It’s true, you’re unlikely to be able to substitute a plane flight with a bike journey. But as CO2-free travel goes, it’s hard to beat.

So why aren’t more of us riding to work?

It’s healthy, green, cheap. No need to worry about traffic jams, pollution levels or car parking hassles. Basically, if work is within a few miles of home, it’s eminently do-able for most of us.

But it’s not always that simple. In my last job I lived just four miles from my office, and had enthusiastic plans to ride in every day - but it never happened. The organisation where I worked had made itself as cycle-friendly as possible, but the truth is I was put off by the idea of doing it alone. The car journey was short, and the idea of riding for an hour a day – often in bad weather and after dark – was daunting.

I’m not a very experienced cyclist. I was concerned. How safe is a woman riding on her own after dark? What was the best route? What did I need to know about cycling in rush-hour traffic? And how would I avoid the boredom that I feared?

As it turns out, there is a solution if you find yourself in a similar situation: find yourself a bike buddy. Someone to share your commute with – for safety and for some friendly company. There is a free website – www.bikebudi.com – where you can register your cycle journey and then search for others riding the same way.

The idea of the site is not just to help current cyclists to find bike buddies. It also encourages individuals who may be concerned about riding to give it a go by putting them in touch with more experienced cyclists who know about riding safely, the best routes, bike security, taking a bike on public transport, suitable clothing and so on.

The site also calculates the carbon dioxide emissions you’ll be saving compared to making that journey solo in a car: a substantial addition to the CO2 you cut out with a Low Fly Zone pledge. So not only will biking bring a rosy glow to your cheeks, but you’ll also experience a glow of satisfaction at seeing how much further it is helping you to reduce your annual carbon footprint.

Dan tells us he gave up summer holidaying abroad by discovering some of Britain’s most idyllic ‘Wild Swimming’ spots back home. His guidebook documents 150 of our most beautiful river, lake and waterfall swimming holes. Loads of amazing photos in it too. Brilliant job!

On a hot summer day, what could be more refreshing than slipping into the cool, clear waters of a secret lake? And what could be more exciting than plunging into a hidden waterfall? Britain’s freshwater rivers, lakes and waterfalls are cleaner, safer and more accessible than at any time in living memory and the health benefits of a natural dip are also now well known.

A childhood spent playing on the riverbanks of the river Wye inspired me to document the traditional local places where our great-grandparents used to swim in the summer holidays. The result is a new photo-guide book ‘Wild Swimming: 150 hidden dips in the rivers, lakes and waterfalls of Britain’ produced by the publishers of best-selling Cool Camping series. There are sections on skinny dipping, waterfalls, wild swimming with children, canoe camping, raft making and riverside wildlife too. These are places where children see their first kingfisher or find their first otter track. Here we learn to play Pooh sticks and build dams before falling asleep in the grass after a hard day’s adventure. With worries about climate change, obesity and urban youth crime, we need, more than ever, new and exciting ways for our children to engage with the natural world and to explore it in safe and responsible ways. We’re keen to hear about your favourite places so get in touch via the interactive map, guidance and articles at wildswimming.co.uk.

Top highlights from Daniel’s book

South West

King Arthur’s knights were baptised in this mystical circular waterfall before beginning their quest for the Holy Grail
Camp in the tipi village by this swimming lake set in a magical reclaimed quarry
Close to the birthplace of Charles Kingsley, these remote river pools on the Dart are surrounded by steep lush forest and inspired the tale of The Waterbabies

Swim with Tarka the Otter in the rivers that inspired Henry Williamson’s famous novel
Picnic by the river and exchange favourite wild-swimming locations at Britain’s longest established river swimming club
Swim and play at one of the longest river weirs in the country

South

White shingle beach and dancing water buttercups line the crystal-clear chalk streams that drain Hampshire’s Watership Down
These ‘lost’ river meanders are set in the spectacular Cuckmere Haven
A popular inland beach, set in ancient Surrey heathland, built by the Bishop of Winchester in the sixteenth century
One of Britain’s oldest and most famous bathing ponds, these pools were constructed 400 years ago to provide London with drinking water through hollowed-out elm tree pipes
In the centre of Oxford, not far from the station, the riverside at Port Meadow inspired Lewis Carroll in the opening of Alice in Wonderland
Beautiful stretches of the River Thames that provided the setting for Three Men in a Boat and Wind in the Willows

