Where you see these symbols throughout the magazine you can be assured that the destinations featured can be reached without flying or that the activities featured aim to have a positive impact for the community, environment or wildlife in the region.
Welcome to green traveller
Welcome to the launch of our new Green Traveller Magazine –the magazine of the website greentraveller.co.uk
You’ll hopefully find lots of inspiration in this issue, from wild swimming in Extremadura (p16) and cycling among the vineyards of Nouvelle-Aquitaine (p22) to a collection of green places to go in the UK (p9) and an inspiring feature on community-based conservation holidays by seasoned travel and experienced travel writer Meera Dattani (p32).
One of the highlights of this year has been a trip I went on with my family by train to the Haute Alpes for an action-packed multi-activity holidays in this lesser-known mountainous region of France (p26).
Keep an eye out for the flight-free and positive impact icons throughout the magazine that distinguish between those trips that can be reached overland with those that bring genuine benefits to destinations through nature conservation, local community empowerment and humanitarian aid.
I look forward to shining a light on the many ways to go green in future issues of this magazine.
Happy green travelling!
Editor, Green Traveller Magazine
AUTUMN 2024
Get the PICTURE
The Farne Islands, off the coast of Northumberland, is a National Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area and a Special Area of Conservation. So it’s a pretty special – and delicate – ecosystem for wildlife. You’ll find flocks of seabirds including puffins, Arctic terns, cormorants and razorbills –as well as flocks of photographers – here.
3views of THE FARNE ISLANDS
Words & pictures by Diana Jarvis (dianajarvis.co.uk)
The island is managed by the National Trust and they have pretty strict biosecurity rules to adhere to before you come onshore. To keep the island free of invasive species, they ask you to brush off any traces of seeds/burrs on your clothing or shoes and ensure food you’re bringing is in a sealed container.
You’re also asked to keep to the boardwalk in case you disturb ground nesting birds. The welfare of the subject is always more important than the photograph. This keeps the island safe for the 200,000+ seabirds who nest here every year – like these puffins.
The most important rule of wildlife photography is to let the creatures come to you. In the Farne Islands, the Arctic terns really take that to heart and you’re also advised to wear a hat in case they decide it’s you they’ll dive-bomb.
GLOBAL GOOD NEWS
Ecotourism and Regeneration in Catalonia
The Catalan Tourist Board has produced a map of 30 ecotourism areas where visitors can stay in eco-friendly accommodation and take part in outdoor adventure seeing wildlife in its natural habitat while contributing to biodiversity conservation. It also provides information for four kinds of ecotourists: passionate, curious, intrepid and family. Accommodation includes Hotel Molí de la Torre – a converted textile mill in Costa Barcelona, and Cerdanya Ecoresort in the Catalan Pyrenees. www.ecotourism_catalonia
Inntravel low carbon trips
Specialist operator, Inntravel, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is highlighting a series of low carbon selfguided trips either on foot or two wheels. Last year it partnered with carbon consultancy ecollective to give each and every one of its 300 holidays a carbon score. Examples include a food-filled break in Aracena where guests are given a glimpse of Spanish rural life, a cycling holiday in Bordeaux and St Emilion, and a walking holiday in Germany’s Bavarian Alps, which has a carbon score of just 7kg per person per day. Inntravel.co.uk
All aboard the train to the slopes
Travelski’s Express train service to the Alps has announced it will again be running this winter from London on Saturday mornings (from 21th December) and returning the following Sunday with daytime train travel in both directions and 8 nights of accommodation (to facilitate a full 7 days of skiing) as standard. The line-up of resorts has been expanded to now include Chamonix and La Clusaz, as well as Tignes, Val d’Isère, Val Thorens, Méribel, Brides les Bains, Courchevel, Les Ménuires, Les Arcs, La Plagne and La Rosiére. uk.travelski.com/travelski-express
Eurostar has also announced that it will also again be running its indirect service – Eurostar Snow – where customers change at Lille for onward connection to the French Alps on a Eurostar continental train calling at Chambéry, Albertville, Moutiers, Aime-La Plagne, Landry and Bourg-Saint-Maurice. For more info on taking the train to the slopes, see snowcarbon.co.uk
MADIERA GAINS GREEN SEAL
The Portuguese archipelago of Madiera has been given a green seal of approval for its commitment to sustainable tourism. Independent auditor EarthCheck visited and evaluated the island group to assess its alignment with 12 key areas, including the preservation of its cultural and natural heritage, as well as the balanced enhancement of its environmental, social, cultural and economic dimensions. visitmadeira.com
EUROPEAN SLEEPER EXTENDS TO PRAGUE
Overnight train service ‘European Sleeper’ has extended its route from Brussels to Berlin to continue to Prague, via Dresden and Bad Schandau.
The night train, which includes a bike carriage, also stops in in Děčín and Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic, for the Elbe Cycle Path and the Czech Switzerland Crest Trail. “We are truly thrilled to be launching the new route to Prague less than a year after launching our first direct service from Brussels to Berlin”, said Elmer van Buuren, Co-Founder, of European Sleeper. “Our goal is to add a new route each year so we can continue to contribute to a more integrated and sustainable European transportation network”.
FlixBus launches first London – Cambridge electric coach service
Coach operator FlixBus has launched a 100% electric long-distance coach service between Cambridge and London. The electric vehicle, launched in partnership with Whippet and Zenobē, will run between Cambridge city centre, Trumpington Park and Ride, London Finchley Road and Victoria Coach Station. Andreas Schorling, Managing Director of FlixBus UK said: “Following our launch of England and Wales first electric coach service, we’re thrilled to be trialling another zero-emission service as we build the largest coach network in the country.” According to the company, the vehicle, provided by Pelican Yutong, will save 167kg of carbon emissions per day driven – two round trips – on the route compared to the average diesel-fuelled coach.
