (Sept08)
Even with the wind and rain lashing around our beach hut on the Dorset coast, we had a great couple of days. There were sunny spells and we had lots of visitors. Somehow the weather didn’t matter that much. We stocked up for supplies from the large supermarket in Bridport – but this was more […]
Yeovil to Naples by train (Aug08)
Up to Waterloo and across to St Pancras, we caught the Eurostar to Paris. But most exciting was the sleeper from Paris to Rome. Just my eldest son, Connor and I – we had a cabin to ourselves. And in old-fashioned style had our evening meal in the dining car. The waiter came round with […]
Sea Kayaking – Scotland (May08)
I’ve spent quite a lot of time mucking around in boats but surprisingly had never been sea kayaking – that is until the bank holiday weekend. Actually, I was on an outdoor philosophy course, which I discovered meant paddling in the clear waters near Mallaig, in Scotland, by day. And for the rest of the […]
Flying is not much fun (Apr08)
I wonder if the chaos at Terminal 5 may actually be doing us all a favour. For two reasons. The first is that it reinforces the fact that flying is not much fun. It means lots of waiting, ghastly airports and lost bags – or fear of losing them. The second reason is that it seems […]