Dublin is getting greener, with the launch of its new city-wide bike rental scheme 13 August 2009. Dublin Bikes, or DB’s, are particularly aimed at the city’s gas guzzling commuters, who have brought Dublin’s streets to a virtual standstill. There will now be 450 bikes available at 40 locations around the city, which will be free to rent for the first half hour, and then minimal charge after that. You can collect and deposit your bike at any station of your choice, and with no more than 400 metres between stations, you won’t be stuck for choice. Visitors to the city are welcome to use the bikes too, of course. All you need to do is register to use the system (you have to pay a deposit in order to get your access PIN for bike usage) at www.dublinbikes.ie and join Dubliners on the banks of the River Liffey, down to the shores of DublinBay, and along the city’s canal. This is another great eco-initiative in Ireland, with Dublin joining the cities of Paris, Lyon, Vienna and Montreal in providing cheap, accessible bikes for residents and visitors.
New Green Travel Guide from The International Ecotourism Society
The latest Green Travel Guide has just been launched by The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), and the great news is that it is fully downloadable, in clear and concise format. With ovth 185 pages of fyll colour text and photos of people, organisations and destinations which are committed to ecotourism, this book is a wealth of information. It is also free to download – Thank you and well done TIES. Click here to download and for more information on The International Ecotourism Society, see www.ecotourism.org
Paddle for the planet
If you are refusing to hang up your wetsuit for another year, and squeeze just one more weekend of frivolity out of these rapidly shortening days, Lough Erne in Fermanagh is calling. Regular readers will know that I am a Fermanaghphile. The cluster of exemplary responsible tourism businesses in this area is inspiring, to say the least. At their core is The Share Holiday Village in Lisnaskea, Ireland’s largest residential adventure centre, and host of the second annual Erne Canoe Rally, 26 and 27 September.
This year it aims to spread the word through the most peaceful of watersports, canoeing, that we all need to act against global warming. No better place than Share Holiday Village to promote this message. The first thing you see on arrival is their impressive array of three giant windmills, towering over Upper Lough Erne, where Share nestles into the shoreline. The wind turbines supply electricity to the holiday village, but even more impressive, are the three wood pellet boilers which heat the chalets, swimming pool and arts arena. Combined with the reed bed system and four solar water heating systems, it is not surprising that Share is often the focus of educational visits. Like the Erne Canoe Rally against global warming, its general ethos is to ‘share’ their green message in a fun, inspiring and accessible way. By joining hundreds of other canoeists in school, work, friends or family teams, you too can help spread the green word, and have a great weekend away at the same time.
Not surprisingly of Share, this rally is a not-for-profit, canoeing/kayaking event open to all abilities, most ages (minimum age 8), and income groups. The idea is that paddlers must choose and compete in the same boat across all disciplines, which include a long-distance paddle, slalom, sprint and obstacle race. There is even a competitive fancy dress element in the theme of ‘Comic Book Characters’. Teams must comprise of three members, three kayaks or one open canoe and two kayaks. Open canoes must have two team members in each boat and individuals can compete on their own or as part of a team.
This weekend is a bargain, with Share offering participants camping facilities, an evening meal, rescue cover, changing facilities, event entry, prizes and party for £35 sterling per adult and £20 for Under 18’s, students and the unemployed. You will need to bring your own camping gear, safety equipment such as helmets and buoyancy aids, and canoes or kayaks if possible, or groups can book one of their chalets. There is a limited number of canoes available to hire, reserved on a first come first served basis, but best to bring your own. For more details see www.sharevillage.org, or give them a ring as soon as possible on 44-(0)-28 6772 2122. There will also be a number of activities available for visitors who want to stay dry and just cheer from the shoreline, including Leave No Trace environmental awareness sessions, renewable energy demonstrations and introductory bushcraft skills on Share’s own island of Trannish.