Keswick becomes virtual railway station
Keswick has become a “virtual railway station” with visitors now able to buy a combined ticket covering rail and bus travel to Keswick in the Lake District. Even though it doesn’t have a railway station, Avanti West Coast has added Keswick as a destination on rail journey planners so just one ticket covering travel across both modes of transport can be purchased to travel there. The creation of a virtual railway station means people can view the timings of the train and bus departures, as well as book a single fully integrated ticket for their entire journey. Available for travel on the West Coast Main Line, the ticket can be used on Avanti West Coast’s services to Penrith (gateway to the North Lakes) and Stagecoach’s X4 and X5 bus service to Keswick – preventing the need for multiple tickets and transactions. Customers simply select ‘Keswick Bus’ as their destination when booking via Avanti West Coast’s website and app or at ticket offices, to receive one ticket for their complete journey. Bookings can be made up to 12 weeks before travel on weekdays, and up to eight weeks for weekends at www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk.
3 BEST OF BRITAIN GREEN PLACES TO STAY
Tap in ‘eco-friendly hotels’ into a search engine and you’ll be presented with a bewildering range of options, some greener than others. It can be hard to know the green from the green wash. Here are three places Green Traveller’s Richard Hammond has visited recently that are going the extra mile to reduce the impact of your stay on the environment.
42 ACRES
A retreat and nature reserve in Witham Friary, just outside Frome in Somerset. It launched in 2015 and has been quietly experimenting a range of ‘agri-wilding’ projects, including building its own slow food production, developing enriching land focussed workshops and experiences, and this year it has launched a series of ‘Wild Weekends’ – encouraging visitors to disconnect from modern technology and reconnect with wild surroundings through a series of immersive experiences in nature. Self-catering accommodation ranges from simple but elegant cottages to luxurious barn conversions, plus there’s a wonderful tiny boat for two that’s tucked away beside a 7-acre lake. 42acres.com
MAGNOLIA HOUSE
Here’s a great low carbon option if you’re visiting the ancient port town of Rye in East Sussex. Opened in 2022 by Javed and Judith, there are 8 rooms with super king or twin beds, including family rooms for 4,6 and up to 8. Among a range of cutting edge eco technologies are a 34panel solar array on the roof that helps power the electricity (including electric car charging) and two 300-litre smart water tanks that double as water batteries. Don’t miss the fabulous home cooked breakfasts – the delicious yogurt and bread is made by Judith. Vegan and vegetarian options available. magnoliahouserye.co.uk
BROOK MEADOW
A sprawling 20-acre camping and glamping site on a working family farm in the Leicestershire countryside. Over the last 30 years, owners Jasper and Mary Hart have planted 50 acres of trees and installed numerous bird boxes, built a wildlife pond, and over the past five years, their daughter Claire (an architect and interior designer) has transformed the accommodation – choose from a range of options, including safari tents, airstreams, lakeside cabins, and a huge ‘Marabou’ safari glamping lodge for up to 8. Join a tour of the farm – the children can feed the chickens and collect eggs. If you can summon the energy to leave the peaceful lakeside ambience, try out more adventurous activities at the nearby Avalanche Adventure. brookmeadow.co.uk
A VILLA
IN THE SUN
A traditional Mediterranean holiday without flying? It is possible, says Rhiannon Batten. This is how (and why) she did it
The sun was setting over Panagia Vlacherna monastery as we strolled from Pontikonisi beach to Kanoni peninsula, on the outskirts of Corfu Town. This spot is a gathering place for local plane-spotters, who flock to watch a jet stream of package holiday flights take off and land, but our eyes were drawn instead to the reedy wetlands around its base, and some circling herons. Like the birds, people from the town in small rowing boats were heading out to fish, the water dripping from their oars gilded rose gold by the evening light. Walking down to dinner is rarely this magical but then we’re rarely staying at Villa Icarus.
also (crucially) reachable by train and ferry. Because while the siren call of sun-warmed sand and poolside snoozing is hard to resist when you live in a place where high summer still involves
This slick fourbedroom bolthole in Perama, on the eastern coast of Corfu, comes with an espresso machine, a high-tech barbecue and a serene private pool that overlooks nothing but olive groves and herb-speckled hillsides. Proving that sustainable holidays don’t have to mean camping, it was
packing a ‘just in case’ anorak, in 2021 I swore off flying.
Six years earlier, signatory governments to the Paris Accord had agreed to limit global heating to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to prevent
the catastrophic impact of climate change. To achieve that everyone on Earth needs to emit just 2.3 tons of CO2 per year by 2030 ― roughly half the average at the time. While some believe it is up to governments, and industries, to implement change, or hope that technological advances will save us, neither of these things are happening quickly enough. Instead I decided to limit my own carbon emissions.
This means that air travel is no longer an option. Though comparisons vary according to the fuel efficiency of different planes and trains, air travel accounts for around 70 percent of a typical holidaymaker’s carbon emissions; travelling by plane between London and Paris, for instance, emits about 10 times more carbon dioxide than travelling by Eurostar (emitting carbon dioxide at higher altitudes is also thought to have more of an effect on climate change).
VILLA ICARUS
There are myriad alternatives, from sail and rail, or sail and drive, to buying an Interrail pass (though beware that seat reservations can add significant costs to the price of the initial pass). Frustratingly, all cost more than the equivalent air fare; sign up for ticket release alerts on the services you intend to use, particularly for Eurostar where the cheaper seats sell at inter-stellar speed. If you’re really on a shoestring budget, coach travel is a more affordable and lower-carbon way to cross Europe than train, something made easier, and more comfortable, by the meteoric recent rise of the Flixbus network.
Yearning for a villa holiday in Greece, we opted to travel in the October half term, meaning cheaper fares than those in midsummer but also a reduced number of possible routes. Travelling from London to Brindisi by train – via Paris, Zurich and Milan – we then took a ferry from Brindisi to Igoumenitsa and another across to Corfu. Leaving London in late afternoon and stopping overnight in Paris and Milan (on the way back an overnight bus worked better), the transport cost £200 and took 60 hours each way (though it’s do-able in just over 48 in high summer, when more services are operating).
As a comparison, a return flight from the UK to Corfu takes around 5.5 hours, including check-in time, and costs between £150 and £300 return, including hold baggage and fees.
