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Archive for October, 2010

Bus-Pass Britain Competition

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 25 October 2010

'That's made my day that 'as'

Britain’s new austerity has not meant the end of the road for the over sixties’ universal bus pass.  In 2011 Bradt Travel Guides will publish Bus-Pass Britain, a compendium of the country’s best-loved bus routes.  In order to narrow down the myriad possible journeys, a competition has been launched inviting entrants to suggest their personal favourites.  Those whose suggestions are selected will earn the opportunity to write up their road trip for publication in the book!

Bradt’s very own Inspector Blakey is looking for long and short journeys, as well as a good regional variety across England, Scotland and Wales.  Entrants are encouraged to mention colourful features along their preferred route: a favourite pub or café, a rewarding walk or a site of historical interest.  The deadline for submissions is midnight on 30th November 2010.  Winning entrants will be contacted by the end of December and commissioned to write an entry in Bradt’s forthcoming guide.

The simplest way to enter is by completing the online application form.    Entries may also be submitted by post (address below).  Please ensure postal entries are double spaced, and include: (1) name and telephone number; (2) the bus number and company; (3) the start point and finish point of the route, including county; (4) the duration of the journey and frequency of the service; (5) a description – in no more than 250 words – of what makes the chosen route one of Britain’s best.

The competition is open to anyone, including those professionally associated with Bradt Travel Guides. Each entry is limited to 250 words.  No limit to the number of entries per person.  (Note for online entries: each entry must be fully completed before making a subsequent entry.)  Entries must not have been published elsewhere.

Entries may be submitted online at http://www.bradtguides.com/buspassbritain or by post to Bus-Pass Britain Competition, Bradt Travel Guides, 23 High Street, Chalfont St Peter, Bucks, SL9 9QE.
Postal entries cannot be returned.

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Northern Lights – A practical travel guide

Posted by Nick Redmayne on 25 October 2010

No, not the lights that illuminate the distant horizon as you join the M1 at Elephant and Castle… The ‘northern lights’ is an atmospheric phenomenon that for generations has earned nocturnal northern-sky watchers a crick in the neck and frost-bitten toes. Most recently, it caused an enraptured Joanna Lumley to collapse in the snow.

Written by Bradt’s own snow queen, Polly Evans, Northern Lights precedes a maximum in the 11-year sunspot cycle – which is an event commensurate with increased auroral displays.  There are of course plenty of scientific texts that deconstruct the northern lights to nought but subatomic plasma.  However, these worthy tomes blind the casual observer to the sheer wonder of the spectacle and offer little in the way of practical travel advice.  In Northern Lights Bradt has published the first guidebook answering those how, what, where and when questions necessarily posed by leisure travellers before heading off to the great white north in search of their own patch of excited upper atmosphere.  In an excerpt from the book’s introduction, Polly Evans captures the elemental essence of the experience, the reason why travellers continue to be drawn to the dark skies and freezing temperatures of northern latitudes.

‘I’d climbed to the top of a small hill, set up my tripod, and begun to take photographs.  The pictures were beyond my photographic dreams – but I could only snap one small segment of sky, then another, and I couldn’t record the wild energy of the aurora as it tumbled across the sky.  And so I stopped pressing the button.  Instead I lay down on my back in the snow, and allowed myself to be consumed by the show overhead.  It lasted just 10 or 15 minutes but provided perhaps the most intense experience of beauty that I have ever known.’ – Polly Evans, Northern Lights.

Polly Evans is an award-winning journalist and writer.  She’s the author of Bradt’s Yukon, as well as five narrative travel books, the most recent of which, Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman, tells of her learning to drive sled dogs in northern Canada.  When she’s not on the road, Polly lives in Berkshire, where she works as a teacher at Wellington College.

Title: Northern Lights
Author: Polly Evans
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides
Publication: October 2010
Price: £6.99
ISBN: 978 1 84162 337 5

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