If you want to get away from the canoeing crowds at night, you could register for the event, but stay at one of my other favourite Fermanagh hideouts which also offer canoes to visitors, such as at the tipi on Orchard Acre Farm at Irvinestown, (www.orchardacrefarm.com), or at one of the holiday cottages at Corralea Activity Centre on nearby Lough Macnean in Belcoo, County Fermanagh (www.activityireland.com). They don’t have canoes, but they do have a shore, so you could put your own boat straight into the water at Little Crom Cottages, located on the shores of Upper Lough Erne at Newtownbutler, www.littlecromcottages.com), or at Rushin Caravan Park at nearby Lough Macnean, which links into the Erne Canoe Trail via the faster flowing River Arney (a Grade 1 Canoe Trail). You could also hire a canoe from my favourite Fermanagh farmer, turned ecotourism manager, Paddy Jones who runs Boho Eco Hire, at Boho, County Fermanagh (Tel: 00-44- (0)7525-163213). Like I said you are spoilt for choice in this Northwest haven, and if you aren’t a ‘Fermanaghphile’ already, you are guaranteed to come back from this weekend a fervent fan. For more information on canoeing in Fermanagh and its award-winning Lough Erne Canoe Trail, see www.canoeni.com.
For women with a sense of adventure
Having an adventure on holiday is such a subjective notion. The skydivers who recently completed the first ever parachute jump over Mount Everest spent 15 years planning and $24000 each to get their adventure kicks. Personally, I am a bit less extreme. My first big travel adventure was in my early twenties, when I went backpacking alone to Australia, and had the time of my life. Just discovering the joys of solitude was an adventure in itself. And I didn’t even go near a bungy rope. Rainforests yes, shark cage diving, no thanks mate. But that’s just me, for whom, now pushing middle age, just getting away from the children for a weekend is an adventure. Here are some of my favourites for all those non-skydiving adventurous women out there:
1. Coasteering is not some sort of pub game you play with beer mats on a girls’ night out. But it does involve wearing a lot of rubber, and it is about as daring as I get these days. Decked from head to toe in the thickest wetsuits possible, plus helmets and buoyancy aids, coasteering is, basically, all about chucking yourself into deep water from rocky heights. No ropes, just scrambling up rock faces, with the supervision of qualified adventure instructors, and then jump. And swim. Climb up somewhere else, jump in again, and swim. Or, as one instructor put it, “all those things your mother wouldn’t let you do in the sea when you were a child”. This has to be one of the best ways to get to know the UK’s only coastal National Park, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, in South Wales. Warm up in an eco-lodge at the end of the day, lap up homemade food, plenty of local ale, and head out for a bit of cave swimming the next day. It all happens so close to Ireland, you could almost coasteer your way there, just 9kms from Fishguard ferry port, with daily sailings from Rosslare (see www.stenaline.co.uk).
www.preseliventure.co.uk, Tel: + 44 (0) 1348 837709, Preseli Venture, Parcynole Fach,
Mathry, Pembrokeshire, SA62 5HN, UK. 2 day coasteering weekends from £189 sterling, including two nights’ accommodation at the Preseli Venture Eco Adventure Lodge, all meals, two half day coasteers and a half day hike, equipment and qualified instruction.
2. Back on much drier land, weaving rugs with women from the Berber tribes on the Plains of Marrakech is one of the most adventurous holidays I have ever taken. It is a women only holiday, due to the cultural 
sensitivities of working closely with Muslim women. But there is nothing of the ‘knitting circle’ about this break, where you start off your trip shopping with a local guide in Marrakech. Then head up to the weavers in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains for weaving, eating fine local food, and chatting about different lifestyles and life experiences during the day, and out to the coastal fishing port of Essaouira at nighttime. Unlike other girly trips to, say New York, the only seabreezes you’ll get on this one are real ones off the Atlantic. But you are guaranteed to laugh just as much, learn so much more and take the adventure of a lifetime (and small rug) away with you. This company also offers cooking and painting holidays in Morocco.
www.ingridwagner.com, Tel: +44 (0)1830 540 047 / +44 (0)191 565 3627, Ingrid Wagner Real World Journeys, Studio 5, The Stone Barn, Kirkharle Courtyard, Kirkharle, Northumberland, NE19 2PE, UK, Eight day weaving holiday €1196 approx (£925) including flights from UK.