If you’re really on a shoestring budget, coach travel is a more affordable and lower-carbon way to cross Europe than train
It’s hard to see Pontikonisi’s herons when you’re up at 30,000 feet though. Nor taste the buttery crackle of an oven-warm Parisian croissant, plunge into the yodel-inducing cool of a Swiss lake (as we did between trains in Zurich), hear the polyphonic tooting of rush hour drivers in the centre of Milan, or watch the Pindus mountains appear through the sea-misted dawn from the deck of an overnight ferry.
LONDON PARIS
CARBON SAVINGS at a glance...
Standard return flight
120.6kg 949.2kg
Rhiannon’s journey via train and ferry
Carbon saved by travelling overland
828.6kg
HOW SHE DID IT
Eurostar London to Paris £78 return (eurostar.com). Trains between Paris and Brindisi via Switzerland £80 one-way ( thetrainline.com). Ferries from Brindisi to Corfu via Igoumenitsa, including a cabin oneway, £144 return (directferries.co.uk ). Train from Brindisi to Turin £70 oneway ( thetrainline.com). Coach from Turin to Paris £28.99 one-way ( flixbus.co.uk ).
WHERE SHE STAYED
Villa Icarus (sleeps 2-8) costs from £300 per night (minimum stay four nights). Like sister company Sunvil Holidays, GIC Villas now offer package holidays including accommodation and overland travel ( gicthevillacollection.com).
HOW MUCH CARBON SHE SAVED
Return train between London and Brindisi via Switzerland 106.6kg, return ferry between Italy and Corfu 14kg, total = 120.6kg. Return flight London to Corfu 949.2kg. Figures from ecopassenger.org (includes climate factor) and directferries. co.uk (based on similar journey by ferry between Bari and Corfu).
KÕRVEMAA NATURE RESERVE
An hour’s drive to the east of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is the Kõrvemaa nature reserve. In winter it’s a hub of cross-country skiing but in summer it’s the gateway to a rich landscape of protected pine forests, heaths, bogs, glacial lakes and rivers. We meet our nature guide Marilin Pehka and check into one of the new Kuuse Houses, high-spec
forest’s many medicinal plants, and running guided swims (naked, as is the Estonian way) in the many inky lakes.
We set off across the heather-covered heath – unusually hilly for Estonia – before winding our way through the forest. Marilin points out lots of plants, including spruce sprites that are full of vitamin C and make great pesto, and
With Marilin’s encouragement to scream and gasp as much as I need to, I’m quickly up to my shoulders in the velvety water of lake Linajärv
A-frame treehouses sleeping up to six people with their own saunas and cathedral-height open plan kitchen and dining spaces.
Marilin runs and lives at the Small Lapland hostel, also within the reserve. Head of the Estonian Nature Tourism Association, her passion is sharing the surrounding nature, encouraging visitors to learn a little about the
rare orchids. Rain drops are falling through the high canopy and I can’t imagine going from fully clothed, warm and dry on the lake’s shore to naked, cold and wet in the dark water. But with Marilin’s encouragement to scream and gasp as much as I need to, I’m quickly up to my shoulders in the velvety water of lake Linajärv, and am rewarded with the clouds parting to
reveal bright sunshine.
Quickly warming up post-dip thanks to Marilin’s garden herb tea, we walk back through the forest and heath to a wooden bridge, where she’s left some paddle boards for us. We slip into the water again (clothed this time) to meander gently through the bulrushes and lucky bamboo, spotting beaver dams as we paddle. Back at our Kuuse House, Marilin has invited the chef Ellery Powell from Metsa restaurant to cook for us. British, he moved to Estonia eight years ago and has embraced the country’s love of foraging and championing wild ingredients. His delicious menu includes a meadow salad with pickled quails eggs, wild boar smoked in apple tree wood, and acorn and chestnut pancakes with fermented birch caramel and orange mascarpone.
Words by Rebecca Miles
See Green Traveller’s Guide to Estonia
Rebecca Miles
KUUSE HOUSE
Rebecca Miles
CHEF ELLERY POWELL COOKS IN THE KUUSE HOUSE
THE MENU FROM CATALONIA
From the moutains to the coast, expect delicate flavours and a range of traditional specialities
Words by Paul Bloomfield
Catalonia’s wide range of landscapes is reflected in a host of delicious specialities: the coastline yields spectacular seafood – savour oysters and mussels around the Ebro Delta, paellas and zarzuelas (fish stews) along the coast, while mountain pastures lend delicate flavours to cheeses from cow, sheep and goat milk, and the range of pork products is staggering, from Iberico dried hams
anywhere else, delicious rubbed on toast in the ubiquitous pa amb tomàquet.
Here’s our pick of three special places to eat in this foodie’s paradise:
Restaurant Green Spot, Barcelona
A beautiful restaurant in Port Vell (near the harbour and beaches), which caters for both veggies and non-veggies, serving salads (such
Even the simple tomato here has a flavour unimaginable anywhere else
to sausages in all shapes, sizes and hues – for carnivores, tucking into a succulent butifarra (sausage) is a must.
There are also regional and seasonal specialities: white asparagus, Pyrenean river fish, wild mushrooms, Ebro Delta rice and the Lleida favourite cargols (snails) with rich allioli. Even the simple tomato here has a flavour unimaginable
as kale and quinoa salad with cherry tomatoes, hazelnuts and white miso vinaigrette), soups, pizza and pasta, and a range of international food, including Thai and Mexican. grupotragaluz. com/en/restaurants/the-green-spot
Restaurant El Fai, Lleida Pyrenees
A family-owned restaurant in Taüll in the Lleida
Pyrenees, in the heart of the Boí Valley known for World Heritage Romanesque churches (the restaurant itself is opposite the Romanesque church of San Clemente de Tahull), and close to the entrance to the Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, the only National Park in Catalonia. restaurantelfai.com
Restaurant Er Occitan, Val d’Aran
High in the Pyrenees, the Val d’Aran is a unique enclave with its own language (Aranese, related to the Occitan dialects spoken in south-west France), customs and culinary traditions. At this fine-dining restaurant, head chef Marcos Pedarròs Delaurens plays with those traditions and the ideals of the slow food movement, to create inventive haute cuisine of an exceptional quality. eroccitan.com
Wild swimming is as ingrained in the culture of Extremadura as food and wine. In this wild and sparsely populated region to the south-west of Madrid, outdoor bathing is very much part of village life. Each summer across the region, rivers are dammed with boards laid between metal beams set into the river bed to restrict the flow downstream and create large deep pools. People of all ages gather round these pools at the end of the day, towels and picnics spread out to chat, swim and relax. During our week spent in the region we saw
countless of these wild swimming spots, both dammed rivers and in plunge pools of waterfalls. In some villages, beaches form naturally while others have rocky platforms from which to dive into the water and cliffs for the daredevils to leap from.
