My guide to Orkney is available to buy from www.bradtguides.com/orkney and all good bookshops Hoy is the first Orkney island many visitors see as they sail from the UK mainland and it’s the wildest and most rugged of them all, […]
Apr 132020
Jan 152020
Mid January and daylight is returning. On the Isle of Wight this light seems to begin earlier and end later than anywhere else in the UK. Even in deepest winter it never seems to go really away. And the nautical […]
Dec 012019
The gestation period of a rhino is around 16 months, which happens to be the same time it took for my first guidebook, Outer Hebrides, The Western Isles from Lewis to Barra, to be ‘born’. I was given the green light […]
Apr 262018
It had turned into a thoroughly enjoyable day in the Shropshire Hills. When our party – four parents, four children – had set off from the Bog car park up the western flank of the Stiperstones a low mist threatened […]
Mar 162017
Step aboard the Highland Chieftain from Edinburgh, then ride the ferry far out to the Outer Hebrides, a string of islands home to dunes, birds and solitude. We’re on the northernmost tip of the island of Lewis, which in turn […]
Mar 162017
This far-flung chain of islands will richly reward your effort to reach them, not least with some wonderful food. There are few better places on the planet to eat fish and chips than on South Uist, sat by still, peaty […]
Mar 162017
Mark Rowe has to choose between a salmon and some beloved old walking boots if he’s to catch a plane home in time to see his children. The sun was shining and, like a theatre curtain drawing aside to reveal […]
Mar 162017
It may be best known for its unconventional landing strip, but strolling around the Scottish isle reveals a catalogue of curiosities. There are some places you expect to see an aircraft – say, for argument’s sake, on an airport runway, […]
Mar 162017
It had turned into a thoroughly enjoyable day in the Shropshire Hills. When our party – four parents, four children – had set off from the Bog car park up the western flank of the Stiperstones a low mist threatened […]
Feb 082014
Why do we say hello to people we meet in the countryside, but not in the towns and cities where most of us live? In our everyday lives, travelling to and from work, squeezed into trains and buses, we never […]
Jan 292014
Following the Norwegian government’s decision to pull the plug on the only full-scale carbon capture and storage trial in Europe, questions are being asked about the technology’s future. Mark Rowe reports. The debate over just where we’ll get our energy […]
Jan 292014
From Richmond in North Yorkshire, Mark Rowe traces a fascinating trail beside the fastest-flowing river in England. When the rain never stops, and the fields are flooded, a swollen river is a stirring example of nature in fifth gear. Cue […]
Jan 102013
The wind may be whipping up a storm, but Mark Rowe is invigorated by the raw beauty of the North Devon coast. The shipping forecast is not exactly uplifting as I park in the village of Mortehoe in North Devon. […]
Jan 102013
In my series of walks on great autumn walks on National Trust properties I explored the moorland landscape of Kinder Scout in Derbyshire…. Kinder Scout has long been a daunting place for walkers. There’s no easy way to scale the […]
May 012012
Criss-cross between England and Scotland on this scenic Northumberland walk, says Mark Rowe. An innocuous grassy lane, no more than three metres wide, makes for one of the world’s sleepiest borders. You’ll find it, overlooked by hazel trees and set […]
Jan 262012
Denmark’s capital has another sleek, chic place to sleep. This new venue has big ideas, even if some rooms are tiny. First impressions of Ibsens Hotel were mixed. After a long train journey, we arrived expecting to find a newly […]
Jan 062012
The Nazca lines, among the world’s most iconic and enigmatic attractions, risk being overwhelmed by tourism, according to global heritage experts. Each year, tens of thousands of tourists visit the lines in southern Peru, which were drawn between 500BC and […]
Dec 232011
We currently have three Super Challenge walks in Wales. Mark Rowe, a seasoned travel journalist, tackled the Super Challenge walks and describes them for you. The Gower Penninsula walk saw him walk 39 miles from Crofty on the North coast […]
Dec 232011
As part of its walking festival, the National Trust is launching a suite of two-day walks in National Parks, in countryside cared for by the National Trust. The National Trust chose five National Parks to explore on foot: Exmoor, the […]
Dec 222011
Walk Of The Month: Isle of Wight – Where else can you stumble upon a 65 million-year-old oyster? Mark Rowe takes a step back on the Isle of Wight. As any budding palaeontologist knows, a bucket and spade are handy […]