3. The multi-taskers among us will just love Delphi Mountain Resort in Connemara. They have so many activities on offer, you need a spreadsheet to prepare your trip. Get down and dirty during the day, as instructors guide you up mountains, teach you to take on the Atlantic surf, have you jumping off the pier to swim to your kayak (all wetsuits provided), or simply send you off on a quiet bike ride across the Delphi Valley. Perfect for a hen party, as you can chill out at their natural spa afterwards, with seaweed baths and hydrotherapy pool, and eat for Ireland in their excellent restaurant afterwards. Choose from luxury four-star accommodation, or budget bunk rooms. If you get out there and make the most of every activity they lay on for you, all you will want to do is fall into bed at the end of the day anyway. Delphi is quite simply divine, rain or shine.Delphi Mountain Resort, Leenane, Connemara, County Galway. Rooms from €40-€300 per night including breakfast. Mid-week spa breaks from €99 per person per night for luxury room and breakfast, use of thermal suite and free seaweed bath. Activities from €25.
www.delphimountainresort.com, Tel: +353 (0) 95 42223,
4. Jim Kennedy of Atlantic Sea Kayaking takes people kayaking off the Atlantic Coast off West Cork in summer, and then to Mexico’s Baja Peninsula in Winter. You still have time to sample West Cork, where Jim works closely with one of the Ireland’s leading Whale Watching companies, Whale Watch West Cork, well into winter. Swap Atlantic for Pacific for a January boost, where you not only learn all the kayaking skills you need, but also snorkel, hike, fish, visit local fishing villages, go whale-watching and discover mangroves by kayak. Oh, and just to add to the adventure, you camp on the Island of Espiritu Santo, an uninhabited volcanic Island about 5 miles from the mainland, the perfect base for paddling from one white sandy beach to another.
www.atlanticseakayaking.com, Tel: +353 (0) 28 210 58, Atlantic Sea Kayaking, The Abbey, Skibbereen, West Cork. Half-day kayaking trips in West Cork from €50 per person. 12-day Mexico kayaking trip (for beginners and more advanced) from €1450 per person sharing, not including flights.
5. If you associate Crete with drunken hen nights and all night clubbing, think again. Crete is also famous among geologists and conservationists for its superb gorges, leading down to empty beaches and aquamarine waters. Especially if you travel out of hen season. In April and May, it is a pure flower fest, as botanists and nature lovers flock from all around the world to see the Crete burst to life with abundant wild and rare flowers. You can travel with Pure Crete, who has been bringing walkers and flower lovers here for over twenty years. Staying in locally-owned villas, you will be guided across the high plains, to the snowcapped peaks of the White Mountains, down through the Imbros Gorge, past orchid meadows at Spili, to one of many sandy coves. Experts Dr. Stephen Waters and Clive Daws tell you all you need to know about the 150 endemic species of flowers and orchids, as you walk from one side of Crete to another, watching it come alive with colour. www.purecrete.com, Tel: +44 (0) 845 070 1571 Pure Crete, Bolney Place, Cowfold Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, RH17 5QT, UK. Crete in Bloom package €920 approx (£715) including accommodation, air fare from UK (including Belfast), expert guides and excursions.
6. I found that climbing to the top of a sixty foot oak tree was the best natural way to deal with an ever-growing fear of heights. Recreational tree climbing is big in US, but still pretty unheard of in this part of the world. 
I loved it; the solace at the top of an ancient oak is like nothing else, not to mention the child-like glee at having got yourself up there. Safely harnessed and helmeted, you are carefully guided up by arborist Paul McCathie, using the usual climbing techniques of ropes and carabiner clips. He is on the Isle of Wight, one of the UK’s most underrated beauty spots. The Mighty Oak Tree Climbing Company in Cornwall take it one step further and lets you sleep up there, using tree boats, specially-designed four cornered hammocks safely suspended up in the branches. An early morning breakfast is sent up to you as you swing serenely to the sound of the Cornish dawn chorus, www.mighty-oak.co.uk, 00-44 (0) 1983 563 573. 2.5 hour session €45 approx (£35.00) for adults, €32 approx. (£25.00) for children aged 8-16.