Alongside the swimming comes watersports like canoeing or canyoning, and hiking trails sprawl away from the rivers leading you further into the forests of oak and chestnut. These valleys are pockets of fertile land and rich with butterflies and birdsong, quite at odds with the image many have of Extremadura.
Deeper meanings
There are many theories around the etymology of the word Extremadura – and I found all of them to be accurate in some way or another. There are those that regard it as the ‘extreme’ border of the Christian kingdoms of the north and the Islamic empire to the south, and indeed the Moorish architecture here is testament to that. Then there is the theory of simply combining extrema and dura meaning ‘extreme’ and ‘hard’, a reflection of what life can be like for the relatively poor population of this region and the challenge of making a living here. Finally,
Christopher Willan
some believe Extremadura means beyond or end of the Douro River, and it is this interpretation that shaped our trip as it led us to an unexpected jewel in Extremadura’s crown – the lush and verdant river valleys that cradle the tributaries of the Tagus and Guadiana rivers that cut through the steppe grasslands of this region.
During our trip exploring the area, we never met another English tourist – these vast natural parks are visited rarely by anyone outside of Spain – or even Madrid. The city dwellers tend to visit at the weekends, retreating to fincas, larger remote farmstead properties, or the more modest cortijos or townhouses handed down through generations of their families. On our trip many of the village houses were shuttered up and we found the weekdays blissfully quiet bar the busier centres like Merida, known for its Roman architecture. This is the time to visit and find yourself the only tourist watching the world go by in a town square or taking the plunge in a natural swimming pool. Here are our discoveries:
Garganta de los Infiernos Nature Reserve
The Sierra de Gredos and Tormantos mountains offer a dramatic backdrop to the Garganta de los Infiernos Nature Reserve, a landscape that’s sustained by the water that drains from them. This pocket of lush vegetation is pockmarked with walking and cycle routes as well as idyllic swimming spots. Visit during the week and you could find you don’t see another soul, as we found when we visited the Los Pilones water feature, known as giant’s kettles. The series of potholes linked by waterfalls have been carved out of the granite by eddying stones scouring the rocks, leaving smooth bowls in a cascade down the hillside. They’re accessible by hiking up from the Centro de Interpretacion de la Reserva Natural, a visitor centre that is well worth a visit for its information on the history and geography of the area with English explanations alongside the Spanish. It’s a 6km return hike to Los Pilones from here up wellmarked tracks which rise up through a planted
The mediaeval town Olla is known for and tile-roofed buildings
LOS PILONES IN GARGANTA DE LOS INFIERNOS NATURE RESERVE
Christopher Willan
GARGANTA LA OLLA
town of Garganta la for its half-timbered buildings
forest of sweet chestnuts and onto to lichen draped oak trees, or there are longer loops of up to 28km if you like a challenge – you’ll be rewarded with epic viewpoints, countless streams and waterfalls and plenty of picnic and photography spots. Come late spring through to early autumn this is a beautiful swimming spot with the water flow a little lighter, though the temperature is often in single figures so swimmers should dress accordingly. You can take a dip in below the footbridge or lower straight into the pools above the bridge, though the rocks are notoriously slippy. Back at the centre there’s a café with outdoor seating in the shade that serves good simple food and snacks.
Garganta Mayor
This watercourse is just outside the mediaeval town of Garganta la Olla, known for its halftimbered and tile-roofed buildings which, like many of the settlements in this area, spill away from a church tower in the centre. We started the day watching the sun rise over this valley then headed down to the river which features a series of waterfalls and pools, popular swimming spots with local families. Closest to the village, Las Pilatillas de Abajo is a natural swimming pool created by damming a section of water. Alongside it is a café that’s open during
CENTRO DE INTERPRETACION DE LA RESERVA NATURAL
Christopher Willan
SHOP IN GARGANTA LA OLLA
Christopher Willan
Christopher Willan
The Sierra de Gredos and Tormantos mountains offer a dramatic backdrop to the Garganta de los Infiernos Nature
Reserve
the summer and can be quite lively on summer evenings. The further you hike away from the villages, the quieter the pools get.
Piscina Natural de La Granja
Though not as pretty as some of Extremadura’s other natural swimming areas, we came across this swimming spot on the Rio Ambroz just off the N-630 highway between Plasencia and Bejar, and were won over by its setting and the fab little Bar Chiringuito La Granja Beach alongside it. Sited on the La Vía de la Plata route of the Santiago de Compostela it’s doubtless been a welcome respite for many pilgrims too. The pool fills in the summer season and has a car park alongside it, then there’s Bar Chiringuito on the river bank. The all outside seating is undercover and the modest kitchen produces a varied menu that includes a superb house gazpacho as well as salads, grilled meat and chips, and sandwiches.
Other swimming areas to explore: Garganta de Cuartos in Losar de la Vera, Cáceres; Garganta de Alardos in Madrigal de la Vera and Garganta de Pedro Chate in Jaraíz de la Vera.
