outdoors

Right to Roam – Hiking in the United Kingdom

April 15, 2013 By Jillian

After backpacking around the world, we’ve settled into a more normal travel routine, taking shorter vacations here and there to relax and recharge. That’s not to say the adventure is gone- in fact we’re probably pickier and more selective about the places we visit now given that we have only a short time to get there and explore. Our focus now is to go to places where we can do the activities we love like hiking and camping instead of focusing on places where we can check off a list of must-sees.

High on the list of activity focused vacations is the United Kingdom. Although I spent several weeks there on a teen tour and a few pamper days in England in college during my study abroad semester, my time in the United Kingdom so far really only hit the highlights of each country and a week or so running about London. With all of the big “must see” tourist destinations out of the way, I’m planning to spend my next trip there focused on activities we love like hiking the hills or even better Scotland’s highlands. Why hiking in the United Kingdom? Well, walking, as it is called in the United Kingdom is apparently the most popular outdoor recreation activity in Great Britain, at least according to the Ramblers Association. Government laws protect the right to roam in Scotland in places that walking has been unhindered for more than 20 years and in England and Wales the public has right of way on many routes through private land. That’s pretty cool, especially coming from America where the freedom to roam is often curtailed by signs warning about trespassing.

In England and Wales many of these “right to roam” routes are signposted and you even have the right to camp along the footpaths if you wish. Although there’s a substantial network of these trails, most of the long-distance paths are far from civilization, allowing you to really get away from it all – something that doesn’t generally come to mind when I think of the United Kingdom. The terrain may not be mountainous by most people’s standards, but the fact that you can get up and just start down a footpath and see where it takes you is very inviting.

Apparently challenge walks, or long-distance timed walks are also popular in the United Kingdom. We completed a 100K/24 hour hike a few years ago along the C&O canal in D.C. which was fun, exhausting and definitely the kind of hike that needed to end in massage treatments. Danny did another one in February along the same route that was just 50 miles (just!) and I could see us doing another long-distance hike again. With names like the Lake Wake Walk and the Three Peaks Walk, I think we’re in!

Photo Credit: Photo1 courtesy of flickr user Russell J. Smith, Photo 2 courtesy of flickr user Paul Stevenson, both via a creative commons license.

Travel Below the Chicago Skyline

July 10, 2012 By Jillian

Traveling along Chicago skyline is a bit like checking off the most famous sky scrappers in America. The Willis (Sears) Tower, the John Hancock building… well you get the picture. It may be known as one of the tallest and most diverse skylines in America, but those buildings are only the tip of the iceberg. Chicago at street level is one of the most ethnically diverse and unique cities in America. From Greektown to Little Pakistan on Devon and the Polish Triangle, Chicago’s neighborhoods reflect the city’s immigrant past.

Not unlike New York’s Central Park, Chicagoan’s love their Millennium Park, a huge modern undertaking that helped redesign the Loop neighborhood. A park designed to celebrate the millennium, the space is an open air sculptural museum, music venue and ice skating rink. The Cloud Gate sculpture or “bean” as it is known in Chicago, is the most popular art exhibit in the park. Highly polished stainless steel reflects the skyline, making for a unique perspective of the city and a fun place to make funny faces!

IF YOU GO: Sure the weather in the winter is brutal, but during the summer the city on the lake bursts with energy. Time your visit with some of Chicago’s wonderful neighborhood festivals or the Taste of Chicago to get a feel of the ethnic diversity that makes Chicago special. Concerts at Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion range from gospel to rock and R&B. Check the schedule for free concerts or inexpensive lawn seats. Flights to Chicago arrive to either O’Hare or Midway, both are easily accessible from the city center. The public transportation system in Chicago is decent for the US, so travelers can get by easily without a car.

Photo Credit: Flickr user moaksey via a creative commons license.

Exploring Goreme and Capadoccia

June 27, 2012 By Jillian

Goreme is probably best known as the city from where to explore Capadoccia’s famous rock formations, but there’s actually a lot more to see in and around Goreme than just interesting rock formations. After reading this post, it may be time to look for some last minute flights and go for a long weekend.

The rock is the most unique aspect of the region. Hardened lava, the rock is relatively easy to carve and became the most popular building material in the region. Instead of building up, the local people built in and down. That’s right; they dug into the rock to create expansive cities, monasteries and churches. Monolithic buildings (made from one rock, also called rock hewn) are rather unusual in the world, and there are only a handful of examples of ancient monolithic architecture. We were fortunate enough to see monolithic churches in Lalibela, Ethiopia and in Goreme, Turkey and the city of Petra in Jordan.

The rock hewn churches in Goreme are unique mostly because of the incredible painting and decoration that remains on their walls. They are considered to be some of the best examples of post-iconoclastic Byzantine painting in the world. More than 1,000 churches have been found in the area, some with complete Byzantine wall-paintings, while others, even after restoration are still severely chipped, showing signs of older paintings underneath.

If you go to Goreme:

Take a trip out to see the rock formations or better yet take an air balloon ride at dawn. Then head out to see the underground cities (you can rent a car relatively inexpensively in Goreme or take a tour). The Goreme Open Air Museum, where most of the churches are congregated is a short walk from town. We rented mountain bikes in Goreme and took to the foot paths and canyons in the area, eventually having to hike our bikes out of the canyon in an unpleasant uphill scramble.

Nature Deficit Disorder

June 14, 2011 By Jillian

Is it possible that not spending enough time outside shortens your lifespan? According to author and journalist, Richard Louv, yes. In 2005, he coined the term for his book, Last Child in the Woods in which he argued that modern children spend so much time indoors that the lack of nature results in a wide variety of behavior problems and is partially responsible for their decreasing lifespan.

Even if you aren’t a person that enjoys the outdoors, ponder the question for a moment. Can being inside all the time shorten your lifespan? I know as we traveled around the world a few days in a vibrant and chaotic major city always made us yearn for someplace more peaceful and quiet. Was it our brains reacting to nature or just a personal preference?

There’s plenty of research out there to suggest that children benefit developmentally from outdoor learning experiences and it’s not a far stretch to connect being outdoors with lower risk for childhood obesity and possibly ADD- the squirrels just don’t run away that fast. Another author, Edward Wilson coined the term, biophilia hypothesis, or the instinctive bond humans have with nature. He states that we are the product of biological evolution, that our preferences are the product of evolution- we have plants in our home because they help us survive (we can eat them).

I have friends that declare themselves indoor people and I think they’d be happy to be afflicted with nature deficit disorder. Their declaration never bothered me; I just assumed nature was a personal preference. Sure, I feel a personal connection to nature, but that doesn’t mean you have to have one, or so I thought until I heard about these theories.

Is there such thing as nature deficit disorder? Is the biophilia hypothesis true, or even provable? Louv’s term has never been accepted by medical manuals, and yet it makes sense to me. I believe that my connection to nature helps me lead a healthier and more active life. Then again, I am the product of two outdoor nuts whose idea of vacation involved camping in the woods. Is my connection more than just a product of my environment though? Is it a deeper human connection to the Earth? I’m not so sure.

What are your thoughts? You, our readers, are an incredibly diverse bunch of people from all over the world, so let me ask you- do you believe there is such a thing as nature deficit disorder? What about biophilia hypothesis? Do you feel a connection to nature? Do you seek out green space?

Right to Roam – Hiking in the United Kingdom

Travel Below the Chicago Skyline

Exploring Goreme and Capadoccia

If you go to Goreme:

Nature Deficit Disorder

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