Skyline Drive, Shenandoah, VA

The northern end of Skyline Drive is a straight 80 miles west of Washington D.C. along Route-66 (not the Route-66), and marks the start of Shenandoah National Park. We’re here to flirt with nature, reacquaint ourselves with some earth rhythms, and flood our senses with everything Fall. It’s been a while since we escaped the District, and Shenandoah is an easy bolt-hole.

Washington D.C. is a clean and spacious city.  The air drinks nicely, there’s no sooty, dirty nose to it like there can be in London; rarely do I see litter on the street, and even during peak hours the pavements feel empty.  Gathering together all of the open space in D.C. would need an area 9 times the size of New York’s Central Park–it has the nation’s highest ratio of parkland per resident.

“Ahh, fresh mountain air,” says Faizal, as if he’s been trapped breathing the toxic fumes of a smoggy city since his journey out here a few months ago.

It could be any number of things: the deep crimson maple leaves, the low slung white criss-cross fences, the red and white barns with their gambrel roofs.  I can’t help feeling I’m in New England.

“Do you want to stop?” says Faizal from the driver’s seat.

“No, let’s keeping going.  We have to come back this way.”

“Right!  Everyone’s stopping now.  The viewpoints should be quiet later.”

We didn’t come back this way, we took an alternative route home along Route-211, through Sperryville, but the thinking was good. Shenandoah sees around 15% of its visitors arrive in October for a glimpse of the tawny Fall colours, it’s always a busy time of year.

Signal Knob Overlook, Gooney Run Overlook, Compton Gap, we pass them all. It’s no big deal, there are 75 to choose from.  We decide our first stop will be around mile 20: Little Hogback Overlook–Fariza likes the name.

A 35 mph speed limit is in effect along the length of the road, so we settle in, roll down the windows and watch from the car as we snake our way along the ridge.  The hills look like the broccoli in the bottom of my fridge: a few pockets of green have survived the virulent yellow ageing effect, but they won’t hold out forever.  Red and gold leaves peel like rust from the hillside, or a bad case of wind burn from the cold gusts that whip across the ridge.  A few stark, empty, stick filled voids indicate where the landscape is headed in the next few weeks.

The sun is just catching on the top of Old Rag by the time we make our final stop.  I pull on my red hat, grab my camera, and for the first time wish I had some gloves.  The leaves have lost their brilliance in the shadows, colours are muted, the park is shutting down for the night.  Afternoons don’t last as long as they used to.

We pause long enough to survey the smooth granite summit of Old Rag in the distance and remember sitting up there in the summer sun a few months ago, munching peanut butter sandwiches.  Maybe we’ll return again next year, the leaves will. They always do.

Photo by Jools Stone

This is how my 2 week Trans Canadian rail trip begins. There’s no time to get maudlin, I’ve a train to catch and a 2 day wait if I miss it! Entering the palatial Union Station feels like a religious experience. It’s a veritable cathedral to rail travel. Like many cathedrals its high ceilings and polished floors echo with emptiness. Apparently it’s Canada’s busiest transport building, busier even than Toronto Airport (abstractly coded YXX for some reason) ferrying some 200,000 people a day. But at 9.30pm on a Thursday you wouldn’t guess it.

Continue reading this article @ Trains on the Brain

Sail Rail tickets are a bargain

I recently travelled from London to Dublin on a Sail Rail ticket - a great combined train and ferry deal that takes you all the way from your local station to Dublin ferry port – you end up with a handful of different tickets to shuffle through, which can be mildly frustrating, but for around £70 return it’s a bargain.  The novelty of making a phone booking rather than simply typing into an internet search box and clicking the ‘buy now’ button also makes for a nice change – Sail Rail tickets can only by purchased via a phonecall.

Free WiFi on the train helps you stay connected

My first experience of travelling this route into Ireland was back in 2007, so it was interesting to see how things have changed in a few years, and what it’s like after the novelty of replacing plane with train and ferry has faded.  Virgin trains now carry free WiFi onboard (atleast in First Class, and in Standard Class until the end of February) which is a huge benefit to this portion of the journey, unfortunately Irish Ferries operate a pay-per-use policy for their WiFi during the crossing.