Where to stay
Hospederia Valle Del Jerte is a converted former olive oil mill in the village of Jerte with 28 bedrooms, the best of which overlook the cobbled town square or terraces of cherry tree groves in the hillsides behind. Indulge the regional produce with the hotel’s fourcourse cherry menu with such imaginative uses of the fruit as creamy cherry rice with millefeuille of sea bass with Iberian ham or Jerte cherry semifreddo. The restaurant has glass windows floor to ceiling overlooking its gardens and infinity pool. From £75 a night, hospederiasdeextremadura.es
Hotel Rural Abadia de Yuste is a 15-bedroom hotel in a 16th century restored abbey in Yuste, a pretty town best known for the Monastery of Yuste, where Charles V, Roman Emperor, retired and died. It starts from around £60 a night and has a sunny terrace, outdoor pool, courtyard and restaurant. There are original features throughout and restored furniture from the abbey, though it is best known for its food. All bread and pastries are made on site and the chef, Rubén Homero, celebrates sustainable cooking; “The only part of the pig we don’t eat
LUNCH AT ALBERO
LOS PILONES
is the grunt,” he told us, and many of the dishes make use of leftovers. The region’s most popular is migas extremenas, which makes yesterday’s bread into breadcrumbs to fry up with pieces of leftover ham and pimenton spice, which is like paprika and widely produced in the region. abadiadeyuste.com
Where to eat
Aside from Hotel Rural Abadia de Yuste’s superb restaurant and the modest but excellent Bar Chiringuito in La Granja, another memorable meal was at Albero, in the pretty main square of Plasencia overlooked by the town hall. It specialises in regional dishes and nothing is too much trouble for the waiters and chef. The tapas here includes classics like the Jamon Iberico de Bellota from pigs raised on Holm Oak acorns and migas con huevo –the breadcrumbs, pimenton and Iberian ham dish but with a fried egg. Morcilla patatera con huevos fritos is another one to try – black sausage with pork and potato, pimenton and scrambled eggs, or zorongollo – roasted pepper often served on toasted bread. You typically pay 5 euros for a tapas dish and 15-20 euros for a
main with slightly larger sharing tapas available called para compartir which, at Albero, included croquettes, salads, and seafood like squid, prawns and mussels.
What else to see
The Jerte Valley is famous world-wide for its cherries – we’ve probably all eaten them from our local supermarkets as they’re widely exported. Over 200 cherry types are grown in the area including three varieties of Picota which are highly prized. They’re a huge bright red fruit that could be almost as large as plums and grow straight from the branch with no stalk. Visitors can try their hand at picking; a firm pulling motion straight from a tree with cherries placed into baskets that are handmade from the wood of nearby chestnut trees. You can book cherry tours and picking through the village tourist offices or hotels and join in the festivities of the harvest (May-September) with a day’s picking rewarded with a large alfresco meal. Spring festivals celebrate the cherry blossoms with parties, live music, workshops and cooking events. There’s also the Cherry Museum in a former Civil Guard quarters in Cabezuela del Valle; it’s friendly, though its information is in Spanish only.
Extremadura is also a mecca for adventure sports, with canyoning particularly popular –where you follow a river’s course, bouldering, rappelling, jumping or swimming along the route. There’s also rock climbing and bouldering – head to El Torno for a series of routes on the giant granite erratic boulders that were brought down in the last glaciation. Just outside the village is the Mirador de la Memoria at 700m. From here you’ll be rewarded with sweeping views of the valley and the striking sculpture in memory of those who died in the Spanish Civil War. Four figures look down from the viewpoint across the Valle del Jerte in a contemplative and emotion-laden pose. It’s a point for reflection and is deeply poignant –the perfect place to start or end a trip to this dramatic and unexplored region of Spain.
Christopher Willan
Christopher Willan
MIRADOR DE LA MEMORIA
HOTEL RURAL ABADIA DE YUSTE
Christopher Willan
Christopher Willan
See Green Traveller’s Guide to Spain
LA CITE DU VIN
LE CHATEAU DE BEYNAC
CYCLING ON THE FLOW VELO
Alban Gilbert
Cecile
Marlier
Brave new
world
Richard Hammond and Nicola Forsyth reconnect with nature by train, bike and foot on a journey
around southwest France
Cycling out of postcard-perfect Sarlat, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, it felt less like leaving the bustle of a French market town behind and more like entering a calm new world. Turning off the main road onto a dedicated cycle path, the sights and sounds of tourist-filled pavements fade out, replaced instead with a quiet, single-track cycle lane and a vision of brimstone butterflies chasing each other, like tiny beams of sunlight, across the tree-lined trail.
We were pedalling electric bikes along the Flow Velo. This new 350km greenway runs from the Dordogne to the Atlantic coast, passing through the Perigord Limousin Regional National Park and Angouleme, along the Charente River and through the towns of Cognac, Saintes and Rochefort along the way. Trying out a provisional 20km section of the trail, we ventured from Sarlat to Domaine St Amand, a glamping site in the Périgord.
Close to the medieval village of Saint-Amandde-Coly (officially one of France’s Most Beautiful Villages and home to a spectacular fortified abbey), Domaine St Amand is managed by a dynamic young couple, Jeanne and Baptiste. A grocery and outdoor pool sit beside the restored farmhouse at its heart while 50 two-bedroom wooden cabins are spaced out scenically among
fields of wildflowers and newly planted trees.
Beautifully crafted with restful taupe and timber interiors, chic ensuite bathrooms, private kitchens and covered terraces, the cabins make a peaceful pitstop along the trail. Especially if, like us, you pick up one of Jeanne’s homemade coq au vin or happen to visit on a night when the wood-fired pizza oven is being fired up. Which is exactly what Jeanne was hoping to create when she and Baptiste designed the site. Travellers are increasingly seeking stays that put sustainability centre-stage, she said, and allow them to re-connect with nature.
From countryside to city
Sitting on the terrace of our cabin, the sunset glowing through a chilled glass of local white, it wasn’t so hard to imagine how you might help them do that. But can you travel sustainably and connect with nature in the city?
Earlier in the week we’d put this to the test by travelling to southwest France from the UK by train, an easy hop that saw us catch a Eurostar from London to Paris and then a high-speed TGV for the two-hour onward connection to Bordeaux. Our first stop here was the FirstName Bordeaux hotel in the Mériadeck neighbourhood. Between the 1960s and the
1980s this neglected corner of the city became a testing ground for some of the brightest modern architects of the time. Among the showstoppers they created was a concrete colossus with striking curvilinear balconies designed by Arretche-Karasinki and Marcel Nouviale for French insurance company Allianz. A supersized example of upcycling, the building was recently repurposed as a hotel. Inside its brutalist exterior hides a serene, colourful space that welcomes guests in with clever lighting, lounge-on-me seating, a communal kitchen (so no need for energy intensive mini bars) and natural materials (each room has a bag of charcoal to purify the air).