Central and East

Paddle with dinosaurs at Stonesfield, the location of the first ever found Jurassic fossil
A giant amphitheatre filled with famously pure Malvern spring water. Admire tectonic faults from over 500 million years ago
Swim down the River Wye in Herefordshire, one of England’s best-loved swimming and canoeing rivers

Join the famous coracle regatta at the river-swimming village of Leintwardine
The famous Grantchester Meadows were a popular river bathing location of Lord Byron, Rupert Brooke, Virginia Woolf and members of the Bloomsbury Group
Mountain-top pools imbued with legends of mermaids and monsters

Wales

Hay-on-Wye, home of literary festivals and second-hand bookshops, is also the site of the famous riverside ‘Warren’ – a stretch of Wye-side shingle and shallows popular with families
The Waterfalls Woods are the most spectacular series of waterfalls in Wales, with aqua forest lidos fit for the gods
This high tarn is haunted by King Arthur’s ‘Lady of the Lake’
Waterfalls plunge through a valley rich in Welsh gold. There are several ruined mines and you can still find gold if you pan the pools
Coloured azure blue by faint traces of copper, these fantastic old slate quarries are like Mediterranean lagoons
Tarn-swimming is the ultimate landscape immersion and wilderness trip. These are three of the best
Follow in the footsteps of Mallory, Hillary and some of our most famous Everest mountaineers and complete the Snowdon swim tour

Lakes and Dales

Magnificent Wastwater: England’s deepest, most dramatic and most beautiful lake. It also has an underwater ‘gnome garden’
Eskdale: a magical series of pools leading up to Scafell Pike. There’s nowhere better to be on a hot day in the Lakes

William Wordsworth’s mountain pools with view across Rydal Water
Swim across to Wildcat Island of Swallows and Amazons fame
Hell Gill is thought to be a collapsed cave, now a semi-underground stream that feels like the inside of a whale. Descend if you dare!
A gentle cataract great for ‘tubing’ – rafting the rapids on rubber rings
Set next to the ruins of Bolton Priory, this stretch of river becomes Costa-del- Bolton on hot summer days
The wooded Gormire Lake, set beneath the spectacular Sutton Bank, was a favourite location for James Herriot

Scotland and North

Swim with the Romans along Hadrian’s Wall and visit their temple to the water nymphs
The bottomless plunge pool of Linhope Spout in the grand Cheviot Hills
Swim across the border from England to Scotland at Union Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the world
The Faeries and Faerie Pools of Skye, the clearest water in Britain
Bathe with the Loch Ness Monster by the ruins of Urquhart Castle
Swim across to a ruined castle island on Loch an Eilein
Find Rob Roy’s secret cave on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond
The closest thing to Highland pools without going north of Stirling. Great rock slide and there’s an excellent pub nearby too
Swim in Rob Roy’s giant bathtub at the Falls of Falloch

How to be wild and safe

- Wear footwear if you can
- Never swim alone and keep a constant watch on weak swimmers
- Always make sure you know how you will get out before you get in
- Avoid contact with blue-green algae, a powdery scum found on some lake edges in summer
- Never swim in canals, urban rivers, stagnant lakes or reedy shallows, and keep cuts and wounds covered with waterproof plasters

We’d love to hear about natural places you love near to where you live and the times you have had. . . .

As the impacts of oil price on food lead to hunger for millions, there is no better time to change down a gear and find better ways to spend our precious time relaxing and eating locally.
The ever rising price of oil not only directly impacts the price of food through artificial fertilizers, pesticides and transport, but the ever growing demand for oil including the explosion in aviation is ramping up the demand for biofuels which simultaneously robs the hungry of food and destroys vast tracts of unspoilt wilderness.

Contrast such impact with the enjoyable act of discovering local producers of high quality seasonal organic food, not dependent on huge fossil fuel inputs for either growing or transporting can massively reduce our impact on the environment. This is especially true if we consume less meat and dairy, which can take up to ten times the resources of salads and vegetables, beans and other pulses.

More good reasons to pledge to be free from flying.

In Bristol, where I have lived for 5 years, I have started making more effort to learn from those who grow their own or source food from nearby organic farms. It has been a revelation and so much so that now I’m helping out with a project called Transition Bristol. It is inspiring to think that starting with yourself and working with what you’ve got, personally and in your local community, can make a real difference to what normally seem such impossible problems.

