ADVENTURE
Caroline Butterwick discovers that a more thoughtful way to tra vel can bring greater enjoyment, too
With the wind whipping my hair, I place my hands on the rough rock and scramble up. My husband, Gary, and I have been walking for more than an hour, the trail getting steadily steeper. And then we reach the summit of Loughrigg Fell, and, catching our breath, gaze at the panorama: the craggy summits of other mountains, the sight of Windermere – England’s largest lake – a sliver of silver cradled in the green below. But what seems particularly amazing is to think we got here today, this beautiful place that feels on top of the world, without the need to drive.
Many of us are now making a concerted effort be more eco-friendly, and if you’ve set yourself a New Year’s resolution to reduce your environmental impact, travel plays a vital part. Richard Hammond runs the website Green Traveller, sharing the benefits and joys of eco-friendly travel. ‘Thinking about doing more recycling, commuting less to work, or walking the kids to school are all part of the decisions we’re making nowadays,’ he explains.
And green travel, Hammond says, is an increasingly key part of conscious living.
My conversation with Hammond takes place just before our visit to the Lake District. He talks compellingly about green travel being a mindset. ‘The way to position green travel is that it’s actually a better experience,’ he tells me. ‘With things such as taking the train, it’s much more enjoyable – you feel like you’re already on your adventure when you get to the station.’
I think of this as the train takes me from Crewe to Oxenholme, then a 19-minute train to Windermere, the green hills of the Northwest unfurling as I gaze softly out of the window. We take a short bus journey to get to our hotel, Ambleside Manor (amblesidemanor.co.uk). As I put the kettle on in our room with its view of the fells, Gary tells me how much nicer the journey was compared to being stuck behind the wheel of the car for hours. We were able to relax with a coffee and a book each, rather than fretting about bad drivers or traffic jams. It definitely feels like a much calmer start to our holiday.
We’re staying in the town of Ambleside – somewhere we’ve been before, so I’m curious how we find having a greener approach. Cumbria is working to become the first net-zero carbon county in the UK by 2037, and in a place so popular with tourists, reducing our impact as visitors seems crucial. Visit Lake District (visitlakedistrict.com) is highlighting how to go car-free when visiting the National