The hotel’s snooze-friendly seating may have been calling but instead we headed out on a tour of the city on bikes supplied by neighbouring Esprit Cycles. Local guide Véronique Baggio proved impressively adept at talking while pedalling, pointing out not just Bordeaux’s spectacular neoclassical architecture but also some of the city’s 1,182 kilometres cycling trails,
1,425 kilometres hiking paths and numerous green spaces as we went. Such elements helped the city earn a French Innovative & Sustainable Destination label in 2023. As did an integrated public transport system that includes trams, buses, and river shuttles.
The city’s commitment to sustainability isn’t just limited to its transport system, we discovered; many of Bordeaux’s visitor
Food is another obvious way in which visitors can make easy sustainable choices
attractions have green technologies embedded within their operations, including the impressive Cité du Vin in Les Bassins à Flot, a former industrial and port area that has been transformed into an ‘eco district’. The museum, which provides a brilliantly sensory overview of wines from across the world, as well as the region’s renowned vineyards, has an innovative bioclimatic design that means 70% of its energy needs are met by local and green energy sources. Food is another obvious way in which visitors can make easy sustainable choices. From food halls like Les Halles de Bacalan, where you can find stalls bursting with regional cheeses, local wines and warm-from-the-oven pastries, to fine dining restaurants like Casa Gaia, Zéphirine, and Vivants, with their focus on fabulous seasonal produce.
Also attracting carbon-conscious foodies is the Darwin Ecosysteme. In the city’s Bastide district, this former military barracks is now a co-working and cultural hub, restored using reclaimed materials and furnished with vintage finds. A multipurpose base for creatives, skateboarders, coffee nerds, music lovers and shoppers (you’ll find eco-minded brands such as Patagonia and Veja there) it’s also home to the largest organic bistro-dining hall in Europe, with a community garden growing seasonal greens to boot.
From trains to trails
From here, we ventured out of the city on a series of trips by train. At Le Buisson-deCadouin we walked a six-kilometre section of the Chemin d’Amadour long-distance hiking
HOTEL LA RESERVE, BRIVE
route to the spectacular World Heritage Site of the 1,000 year-old Abbey of Cadouin. Further afield in Brive, we stayed overnight at Hotel La Réserve, an impressive renovated building adjacent to a small park at Germain Auboiroux and a short ten-minute walk from the railway station, and had lunch in Halle Gaillarde – a showcase for local producers, including bakers, butchers and cheesemakers. From Brive, we cycled a couple of hours south-east to Collonges La Rouge – another of the Most Beautiful Villages in France – to walk among its maze of medieval streets and admire the 25 turrets that soar skywards from the village’s graceful sandstone buildings. And, just 30 minutes by train from Bordeaux, in SaintÉmilion, we visited the Couvent des Jacobins. Medieval Saint-Émilion is known for its 2,000-year history of winemaking and, while the Couvent doesn’t stretch back quite as far as the beginning, vines have been painstakingly tended here for almost seven centuries. Now organically cultivated, this sophisticated operation offers a fascinating insight into both the culture’s deep, soil-rooted history, and into the challenges and opportunities of a sustainable future. Close by geographically yet far apart in terms of scale, the Union de Producteurs de Saint-Émilion support some 145 winegrowers across 600 hectares of vines. Representing more than 12% of the entire Saint-Émilion AOC, it is a sustainable cooperative known largely, like so many local producers, for its Merlot; its wines can be tasted by the glass straight from the cooperative’s wine truck at local producers’ and farmers’ markets.
Back in Bordeaux, a highlight was a circular walk on the GR Bordeaux Métropole in the company of local guide Dominique Busnel. The first urban Grande Randonnée (GR), or longdistance hiking trail, in France, the route winds through 17 of the territory’s 28 municipalities along its 160km length. Peppered along its path are 11 idiosyncratic suburban shelters where you can pre-book, for free, to stay overnight. Dominique took us to show us around one of them, The Cloud. Unlike our cabin at Domaine St Amand, this was no classic woodsman’s shack, however. Perched in the Ermitage Park,
by the wooded shore of a lake, this architectural folly looks like a cartoon drawing of a cloud, albeit enormous and made not of water vapour but of plywood.
A nod to utopian architecture, it was an apt place to end our time in Bordeaux, allowing us to pass the afternoon to a lullaby of gently croaking frogs and passing terrapins. Is it possible to connect with nature in the city? I think we had our answer.
More information: www.nouvelle-aquitaine-tourisme.com
SARLAT
MOUNTAIN
Richard Hammond and his family take the train to a lesser-known region of the French Alps to try out a series of outdoor mountain activities. Pictures by Richard Hammond
Clinging to a rope over the edge of a steep-sided gorge, it occurred to me that I didn’t really know the person I’d trusted my life to. Bernard – a local French high mountain guide – looked like he knew what he was doing, but in those fleeting moments before I let go of the rope he’d slung up with a series of carabiners, I couldn’t help questioning his credentials. His wife, Sally, told me that morning he’d been a professional high mountain guide for years, and she was now giving me an enthusiastic thumbs-up from the ground, after belaying down herself. Then my son, who was desperate to give it a go, yelled: “Just go for it Dad!” Banishing all negative thoughts, I kicked out my legs and off I went, dropping gently down to the ground 100 feet below as Bernard gradually released the abseil rope. My son soon followed suit without a moment’s hesitation, his face blushing with the exhilaration and confidence of youth.
“CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE WANING POPULARITY OF SKIING MEANS THE ALPINE VALLEYS HAVE TO FIND NEW OPPORTUNITIES”
The belay was the exit point of our morning’s Via Ferrata in the Gorges d’Agnielles in the Southern French Alps. Via Ferrata is a type of climbing where a series of metal rails are bolted into the mountain rock, which you clip into and use as a safety line throughout the route. Sally (who runs Undiscovered Mountains, the activity holiday company we’d booked through) explained that Via Ferrata had been
LA GRANGE DES ECRINS, CHABOTTES
VIA FERRATA AT GORGES D’AGNIELLES
installed by the Italians in the First World War to make it quicker for its troops to travel more efficiently across high mountains, but in France it has since been adopted as a sport, designed so that many of the routes go to scenic places. The scene of Gorges d’Agnielles was certainly that; even though this was a family-friendly beginner’s course, it ran across a tall vertiginous ledge at times 300 feet above the road below, flanked by the impressive limestone cliffs.