So stay free from flying, take time explore the countryside around you and make meat and dairy the occasional treats they more naturally would be for a healthier, happier lifestyle.

‘Audiences for online videos are exploding. By accepting ethical sponsors such as No Flights ltd, we can give a platform for progressive companies to promote their services to genuinely interested viewers. Bike2Oz is a
very inspiring series’.

Bike2Oz tells the story of Kevin Doye, a Thames train worker, and Lowanna King, a primary school teacher, who chose to pedal rather than fly to highlight the damage created by aviation to the climate. The couple filmed their entire adventure across the UK, Europe, Pakistan, India, Iran, Singapore and Australia. They married when they reached Sydney after 18 months.

The series has attracted sponsorship from a unique travel agency. NoFlights ltd was born out of a commitment to make greener modes of travel more accessible at a time when flights are accounting for an ever greater proportion of carbon emissions. The company, which launched earlier this year, have scoured the globe to put together the most exciting and unique holidays that don’t involve airports. The first episodes of the Bike2Oz.com video series with the sponsor’s logo were released online this month.

Not content with just cycling the epic journey, the couple even pedaled much of the trip twice. The bicycle duo backtracked down scenic landscapes to set up their video camera and tripod to film themselves cycling through the Swiss Alps, over the Himalayas and past the Taj Mahal in India. The series is produced by award winning
Undercurrents productions.

But tell us David, where will you be going on holiday with the family Cameron this year? We challenge you to think and act in a way that shows us you are a thinking man of substance and compassion. It is more important than ever to see some personal leadership on these issues from major political figures.

When you took the pledge not to fly, did you take the Gold or the Silver? For those of you who don’t know, this website offers these two levels of sainthood, and they’re by no means equal, because the Silver pledge comes with the tacit acknowledgement that many people are expected to fly as a normal part of their working life.

I work for a University and it seems to me that flying is endemic to the academic culture. Researchers are expected to fly to international conferences and meetings, sometimes many times a year. It is perhaps ironic that whilst many of these conferences are looking at ways to make the world a better place through research into poverty and environmental issues (for example), they themselves are exacerbating climate change and thereby increasing the incidence and scale of the problems they study.

International trade too demands collaboration with colleagues around the world. Just recently, Gordon Brown has highlighted the potential benefits of trade and cooperation with China, including working together on climate change. Except that he, and many others in his wake, will emit many tonnes of carbon travelling to China to further these aims.

So, is there a technological alternative to international business flights? Videoconferencing has been available for mass use in one form or another since the late 1960s, and, although there are enthusiasts, its use as a normal part of working life is still somewhat of a rarity. There appears to be an entrenched unwillingness to use videoconferencing to replace face-to-face meetings – many perceive that it is just not the same as ‘being there’. Sceptics cite its limitations in ‘not quite’ replicating all the features of collocated meetings such as the confusion that arises when someone at one site points to an object that is off camera, a lack of eye contact or problems of reliability. However, whilst plane cancellations and frequent delays at airports don’t seem to stop people flying, the occasional technical problem with a videoconference can lead to people refusing to use the technology ever again.

Perhaps this is because of the hidden benefits that come with physically travelling to remote and exotic places for meetings. When faced with a choice between walking down a dingy corridor to a videoconference and hopping on a plane to Hawaii, it’s maybe not hard to see why many choose the latter.

What is most surprising about videoconferencing and related technologies that support collaboration between physically separated colleagues is that they may ironically encourage more – not less – travel. Without these technologies, it would be hard even to contemplate working with people spread across large geographical areas, but technology makes this achievable. Inevitably, there remain aspects of human interaction that are almost impossible over a videoconference, such as building a good working relationship over a pint at the bar. And so, perhaps surprisingly, those who use videoconferencing the most may also travel the most. I myself have worked in this area for the last seven years and have made more frequent flights than ever before in my career, all in the name of reducing travel for others.

Despite all of this, I still believe that videoconferencing has a role to play in reducing the number of business air miles. What is required most of all is the will to do business in a less damaging way and a critical mass of people taking the plunge in making a Gold rather than a Silver pledge. We can tell our employers that we are simply not prepared to fly when the reasons for travel are very rarely more important than saving the biosphere on which our lives depend. And videoconferencing can provide the realistic alternative.

And his reason for taking a pledge. . . .

