Smart Traveller

Manchester Airport is situated in Ringway, in the City of Manchester, in the North West of England. It’s the busiest airport outside of London and acts as a gateway to the north of the country.The airport has two runways, three passenger terminals and a freight terminal, and is used for both domestic and international flights. Many international airlines operate flights to Manchester and you can fly to a wide range of destinations from the airport.

Each terminal has shops, cafes and other food outlets, together with airport lounges, baby changing facilities, wireless hot-spots and internet kiosks. Terminals 2 and 3 also have multi-faith prayer rooms.

If you are departing from Manchester and want to leave your car at the airport, you’ll find two long-stay car parks there, one of which serves Terminals 1 and 3 and one of which serves Terminal 2. There are also two short-stay car parks at the airport.

If you are arriving at Manchester Airport, you can book a hire car and pick it up when you land. The airport also has its own integrated transport hub, known as The Station, and you can catch a train or bus to the centre of Manchester or to another destination from here.

The Manchester Airport complex includes a hotel, the Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport, which is situated between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. It has 360 rooms, including standard rooms, business class rooms and suites, and also has a restaurant, a brasserie and a bar. Other facilities at the Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport include a beauty lounge and a health club with an indoor swimming pool.

The complex also includes Manchester Airport’s Aviation Viewing Park, which features three viewing mounds from which you can watch the planes take off and land, and a collection of four historic planes: the front section of a Monarch Airlines DC-10; a restored BEA Hawker Siddeley Trident 3B; the Avro RJX; and Concorde G-BOAC (also known as Alpha Charlie), the second plane in the British Airways’ supersonic Concorde fleet. The Aviation Viewing Park also has an aviation shop and a restaurant.

Manchester Airport is only about 20 minutes’ drive from the centre of Manchester.

British Airways has announced that it is working with the Solena Group to try to set up the first sustainable jet fuel plant in Europe. The plant, which is likely to be sited in East London,  will be used to convert waste that would otherwise have ended up in landfill sites into low-carbon aviation fuel.

British Airways estimates that up to 16 million gallons of low-carbon fuel per year could be produced at the site and is planning to be using the fuel in some of its aircraft by 2014.

In a press release issued by British Airways on 15 February 2010, the airline’s Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, stated:

“This unique partnership with Solena will pave the way for realising our ambitious goal of reducing net carbon emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.  We believe it will lead to the production of a real sustainable alternative to jet kerosene.  We are absolutely determined to reduce our impact on climate change and are proud to lead the way on aviation’s environmental initiatives.”

In a previous post, we took a look at the South West Coastal Path, one of the U.K.’s National Trails. In this post, we’re focusing on another National Trail, The Ridgeway.

The Ridgeway is in southern England and stretches for 87 miles between Overton Hill, near Avebury, to Ivinghoe Beacon. It would take a reasonably fit walker about 7 days to complete the entire trail, but it’s possible to walk shorter sections of it.

You can get to the beginning of the trail using public transport, making it an ideal choice of holiday for anyone concerned about the contribution that carbon emissions from the number of privately owned cars on the road are making to climate change. You can travel from London to Swindon by train and then catch a bus to Avebury. There are also several railway stations near to the end of the trail. If you prefer to travel by car, there are also a number of car parks along the route.

The Ridgeway National Trail website is full of information to help you to plan your trip. It suggests breaking your walk down into the following six stages and provides details of each stage: Overton Hill to Ogbourne St. George; Ogbourne St. George to Sparsholt Firs; Sparsholt Firs to Streatley; Streatley to Watlington; Watlington to Wendover; and Wendover to Ivinghoe Beacon.

The website also provides details of nearby accommodation and includes tips for anyone planning to walk The Ridgeway National Trail. You can also download leaflets about the trail from the site, as well as free guides to shorter walks in the area, such as the Liddington Castle Circular Walk, the White Horse Hill Circular Walk and the Ivinghoe Beacon Circular Walk.

Highlights of The Ridgeway National Trail include: Avebury World Heritage Site, the location of Britain’s largest stone circle; the Uffington White Horse; Whiteleaf Hill; and the Grand Union Canal.