BRANCHING OUT
We’d come to the Southern French Alps because we wanted to travel by train from the UK to go on an outdoor adventure that was off the beaten track. The Hautes Alpes is home to the popular ski resort of Serre Chevalier but mostly it’s a little visited part of the Alps for British travellers. After taking the Eurostar, we had a night in Paris then took the morning high speed train to Valence
where we caught the train to Gap to stay for the first few nights at La Grange des Écrins, a guesthouse in the valley, before heading higher, to two mountain refuges.
Écrins (also the name of the surrounding National Park) means jewel and the guesthouse lives up to its name, with gem-coloured textiles, a pool with a view and grounds that run, bucolically, through meadows to a woodland stream. Run by Frenchman Jean Mellot and his Taiwanese wife, Meg Liu, this ancient farmhouse is catering to growing numbers of visitors wanting to connect with nature. “Agriculture is dying and the golden years of winter tourism are gone,” says Jean, softly. “Climate change and the waning popularity of skiing means the Alpine valleys have to find new opportunities”. Green tourism is an obvious one, he adds. “We have good weather here and we didn’t damage the landscape with huge ski resorts.”
Gastrotourism is another, I think, as Meg plies us with course after delicious course, blending
MAISON DU BERGER
WATERFALL ON WALK UP TO REFUGE DORMILLOUSE
PLAN YOUR TRIP
Richard’s trip was organised by Undiscovered Mountains (undiscoveredmountains.com) with travel and accommodation provided by Hautes Alpes tourist board (hautes-alpes.net). A fully customisable seven-day summer multi activity holiday organised by Undiscovered Mountains costs from €518 per adult and €474 per child, including 10 activity points per person exchangeable for a range of activities, a choice of
accommodation (including camping, luxury chalet with private hot tub, farmhouse bed and breakfast, chalet style youth hostel or hotel to suit your budget) and a personalised App with all your trip details, unique itinerary, and practical information. Richard and family travelled by Eurostar from London to Paris, train from Paris to Gap, return journey on the sleeper train from Gap to Paris then Eurostar Paris to London.
WALKING UP TO REFUGE DORMILLOUSE
IT’S A BEAUTIFUL PART OF THE ALPS, BUT THE REALLY STRIKING THING IS HOW UNTRAMELLED THIS LANDSCAPE IS
her Taiwanese influences with a menu that starts with delicate spring rolls and continues with pink lamb chops from nearby Ancelle.
Meg’s delicious food also provided much needed fuel for a series of outdoor mountain activities we took part in the coming few days, including canyoning in the Marmites du Diable, mountain biking around Ancelle, and whitewater rafting on the Durance, each one led by
professional guides selected by Undiscovered Mountains. For the final two nights, Bernard took us on a different kind of outdoor adventure, this one less about adrenalin, it was designed to introduce us to the experience of walking in the mountain landscape. We hiked up to two mountain refuges – Refuge du Tourond and Gite de l’Ecole in Dormillouse – said to be the sole permanently inhabited village within a
French National Park that’s only accessible on foot. The treks took us up alongside fast flowing rivers, through larch forests, past beautiful wildflowers, and several breath-taking waterfalls as Bernard gave us an introduction to the wildlife and geology of the region, pointing out yellowhammers, narcissi, orchids, wild pansies and cowslip. It’s a beautiful part of the Alps, but the really striking thing is how untramelled this landscape is. Besides the rocky track we followed and the odd stone wall, there was little sign of human impact.
We were grateful to have Bernard on hand to point out things we’d missed on our own. Sally explained that it is possible to organise the refuges and activities independently, but if you book the activities through her company Undiscovered Mountains, you get an itinerary tailored to your ability and experience. Faced with the alternative of seeking out a mountain guide somewhat randomly on the internet, I know who I’d choose.
FAMILY E MOUNTAIN BIKING FROM ANCELLE
BLACKBIRD CAYE
ELDON ON THE JETTY AT CALABASH CAYE
GARIFUNA CULTURAL IMMERSION EXPERIENCE
Belize leads the way
Conservation comes in many guises but whether its cultural, marine or community, there’s a lot to be learnt from this small Central American country, finds Meera Dattani
There’s a bird tower in Belize, in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, where there’s a sight that even the least twitchy birdwatcher will be interested in. On Half Moon Caye (also known as Half Moon Caye Natural Monument) in Lighthouse Reef Atoll, the island’s famous frigate birds gather and when it’s mating season, which it was, the males puff out their throats so much that they form large red pouches. When they fly, it looks like they’re transporting emergency medical equipment. And it’s not just the frigates. Also resident here (for 10 months of the year) are the caye’s red-footed boobies, the reason this tiny island became a protected area.
Half Moon Caye is the first marine protected area in Central America, designated a bird sanctuary in 1924 to protect the habitat of the red-footed booby birds. The Belize Audubon Society, a bird and habitat protection organisation, co-manages
Half Moon Caye, alongside six other protected areas in Belize, including the birdwatching haven of Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary and the jaguar preserve of Cockscomb Basin.
Half Moon Caye is more than the caye’s red-footed boobies and frigates though. Hundreds of hermit crabs scurry about the forest floor, in a Goldilocks-attempt to find the perfect shell, and if you’ve a keen eye, you may spot iguanas and, if you’re lucky, hawksbill, green and loggerhead turtles in season too. The nature trail along this tiny, crescent-shaped island leads to a small, sunset-view beach, where the Caribbean unfolds in front of you as you ponder the meaning of life or frigate birds.
Mangroves and seaweed
Earlier that day, I’d barefoot-walked the Calabash Caye Nature Trail, an easy walk through the interior of Calabash Caye, a Turneffe Atoll island. I’m guided by Eldon August, a tourism conservation officer from Turneffe Atoll Sustainability Association, known as TASA, which works with marine protection organisations BlueWild EcoVentures and Blue Alliance to protect Turneffe and promote the ‘blue economy’. Eldon has been working for TASA for two years and is enthusiastic about his prospects in conservation.
