The best UK train lines for outdoor adventurers

Great news! You’ve decided to ditch the car and give adventuring by train a go. My research so far this year shows that train adventures aren’t just possible, they can be really good fun.

Especially if you pick the right train line.

If you’re wondering which UK train lines offer the best opportunities for outdoor activities, look no further. I’ve been doing my research, and have chosen three that will definitely fit the bill.

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How drivers (like me) can keep pedestrians (also like me) safer on our streets

Walking is sustainable transport

We all know that one way to look after the planet, travel more sustainably and keep ourselves healthy is to ditch the car and walk as often as we can (other forms of active travel are available). In fact we’re already quite good at the walking game with walking for travel being the second most common physical activity in England.

And we don’t have to walk far to make a difference.

How to plan a walking route with OS Maps

In 2019 45% of our car journeys were were less than two miles distance. To walk that takes just over an hour without big hills, at a steady but not fast pace. An hour might sound like a lot but factor in traffic jams and parking hassle and you might find it’s not much longer than your drive time.

But walking isn’t always possible.

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A year in the grey. Has dumping the dye changed my life?

When my hair first tipped past ‘half and half’ into ‘definitely grey’ Mr D and I both had an emotional moment. Me because I had decided there was no going back. He because he had known me since I was an inexperienced teenager.

I’m not inexperienced now.

I’m silver.

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The new travel writing – extreme lockdown locations

All summer the possibility of a second national lockdown has loitered lugubriously. But the official command to hide away has now been given. Most of us know when, where, how and with whom to lock ourselves away for the next month. But just imagine for a moment. If ‘away from people’ was your absolutely favourite place to go, where would you choose? We have a few  extreme lockdown location suggestions for the South West of England.

(NB Just in case you thought these were serious… they’re not!)

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Staycation or vacation? What exactly is the new travel normal?

Don’t judge me but it’s time to confess I find the current shake-up in the travel industry interesting. It is no surprise this year’s vacation has been replaced to a large degree by the staycation.

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (27th April)

With the current changes in employment arrangements, I am considering rewriting my copywriting bio. The outdoor writer part of it will go something like this:

“Fi is an outdoor writer based in Devon and specialising in the streets of Torquay. Her particular areas of interest include the greenhouse, circuitous routes to the beach and vegetable box number four. Fi loves showering in her waterproofs, watching TV from her bivvy bag and playing the piano wearing a rucksack. She has absolutely no idea how to pitch a very large tent in a very small garden.”

Corona diary updates

  • Mr Darby and YouTube have been fixing our downstairs toilet
  • Apparently there is a website called ‘fix the bog’
  • It isn’t this one (that’s a different kind of bog)
  • I would really like to see a field
  • An actual farmer’s field
  • But then the farmer would probably really like to see the sea
  • I need to go and buy some more compost
  • I realised this while I scraped compost out of my nails back into the bag
  • Shopping at the moment feels a bit like a lottery
  • Last week we walked to the shops and came back with a cauliflower, some baking parchment and some Simple soap
  • We accidentally walked past an open ice-cream kiosk
  • I had an enormous cornet
  • So did Mr Darby

Conversation of the day

Upon entering Mr Darby’s home office (previously known as the spare room)

Me: What were you doing just then it sounded like fun

Mr D: I was having a Zoom meeting

Me: I haven’t Zoomed yet

Word of the day – daggy

Whether you are antipodean or not, daggy is not a good thing to be. If you are a sheep you will have lumps of poo hanging from your backside. If you are a person, you will be wearing unattractive clothing, allowing your hair to do what it wants to and cutting right back on the showering.

I have to confess to a recent touch of daggism (I blame the lack of Zooming). I have made amends today and even smell nice.

Mr D. noticed.

Which was nice.

Fiona’s Corona Diaries (24th April)

Yesterday I felt as flat as an apple cake

Not a term I would use often but as my apple cake had just turned out like a nutmeg flavoured custard frittata, it seemed apt. I am not very good with recipes, either for baking or for life. If there were instructions for life somewhere, I must have lost them along the way. This isn’t really a problem because any set of instructions that included something as bizarre as coronavirus lockdown would take up far too much room in a cupboard (we didn’t have databases when I was born).

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (22nd April)

On the topic of lockdown health

A recent survey by the Institute of Employment Studies suggested that during the initial fortnight of lockdown a third of people in the UK were eating more and exercising less than they usually do. This does not appear to have been the case in our house. Despite regular biscuit bakes and outdoor sausage sizzles, we have been suffering from mysterious (but welcome) weight loss.

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (20th April)

The thief of days

Benjamin Franklin once said that time was money. He was so wrong…

Has anyone else just lost ten whole days?

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Fiona’s Corona Diaries (10th April)

Is it still okay to laugh?

Is anyone else slipping between hysterical laughter and deep concern with as much disconcerting ease as I am? Never before have I experienced such a wide variety of emotions, and so often in one day. Yesterday was a key example. I had an enormous amount of fun promoting and joining in with the GetOutside Inside Step Up Challenge, recording videos and getting soaked with a hosepipe by my son. But I also had some worrying news about a loved one.

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