Cycling UK Forum

simonhill wrote:There are plenty of things you can't experience in the UK. As an academically trained geographer and geologist, travelling has enabled me to see and experience many things not available here.

Just a few: glaciers, earthquakes, tropical cyclones, volcanoes, etc, etc. Not to mention flora, fauna and different people.

I love where I live, but there's a real thrill to being in an earthquake that it's hard to replicate in Essex.

well you are a "Mary Beard" with inside knowledge. Though don't know what sort of person wants to experience an earthquake. I bet also like to be at the head of a volcano magma/lava flow walking just fast enough to be ahead of it

What tv can't give you is the emotional impact, one from the uk is pen hill, you fly down a fast decent and suddenly the Somerset levels open up with Glastonbury tor rising up like a magical landlocked island, quite literally made me gasp and pull over to drink in the incredible site.

Traveling into Venice gives you the insight to how it sits in its surroundings something you cant get from the tv, the journey is often as important as the destination, the smells, the people along the way, the line in the Map is now alive and vivid and a part of the whole experience.

I used to do winter hillwalker (mountaineering perhaps) with a retired public school teacher. He used to head off climbing in remote places where you got there, bought a mule or donkey and headed off to explore new peaks for 6 weeks (plus best part of a week either side to get there and return home).

He got into an explore clique that included some of the biggest names in.remote area exploration. He did say some names which I knew about but I can't remember now who they were. Probably Tillman and similar types. Even in his retirement he was widely known. An honorary lifetime member of pretty much any and every exploration, climbing and mountaineering group, club, association and body relevant to being in.the great.outdoors.

He's the kind of guy or friend of the kind of guy DaveP used to read about. He must have seen value in.what he did and that it was a big deal to him. I bet the Torres del Paine hills probably has a lot of new routes with him as first accent. Real white map exploration too.

A great guy who probably made a great teacher too. He certainly was great with novice climbers. His stories were fascinating. If your travelling is even half as good as his then it's a big deal indeed. Personally I find I get plenty of pleasure from travelling nearer to home as much as overseas.

For me, this post ranks as 'right up there' on the oddest post scale. NOTHING can beat realtime, 5-sense-experience, cultural exposure and being away from 'home' and routine. For those of us with a 6th sense, then all the better. [emoji89]

The World has finally gone truly mad if society thinks you can experience life through the screen of a telly.

Can you tell I don't own one? MickF nicked mine [emoji6]

What's the big deal about travelling abroad?

It's not a bit deal, but it's fun and interesting.

Heltor Chasca wrote:For me, this post ranks as 'right up there' on the oddest post scale. NOTHING can beat realtime, 5-sense-experience, cultural exposure and being away from 'home' and routine. For those of us with a 6th sense, then all the better. [emoji89]

The World has finally gone truly mad if society thinks you can experience life through the screen of a telly.

Can you tell I don't own one? MickF nicked mine [emoji6]

I know what you mean. The reality of being in a place, with the breeze on your face, the scents from the vegetation and the sounds from wildlife and cascading water is not well represented by a TV.

But with all the concern about the damage done by air travel (or any other excessive travel) I think it is right to ask whether you need to venture to far flung parts of the planet to make your life complete. Can't you have a rich life without venturing so far, and so often? I think the admittedly extreme example of people who seem happy and fulfilled in spite of never having gone far from home shows that it is possible to avoid long distance travel and still have a good life.

I put this forward because it is my way of looking at it, and not because I want to preach at anyone. You will all make up your own minds, of course.

(My summer holiday will be spent in the Midlands, burning half a ton of diesel (!!!!) by touring on a narrowboat. Mmmm.....)

people who seem happy and fulfilled in spite of never having gone far from home shows that it is possible to avoid long distance travel and still have a good life.

I thought the now accepted example of happiness is the amount of friends and or family around you. Why should travel equate with happiness? My long lived grandparents who never went anywhere, had large families on the doorstep. I can remember being in their company and often seeing them sliding down the wall with laughter at something or other. I doubt they ever thought about being happy. They just probably were. I enjoy the people I meet when travelling. The views at times are great but I remember the people more. There again I meet just as interesting people on a local club run as I do when I travel further afield.

Well I've been around a bit with and without a bike and can safely say I'm totally fed up with travelling especially when it involves long haul flying. If we go back to Scotland to live I reckon I'll never set foot outside the UK again.
Britain is a wonderful place.

I've let my passport lapse so guess I'm going nowhere other than the UK soon. I'm happy with that. There's so much to see here still. That's not to say I don't appreciate travel outside the UK it's just time, money, family, work, etc all seem to mean holidays in the UK.

As far as this goes I still feel like I'm traveling, experiencing new things even if it's just the UK. Cornwall and Devon are totally different to Cumbria. I get something positive from visiting both. BTW I live just over the border from Cumbria so not much traveling needed there. I still get that holiday feeling when camping less that an hour from home.

I like to cycle mainland europe.a fraction of the roadside litter.no abuse from motorists.fantastic cycle routes compared to this country.