As we walk and talk, he tells me about the importance of the mangrove ecosystem for flood protection and providing a haven for juvenile species, to the seaweed farms offering alternative livelihoods to fishermen with its beauty and health benefits (‘mariculture’). I learned about the gumbo limbo tree – it’s called the ’tourist tree’ because of its peeling skin exterior (a timely reminder to re-apply sun cream) and that it’s an antidote to the sometimes-neighbouring
poisonwood tree.
Our walk leads us across the hammock bridge and to the trail’s bird tower. I don’t think I’ve ever taken in such a sight. As I turn my head, I’m treated to a 360-degree view of miles of mangroves, broken up only by the blue hues of the Caribbean Sea. Seeing something with your own eyes reinforces what you’ve just learnt, and you realise just how important it is to protect it.
We head to the Calabash Caye Snorkel Trail, but before snorkelling it, we pay an underwater visit to the seaweed farm. That morning, I’d seen the seaweed at a later stage, laid out on drying racks until crunchy; down here, it’s a grid system of nets and poles, frequently checked by TASA. The snorkel trail itself is only around 300 metres long, but as any snorkeller or diver will tell you, time takes on new meaning underwater – before you know it, you’ve been drifting for an hour. A shoal of blue tang swims our way, and corals sway and shimmer below us. I realise
Mangroves are important for flood protection and as a haven for juvenile species while seaweed farms offer an alternative livelihood for fishermen
we’ve barely seen anyone else during the day. “We’re about highvalue, low-impact,” says Eldon. “We never have two groups at the same time. If, say Blackbird Resort has a group going to one dive spot, no-one else goes that day.”
I’m staying at Blackbird Caye Resort on Turneffe Atoll, which has developed a close partnership with TASA. One evening, over locally brewed Belikin beers, Panty Rippa cocktails and mini pizzas during the daily, convivial pre-dinner bar ritual, Eldon shares more about their work, looking after Belize’s largest marine protected area of some 36,000 acres. Many fishermen wanted the atoll to be protected, he says, but because of tourism, it’s difficult to have off-limits areas. Instead, “Enforcement is the backbone of our organisation,” he tells us, with strict rules and high fines for illegal fishing. They have 16 conservation officers and three conservation outposts, and work two-week shifts with six days off. Donations they receive support their wildlife conservation work and community initiatives.
Finding sanctuary
Conservation goes beyond marine areas. On the mainland, one of the most visited national parks is Cockscombe Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, the world’s first jaguar preserve, stretching from the Maya Mountains to the Caribbean Sea. In 1986, Cockscombe was declared a nature reserve and thanks to conservation efforts, the sanctuary now has some of Belize’s best jungle treks, a lush
BIRDWATCHING ON CALABASH CAYE SNORKEL TRAIL
LARGE RED POUCH OF A MALE REDFOOTED BOOBY AT HALF MOON CAYE
THE BLACK ORCHID IS BELIZE’S NATIONAL FLOWER
habitat of towering ferns and palms, a healthy if elusive jaguar population, plenty of birdlife including keel-billed toucans and king vultures, and resident ocelots, tapir, monkeys and more. Co-managed by the Belize Audubon Society, the sanctuary also collaborates with the Maya Centre Village visitor centre and gift shop; the community receives 10% of park revenue. Righting past land ownership wrongs isn’t easy – when Maya residents were first re-located from Cockscomb, many were against it.
At nearby Bocawina Mayflower National Park, there’s a different story where a foreign-owned adventure resort remained, while Indigenous communities had to leave the Cockscomb Basin region. My guide Dirk points out plantain and coconut farms on our drive to Bocawina. “When you see plantain in forest, it’s secondary growth forest,” he tells us. “It’s regenerating.” In fact, almost 40% of Belize’s land is protected in some way, partly thanks to co-management.
Video produced by Green Traveller productions
MEERA AND EDUARDO AT THE HIGH TEMPLE AT LAMANAI
Community, conservation and cultural preservation go hand-in-hand
A keen birdwatcher (and member of Dangriga-based band, The Garifuna Collective), multi-talented Dirk is a knowledgeable guide. He spots an orange-billed sparrow, a ‘deep forest’ species, explains that the red ribbons mark a carbon data trail, and points out the cohune palm, the first tree to grow when a forest is cleared, outgrowing others. “It’s a ‘give-and-take-palm’,” he says. “It pricks you, but the sap inside is an antidote.” Obviously, I touch it. Dirk looks down as much as up, and on the forest floor, we spot a train of leaf cutter ants, capable of carrying ten times their own body weight, transporting leaves in a high-level logistics operation. We hear the thunderous sound of howler monkeys in the distance, and after a straightforward but sweaty hike, I cool off in a waterfall pool.
Celebrating community
In northern Belize, the majestic Maya temples of Lamanai, right on the New River, highlight another type of conservation, that of cultural heritage. My guide Eduardo Ruano has Maya heritage and comes from a family of former Guatemalan refugees fleeing civil war in the 1980s. He grew up in neighbouring Indian Church village, created in 1990 when communities were moved out of Lamanai. “Indian Church has guesthouses, restaurants, a women’s cooperative Las Orquideas, and you can eat local Belizean dishes here,” Eduardo says. It’s not on enough itineraries, with many
tourists whisked to and from the temple complex.
Set deep in the jungle, Lamanai is also a wildlife haven, especially for birds. The howler monkeys are out as we explore the Jaguar Temple and High Temple in the late afternoon. Revenue from tourism funds preservation, but grassroots community engagement is sometimes missing when it comes to big-ticket sights.
Time and time again in Belize, I’ve realised why community, conservation and cultural preservation go hand-in-hand and that this holistic approach is crucial, whether at a marine reserve or an archaeological treasure.
SAN ANTONIO WOMEN’S CO-OPERATIVE
ORANGE TOWN WALK
TASTE BELIZE FOOD TOUR
See Green Traveller’s Guide to Belize
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