“I work on the railways in this country, so I get a good deal in Europe. Also, I love cycling. So if I can’t make this commitment, who can? This is a renewed pledge. I’ve already gone 22 months without flying and it’s not stopped me having some classic holidays. I’ve cycled the length of the Pyrenees, round the Ring of Kerry and all over the place in England, not to mention other trips to Switzerland and Paris. 2008 is taking me to Prague and the Italian Riviera, plus I will be taking on Wainwright’s classic Coast to Coast walk. All this will be every bit as exhilerating and stimulating as any destination I might fly to. It’s really no hardship. If people stopped flying so much, they would be surprised at what was within much easier reach of home.”

As a long time fan of overland travel I always choose destinations I can travel to by boat and train for my annual vacation.

For my 2007 trip I decided to visit Poland and Berlin, places I have never been to before and was eager to explore. Travelling from Edinburgh to Poland without resorting to a budget airline is actually surprisingly easy.

My Journey started in Edinburgh Waverley at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon in July. The GNER train bound for London King’s Cross speeds you south rapidly and hugs the dramatic East Coast for the first couple of hours of the journey, giving wonderful views of the cliffs and small fishing vessels plying their trade.

Very soon I arrived at Peterborough where I boarded a small local diesel train to Harwich Parkeston Quay via Manningtree. The flat Fenland landscape that rolls by on this part of the journey providing an interesting contrast to the earlier dramatic Border scenery. The line here has many old stations and Victorian railway infrastructure still in place and gives the traveller the impression of stepping back in time. Just after 10pm I arrived at Harwich where I boarded the ultra-modern Stena Hollandica for my overnight passage to the Netherlands. I find ferry travel to be a highly civilised and enjoyable experience. New boats are fitted out more like travelling Hotels with tastefully decorated en-suite cabins, a choice of good quality restaurants and bars, and none of the dodgy disco’s and rowdy cheap reclining seat passengers that were so ubiquitous in the 1980’s. Modern stabilisers and the shear physical size of the Vessels also mean that there is little chance of sea-sickness, something which I used to suffer from badly. I was already asleep by 11:30pm, so didn’t notice us leaving Harwich and slipping off into the North Sea at the dead of night.

The 7:30am arrival time into Hoek Van Holland coupled with the very slick disembarkation procedure, which allows you to walk straight off the ferry and onto the awaiting train, meant that I was able to arrive in Amsterdam with plenty of time to catch IC-143: the 10:57 Amsterdam to Szczecin. This is a great train which takes you direct from Holland to Poland. The train has a buffet car and is formed of good quality German IC stock so is spacious and comfortable. It is also a fascinating journey, passing through Wolfsburg with the massive VW factory clearly visible from the train, and the former East Germany and Berlin. There is a fair amount of Cold War infrastructure still visible from the train for the budding historian to ponder over.

Arriving into Szczecin at 7:40pm allows you to make various connections with overnight trains to take you further east. Alternatively you can do as I did and spend the night at Szczecin. It is a fairly industrial city but has a small old town in the centre and a good choice of reasonably priced hotels and restaurants. Being somewhat off the tourist trail it is also a good gateway to Poland for the independent and budget conscious traveller.

The next morning I had allowed myself a leisurely start and time for a stroll around Szczecin before catching R-81112, the 10:34 to Gdsank. The slower Polish pace of life was immediately apparent as we set off, with the familiar clickety-click of the unjointed rails providing a relaxing soundtrack to the unspoilt countryside of northwest Poland.

I was using the excellent PKP First Class 7 day all lines rover. This ticket allows unlimited travel within Poland for 7 days and lets you board all reservation obligatory services without a reservation. If you like to be sure of a seat you can also reserve seats free of charge upon showing the pass at any station. The pass costs 380zl (around £77) and so is fantastic value for money. It can be purchased at all major Polish stations. Alternatively you can buy one online at PolRail. It will cost you a little more (440zl) but they will also reserve any seats you require free of charge. I used this method which was very stress free and meant that I started my trip with all my reservations and railpass pre-booked. It is especially useful if you do not speak Polish as booking clerks there are unlikely to speak English. It also means you do not have to queue at ticket offices whilst on holiday. The pass is also available in 1 month versions and also for 2nd class travel. Pay the extra for 1st class if you can as 2nd class can get very overcrowded. The Polrail site is run by Jeffrey Dobek and is a very useful resource if you are planning a rail trip to Poland. The other website I would strongly recommend using for research is the excellent The Man in Seat61 run by Mark Smith.

