It must have been a magnificent way to arrive in Keswick, the train from Penrith rushing down into the steep-sided wooded valley, then crossing the River Greta again and again, eight times in all, across elegantly curved bowstring bridges, designed so they didn't...
I could hear him coming up on the inside, legs whirring at 100 rpm. A decade of daily trampolining has given him strong calf muscles. Glancing sideways as he overtook me, I saw a big smile of delight on his face ... and then he was around the corner and out of...
We hopped across the stepping stones and skirted a field. Round the next corner was a wild boar getting ready to charge, an enormous bull leaning into the wind, a gleaming white horse that must have galloped out of a fairy tale, and a feisty pair of goats. We...
As we peered into the dark waters of the boating lake searching for the fidget toy our son had dropped overboard, they suddenly came into focus: scores of pale, translucent creatures gently stretching and contracting as they circulated just below the surface, like...
Whether you're barrelling down Borrowdale through a tunnel of autumn leaves or breezing up to the Downs from Brighton on a frosty spring morning, the top deck of a bus can give you a wonderful new perspective on the world. Looking down from that height -- and...
Just before the quarter hour people gather expectantly near the cathedral's mighty strainer arches and gaze up at the burnished face of the ancient astronomical clock. As it chimes, jousting knights come galloping out. One knocks another flat with his lance. On the...
It was a long, winding journey west through the Preseli Mountains towards the rust-red horizon. Arriving after dark, we could barely see the sea, but what a view there was when we looked up: the filigree of the Milky Way was clearly visible, and our astronomer...
Dear YHA, Dusk had fallen over Robin Hood's Bay. Our children were laughing and whooping as they jumped into rock pools and got caked in sand and mud. The tide was out, and the immense expanse of the beach was their playground. At last, worn out and happy, they...
You never know who you'll meet in a hostel self-catering kitchen, and at YHA New Forest, at a certain time of year, you're as likely to find yourself surrounded by ethereal creatures with wings and flowers in their hair as by hikers with backpacks and bobble hats....
To be awestruck by an engineering wonder of the world you don't need to travel to the Pyramids or even as far as the Humber Bridge. There's one a minute's walk from YHA Ironbridge Coalport, past the kilns of the old china works and the duck houses bobbing on the...
Imagine you're a seagull and swoop down to YHA Manorbier using the satellite view on Google Earth. This is the best way to appreciate in advance of arrival the hostel's location, perched above the craggy Pembrokeshire coast. It's surrounded by wildflower meadows,...
Is there a more carefree way to travel than on the open top of a double-decker bus? On a sunny spring morning we wound slowly through the lanes towards Land's End, looking down on clouds of blackthorn and out to the turquoise sea. We heard the cheerful twittering...