It’s worth noting that Virgin Trains no longer accept credit or debit cards at their onboard shops, so make sure you’ve got some cash handy before relying on this to keep you fed and watered on the journey.

Not ideal for a short break

The problem with this trip is that the train from London to Holyhead is a significant distance.  It’s around 3.5 hours on top of your local commute into London – an hour for me – which makes for a rather long period of travel when tagged on the front of a slow ferry ride of 3.5 hours.  The journey ends up close to matching the air time of a London to New York flight.  Bearing in mind that this is not a one-way journey means that it is far from ideal for a short break.

It’s often said that this type of travel is not about drawing comparisons to flying, but about enjoying a different and slower experience, and I agree; but the transport must be comfortable and mindset correct.  A short weekend trip away doesn’t really fit the philosophy in my opinion and travel distances should be kept more manageable when time is short.  A 4 to 5 hour journey time is probably towards the upper end of this threshold, which means staying a lot more local for short breaks if you want to keep it green.

With that said there is a quiet, inner satisfaction in the days that follow a train and ferry journey.  The feeling of having been abroad and not visited an airport is rather pleasing.

My top tips for travelling London to Dublin by train and ferry

• Catch a faster boat like the Irish Ferries Swift, it cuts the crossing time in half to 1 hour 49 minutes.
• Book a First Class seat on the train for greater comfort and free WiFi.

The Dublin Swift ferry departs Holyhead daily at 12:00 and 17:15, and returns from Dublin daily at 08:45 and 14:30.

I recently blogged about “10 Major internet developments in 2010“, and smartphone photography, or rather the new opportunities it is giving rise to, is definitely one of those.  Particularly in the case of the iPhone, apps like Instagram have really contributed to the rise in popularity of the camera phone.

As the larger news outfits look to cut costs on covering local and international stories, citizen journalism and backpack journalism, look to become increasingly important. The proliferation of smartphone photography will undoubtedly lead to huge libraries of real time images shared though various apps and websites.

News source:

This video was discovered through Twitter via a retweet from @BenColclough.

RT @CailinONeil: "What Camera should I buy?" http://su.pr/1XshXS thanks to @spudhilton @ibackpackcanada @candicewalsh @eloren

December 13, 2010 12:03 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@MarksTravels

Mark Sukhija

We hired a car and set off to explore the island, in search of great ideas to inspire your next adventure. However as with so many trips it became the journey that we found inspiration in. Driving in Mallorca really is like a Top Gear challenge. The Western coast of Mallorca has some of the most awesome roads. For hours it twists and turns through the Tramuntana mountains and around the cliffs above hidden coves and secluded beaches, only inches from the edge. There were a few scary moments when we did get rather close to the edge. Maybe it was the inner child trying to escape but you actually feel like the Stig as you race along the coast line. It isn’t all about an exhilarating race however as the whole time you have a wonderful backdrop of the Mediterranean ocean and hidden beaches. Traditional Spanish villages pop up in the landscape as you round each cove. Acting as check points to enjoy the some tapas whilst taking in the views from roof top terraces perched on the cliff edge.

Some of the nicest villages are situated along the Tramuntana mountain range, home to the rich and famous like Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas and also Claudia Schiffer. Here are a few of our favourites.

Located in the south-east of the Tramuntana mountain range is the scenic village of Banyalbufar. This beautiful village clinging to the top of a sea cliff is a popular, yet unspoilt, stop for many visitors to Mallorca. The ancient village has a 17th century Baronial Palace with impressive coastal views from the ancient defence tower.

Continue reading this article on Travel Titbits.

Travellers and foodies visiting London need no longer be confined to the newest eateries that have hit town, the swankiest bars or the latest trends in food and cuisine. A contender has arrived on the scene delighting train travellers and gourmands alike.