I arrived into Gdansk at 3:45pm and after checking into my Hotel started to explore this fascinating city. It has a wonderful and very big old town and quayside, open and covered markets and also a modern shopping area too. From the quayside you can take boat trips around the shipyards, a popular choice for Polish visitors as these were the birthplace of the solidarity movement. There is still much shipbuilding in evidence and industrial shunting locomotives in use.

After a very interesting 2 days in Gdansk I took an early morning train (IC-5302) to Warsaw where I spent a few hours wandering around the Palace of Culture before catching EX-1613, the 2.25pm to Wroclaw.

Train travel in Poland is very sociable and I often found fellow travellers were interested to know about my trip (usually communication was via my English/Polish Phrasebook!) and asked me if I liked Poland. The Poles are very generous people and often share food and drink with the other passengers in their compartment. After I noticed this on my first day in Poland I generally packed a few extra snacks so I could offer them around – a good ice-breaker and a sure-fire way of blending in with the locals.

I stayed in the old square at Wroclaw, as in many Polish towns a well preserved reminder of the traditional architecture of the county. The more forbidding communist era high rise flats synonymous with the former Warsaw Pact countries are mostly seen on the outskirts of the larger towns.

My next destination was Krakow and I took a mid-morning train there from Wroclaw. We passed a long line of old rusting steam engines at one station, a poignant reminder of times past.

Krakow is one of the most popular destinations in Poland and has more than its fair share of package tourists and stag parties searching out cheap beer and strip clubs. Fortunately they confine themselves to the main square and surrounding side streets so if you explore a little further afield you can get a real feel for the place. A stroll around the former Ghetto gives an all too real reminder of the cities turbulent past, and a visit to Nowa Huta, a model communist town dominated by an enormous steelworks and featuring imposing neo-classical concrete architecture lets you see a different side to the country.

I spent a few days in Krakow but as there is so much to see I feel a longer repeat trip will be necessary to do the place justice.

My final destination in Poland was Poznan and I took P-38100, the 10:45 from Krakow there on a busy summer Saturday. It turned out to be another very sociable journey and the trip passed by very quickly. After arriving at Poznan I quickly sought out Brovaria, a brew pub with almost cult status where they have food dishes specifically matched to their beers. It didn’t disappoint and provided a suitably civilised end to the day. The next morning I spent more time exploring the centre of Poznan and visiting the Museum of Instruments.

In the afternoon I took a local train to Wolsztyn. Wolsztyn is a mecca for railfans as it is the last operational steam depot is Poland. Unfortunately for me they close in July and August so after a look around the depot I took a train back to Poznan vowing to return and resolving to boost my spirits with a few more beers at Brovaria.

Getting to Berlin from Poznan is very easy as EC-46, the flagship Warsaw Berlin express stops there. I took the 10:23 departure and arrived into Berlin in plenty of time for lunch at 13:16. Berlin is another fascinating city and there is not enough space here to list the things I saw during my few days there suffice to say that you could easily occupy yourself for 2 weeks in the city. I must mention the technical museum though as it doesn’t seem to get a listing in many travel guides but is one of the biggest and best museums I have ever seen and needs 2 days if you are to do it justice. Berlin is full of open-air bars and cafes and is a very lively place to visit.

My return route to Edinburgh involved re-tracing my steps to Amsterdam from Berlin on IC-144 which leaves at 08:46 and arrived into Amsterdam at 15:01. This gives you time to have a couple of hours exploring Amsterdam before catching the train back to Hoek van Holland. You can board the ferry a few hours before departure and enjoy an excellent dinner and a nightcap before retiring to your cabin for the night.

The next day the trip back to Edinburgh was made in good time and by 2:30pm I was back in the capital of Scotland which was by now bustling with visitors to the Edinburgh Festival.

I cannot overstate the advantages to a trip like this. As well as not contributing to the coffers of the pollution creating airlines the overland traveller gets the opportunity to see things and meet people along the way that would be impossible if they fly. Looking out of my cabin window to see the coastline of Holland approaching on my first morning, passing through picturesque old Polish stations and sharing some chocolate and chat with fellow passengers between Krakow and Poznan are just some of the many memories that will make my overland trip special.

So, the next time you plan a holiday, investigate how you can make the trip by boat and train and then think of the many experiences that lie in front of you…..