www.mighty-oak.co.uk, Tel: +44 (0) 7890 698 651. Prices for tree camping from €180 approx(£140) per person for groups of 2-5 climbers, including instruction, climbing, equipment, dinner, and breakfast.
www.goodleaf.co.uk, Tel: 00-44-0797 0033 209
7. You won’t get much more adventurous than some of the women who head off to volunteer for a holiday. Most volunteering organisations find that the majority of their clients are women. It feels like a safe way to travel alone, for example, as you plan your trip in advance with an agency, which then guides you and offers support while you are abroad. You can travel the world cheaply by volunteering through WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Wwoofers stay with farming families, offering a maximum of five hours a day of labour, while your hosts provide you with clean warm accommodation and all your food. If you want to make a more generous contribution to communities in need of help in the developing world, you could spend an extended trip volunteering abroad. One of the most highly-regarded ethical volunteering companies, People and Places, set up by, yes, two women, allocate you to one of their many life-changing projects, according to your skills and interests, in Africa, India or Indonesia. For further information on volunteering, see also www.comhlamh.orgTel +44 (0) 8700 460 479 www.wwoof.org.
www.travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk,
8. Riding out on the ranch is no longer the macho City Slickers holiday that it used to be. Celebrity ranchers like Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts have turned the traditional huntin’-fishin’-shootin’ ranching image into something not only a bit sexier but also more sustainable. Take a break on a ranch in the America’s ‘Wild West, and you can not only improve your riding skills, drive herds out to the prairies or do sunset cattle roundups, or but also go hikin’- bikin’ and raftin’ as well as swimmin’ and hot tubbin’. You don’t have to ride a horse like Nicole either, as they welcome beginners too.UK airports, full board, accommodation and activities).
www.ranchrider.com, Tel: +44 (0) 1509 618811.7 nights from £1395 (approx € 1640, including flights from many
9. If dancing in the church hall is the nearest you have got to learning Salsa, then how about taking on the real thing in Havana, Cuba, where Salsa is the national dance, and the cha-cha-cha still oozes from every brick of the city’s famous pastel coloured buildings. There is yoga in the morning, dancing in the afternoon, and excursions to see the real thing in the evenings, as well talks and outings to teach you more about this fascinating country’s culture and history. Ideal for women traveling alone, as you are allocated a local dance partner during your afternoon dance sessions.
www.responsibletravel.com, Tel: 44 (0)1273 600030 10 days from £895 (approx. €1051) excluding flights, but including shared accommodation, breakfast, Salsa dance classes with local dance partner, history talks and excursions
10. Need a bit of cryotherapy? Who doesn’t from time to time? You need to the Aquacity Resort in Poprad, Slovakia, where cryotherapy is the completely mad act of entering a room at -120˚C, wearing nothing but woolen shorts, mittens, socks, a headband to protect your ears, and a paper mask (not really a romantic break, then), walking around for two minutes, and then going back into the warmth of a gym for a vigorous warm-up. The Slovakians call this “kick starting the body into self-healing and regeneration”. Or therapy to make you cry, more like it. If you survive this adventure, you can spend the rest of your stay enjoying the biggest geothermally heated waterpark you will ever see, heated by nature through all the seasons. Or warm up in one of many scented steam rooms, followed by a quick cool down in cold fountains. This aqua-haven is powered by a natural geothermal spring, at the foot of the High Tatras Mountain Range, which provides the resort’s dramatic backdrop. Choose from 3 and 4 star onsite hotel accomodation, or self-catering apartments.
www.aquacityresort.com, + 421 52 7851 111, AquaCity Poprad, Sportova 1397/1, 058 01 Poprad, Slovak Republic, to choose hotel, or book a package with www.dreamslovakia.sk, with four nights’ accomodation at Aquacity’s 3-star hotel, breakfast and dinner, and full use of the water facilities, including one Cryotherapy session, from €420 pp, flights not included.
(This article was first published in The Irish Times, 08 August 2009)