Last year’s trip to London took me on a voyage of culinary discovery right in the heart of St Pancras International. The refurbished train station became home to the Eurostar in 2007, and with a modern makeover, a remarkable range of eateries and bars have made themselves at home and turned a vintage station into a food haven.

From the moment you step through the station, your eyes are draws to the arched blue steel and deep orange bricks. Geometry plays an integral part of the design, leading your eye into the distance adding another dimension of space.

Comprising two levels, the lower level is dominated by the Eurostar departures and ticketing. Further along, you might think you’re in a shopping mall or retail arcade were it not for the trolley bays and travellers wheeling their luggage. A strip of shops and informal eateries run along each side where you can pause for a coffee and croissant at the likes of Le Pain Quotidien, enjoy a glass of wine at a Wine Bar or browse through a bookshop for something to read on your outward journey.

Away from the ebb and flow of commuters, the upper concourse offers a more subdued ambience. Art and upmarket eateries occupy the vast space surrounding the platforms from which the Eurostar and regional trains depart.

The statue of former poet Sir John Bentjeman pays homage to his role in saving the old station. Equally impressive is The Meeting Place, a tall statue of a modern couple locked in an embrace.

Continue reading this article on Trains on the Brain.

Well hang on just a darn cotton pickin’ minute there because the almighty locomotive of rail news of  interest to myself and seven other people is about to bullet into town.

This week’s Rail Good Find!

InterRail Alternatives

My pick of the week this time goes to promising new travel blogger and photographer Jonny Whitlam for his myth busting post on alternatives to the time-honoured gap year tradition of Inter Railing.  Jonny argues quite sensibly that depending on where you plan to travel in Europe it can often be cheaper to buy individual tickets or combine it with buses.

This is especially true in parts of Eastern and Central Europe as he points out and in parts of the Balkans where, for example, you can cut your journey in half by getting a bus form Bulgaria’s Black Sea Coast to Istanbul. Then again, who wants to sit in a smelly coach for 8 hours?  It does beg the question as to whether InterRail is gradually falling out of favour with the travelling yoot of today.

This great find came via the lovely Cathy Sweeney of the fine Travelling with Sweeney blog.

Flickr Photo by Michael Ruiz

Back to Back with Amtrak

Now here’s a dream gig for you.  Observer journalist Anna Pickard snubbed the warnings of her American friends and spent 15 days travelling some 6,500 miles across America on woebegone national operator Amtrak, taking in Seattle, Chicago, LA, New Orleans and San Fransisco along the way, the lucky little chipolata.  She found it a ‘soul calming’ experience gliding through such vast expanses of landscape, watching the grain silos slide by her window.  I’m with her all the way: I can feel my own soul unfurling with a purr of contentment just reading her account.  It’s a journey we have pencilled in for our Honeymoon in the next year or two.

Get Motorinoing

Here’s quite a handy 10 point guide to getting around Italy by rail with Tenitalia, courtesy of the Italy Inside blog.  Regular readers may remember my own slightly frustrating experience with the vagaries of the Italian transport network in rural Tuscany a few posts back, so it’s worth getting a bit of inside track from the man who amusingly refers to himself in the third person as Motorino Man.

Sounds like a motivational speaker doesn’t he? Hopefully his tips will motivate you enough to give the Italian train network a try and explore such bella cittas as Rome, Florence and Venice. Rather charmingly he advises you to ‘bring some bread and proscuitto with you’ for the journey, possibly in a little red spotted hanky tied to a broom handle. Boun Viaggio!

Flickr Photo by Tambako the Jaguar

Who would swindle the Swiss?

Well apparently Joanna of the Kaleidoscopc Wandering blog would.  But seeing as she loves train travel so much we might let her off . In this post she explains how to take full advantage of the super clean, hyper efficient Swiss rail network, including the pros and cons of buying the various Swiss Rail passes and taking a dip in the Swiss Chocolate Train which slides with velvety smoothness from Montreaux all the way deep into Gruyere country.

Eurostar and Duetsche Bahn  seal the deal

In my last round up I looked at the competition between the two European rail powers. A pleasing development since then has been an agreement between DB and Eurostar to work together in High Speed rail projects throughout Europe from 2013 onwards.

Continue reading this article on Jools’ blog, Trains on the Brain.

Glasgow's Clockwork Orange (underground) / Photo by Jools Stone

Apart from the occasional trip to the excellent Kelvingrove Museum & Gallery, the city means two things to me: shopping and gigs.  Last night I was on my way to see the brilliantly animated ‘gangsta country’ band Felice Brothers, and more on that soon.

Glasgow seems to get the lion’s share of decent bands in the central belt, Edinburgh – despite having some fine venues – just doesn’t compete.  I don’t know why: maybe the Edinburgh Festival saps everyone’s event energy for the year or perhaps it’s just the  innate conservatism of the place.

A circular line of 15 stations with overwhelmingly orange interiors

Anyway, as last night’s gig was at Oran Mor, far away in the boho, studenty enclave of Ashton Lane and Byres Road, (you can tell it’s a posh bit of Weedgieland cos they’ve got at least 2 artisan delis and a Waitrose) I jumped straight off the overland train from Queens Street to the underground one at the confusingly named Buchanan Street station, which is directly outside, to the right of the main entrance.

Continue reading this article @ Trains on the Brain

I felt compelled to write to your organisation after spending several days cycling from Dover to the East Midlands, having just arrived from continental Europe. My intention was to make this journey as enjoyable and safe as possible, rather than to cover the distance in the minimum possible amount of time. Naturally therefore I looked to the National Cycle Network, in search of off-road and quiet routes through the country.

Flickr photo by tom.ride-earth.org.uk

May I, then, congratulate you on having constructed one of the most comprehensive cycling infrastructures that I have come across during my bicycle travels in 34 countries.

The UK’s cycling provisions stand out for many reasons. The first and most obvious is that they exist. From a global perspective, this immediately puts the UK far ahead of the game. Given everything I’ve seen here, from long-distance routes spanning Britain in her entirety, to urban awareness schemes in almost every significant settlement, to safe cycle-paths between particular amenities and points of interest, it’s difficult to understand why the system is on the receiving end of such constant criticism in the media. I guess people don’t realise how lucky they are!

Continue reading this letter @ Ride Earth – Tom’s World Bicycle Travel Blog

Intended route - Liverpool to Chester by cargo ship | Google Maps

Leaving Antwerp: Freighter travel requires flexibility. Our ship was was delayed by a week due to repairs, and we were warned that it might even skip the Liverpool stop to stay on schedule. It would apparently be safest to board at the previous stop in Antwerp, which is we started our long journey west from England by heading to Belgium. We took the Eurostar from London across the English Channel, spent a night in Brussels, and took a 30 minute train ride to Antwerp. We took a taxi from the station to the marine police office to complete immigration proceedings and boarded the ship that evening. The next evening the captain knocked on our door, inviting us to watch the ship maneuver out of port, passing through a tiny gate, and then a series of locks. The lights around the port started to come on, and the machinery looked like a mini cityscape. It was magical to behold.

Life on board:: The MV Bonavia was smaller and older than the MV Hanjin Madrid, the container ship that had carried us from the US to Japan at the start of our trip. There was no elevator, and the exterior decks were small. Our large wood-paneled room was right below the bridge, making it easy for us to run up to the bridge and upper deck every day, investigating the map, staring out at the water. We were starting a 14-day journey back home and we had come prepared. Anirvan spent time writing about the inspiring anti-aviation activists we had met in London. I sorted through photos and gorged on books good and bad, reading almost a book a day. We listened to missed episodes of favorite radio shows from back home: This American Life, The Moth, and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. We enjoyed the days when we got an extra hour as we crossed time zones. Spending time was not an problem.

Continue reading this article @ Year of No Flying