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Adventure

Category: France 🇫🇷 (Page 1 of 2)

Lisbon is this year’s best-value European city

2023.05.14 /

Every year, Post Office Travel Money compares the costs of short breaks in cities across Europe for UK holidaymakers – overall and for specific items like accommodation, meals and cultural attractions.

Our annual City Costs Barometer helps you see upfront which destinations are the best value or most expensive before planning your trip, including how prices have changed in the past year.

  • Best-value cities
    1. Lisbon £224.76
    2. Vilnius £225.01
    3. Krakow £250.91
    4. Athens £262.22
    5. Riga £284.99
    6. Porto £325.30
    7. Zagreb £329.72
    8. Budapest £330.53
    9. Warsaw £330.95
    10. Lille £332.11

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Motorcycles now banned from parts of The Pyrenees

2023.04.23 /

The ban excludes motorcycles, ATVs, quads, buggies, etc., from local roads and trails in the Parque Natural del Alto Pirineo, a national park in the Pyrenees and the largest in Catalonia, Spain.

The Pyrenees mountain range spread across Spain, France, and Andorra. The challenging twisty roads are known attract drivers and riders from around the world who seek challenging roads.

The regulations described in the ‘Action Plan for the declaration of a zone of special protection of acoustic quality in the Alt Pirineu Natural Park’ distinguishes motorcycles, mountain bikes, quads and buggies as ‘particularly noisy’ vehicles, without take into account their type approval or the level of decibels they emit.

The action plan includes the following:

  • Limit the passage of noisy vehicles to certain areas of the ZEPQA, taking into account the regulation of motorized traffic inside the park, restricting access to certain tracks either throughout the year or at certain periods.
  • Restrict motorized access to the entire network of forest trails and paved paths of the ZEPQA of Alt Àneu and Farrera, except the access roads to urban centres, by vehicles considered excessively noisy consisting of all types of vehicles such as motorcycles, quads, ATVs and buggies that are not electric, except those of registered residents, beneficiaries of livestock forest exploitation, public services and those duly authorized by the Alt Pirineo Natural Park and/or the respective local entities.
  • Promote the use of electric vehicles.
  • In addition, there is a specific point dedicated to ‘Carrying out awareness actions specifically aimed at drivers of vehicles that emit more noise: motorcycles, mountain bikes, quads and buggies.’

Read the whole article here.

The most populated countries in the world

2023.04.19 /

On 15 November 2022, the world’s population surpassed 8 billion people.

Earth’s population continues to explode » from 1 billion in 1820 to 2 billion in 1930, to 3 billion in 1960, to 4 billion in 1974, to 5 billion in 1987, to 6 billion in 1999, to 7 billion in 2012, and 8 billion in 2022.

Following are the 50 most populated countries using the latest figures available »

  1. India » 1,425,000,000 (April 2023)
  2. China » 1,413,143,000
  3. United States » 339,665,000
  4. Indonesia » 279,476,000
  5. Pakistan » 247,654,000
  6. Nigeria » 230,843,000
  7. Brazil » 218,690,000
  8. Bangladesh » 167,184,000
  9. Russia » 141,699,000
  10. Mexico » 129,876,000
  11. Japan » 123,719,000
  12. Ethiopia » 116,463,000
  13. Philippines » 116,434,000
  14. Democratic Republic of the Congo » 111,860,000
  15. Egypt » 109,547,000
  16. Vietnam » 104,799,000
  17. Iran » 87,591,000
  18. Germany » 84,220,000
  19. Turkiye » 83,594,000
  20. Thailand » 69,795,000
  21. France » 68,522,000
  22. United Kingdom » 68,139,000
  23. Tanzania » 65,643,000
  24. Italy » 61,022,000
  25. South Africa » 58,048,000
  26. Myanmar » 57,970,000
  27. Kenya » 57,052,000
  28. South Korea » 51,967,000
  29. Colombia » 49,337,000
  30. Sudan » 49,18,000
  31. Uganda » 47,730,000
  32. Spain » 47,223,000
  33. Argentina » 46,622,000
  34. Algeria » 44,758,000
  35. Ukraine » 43,306,000
  36. Iraq » 41,266,000
  37. Afghanistan » 39,232,000
  38. Canada » 38,517,000
  39. Poland » 37,992,000
  40. Morocco » 37,067,000
  41. Angola » 35,981,000
  42. Saudi Arabia » 35,940,000
  43. Malaysia » 34,220,000
  44. Ghana » 33,846,000
  45. Mozambique » 32,514,000
  46. Peru » 32,440,000
  47. Yemen » 31,566,000
  48. Uzbekistan » 31,361,000
  49. Nepal » 30,899,000
  50. Venezuela » 30,518,000

Ursula Martin has spent the last two years walking solo from Ukraine to the most westerly point of Spain. And her journey’s not finished.

2021.06.09 /

Jazz Nobel writing in Outdoors Magic »

Ursula Martin defines herself as an ‘extreme rambler’. And that she certainly is. Between 2014 and 2015, she walked 3,700 miles in and around her homeland of Wales, all whilst undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. Along the way she raised over £12,000 for cancer charities and helped to draw attention to the symptoms of ovarian cancer to thousands of people.

A few years later, Ursula embarked on another trek, hitchhiking from Wales to Eastern Europe to begin a solo walk across the bulk of the continent. Starting in Ukraine, she travelled through the Balkans and into Southern Europe, steadily making her way towards the Atlantic Ocean. All was going well enough until the beginning of 2020, when a roadblock arrived in the form of a global pandemic.

Top 30 countries ranked for adventure (2021)

2021.06.09 /

The US News and World Report has again ranked countries according to how well they break from the norm and fulfill people’s wanderlust and desire for adventure.

The top 30 adventure rankings for 2021 are »

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Changing conditions for visa-free travel to EU for non-EU nationals from December 2022

2021.06.04 /

From December 2022, non-European Union nationals who do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area, will need to request prior authorisation to visit Schengen countries.

You will be able to apply online for authorisation via the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS).

The ETIAS authorisation is not a visa. Nationals of visa liberalisation countries will continue to travel the EU without a visa but will simply be required to obtain a travel authorisation via ETIAS prior to their travel. ETIAS will be a simple, fast and visitor-friendly system, which will, in more than 95% of cases, result in a positive answer within a few minutes.

An ETIAS travel authorisation does not reintroduce visa-like obligations. There is no need to go to a consulate to make an application, no biometric data is collected and significantly less information is gathered than during a visa application procedure. Whereas, as a general rule, a Schengen visa procedure can take up to 15 days, and can in some cases be extended up to 30 or 60 days, the online ETIAS application only takes a few minutes to fill in. The validity will be for a period of three years, significantly longer than the validity of a Schengen visa. An ETIAS authorisation will be valid for an unlimited number of entries.

The ETIAS travel authorisation will be a necessary and small procedural step for all visa-exempt travellers which will allow them to avoid bureaucracy and delays when presenting themselves at the borders. ETIAS will fully respect this visa-free status; facilitate the crossing of the Schengen external border; and allow visa free visitors to fully enjoy their status.

The exact date on which these changes will come into force is not yet clear.

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Film » Frozen Mind

2020.08.08 /

Banff Centre Mountain Film and Book Festival »

Together with his old friend Pierre Hourticq, snowboarder Victor de le Rue tries to write a new story in the iconic mountains near Chamonix. Frozen Mind is not just a freeride lm, it is a story of friendship and a journey of discovery as the two men take unique paths in order to conquer the same objectives.

(France, 2018, 33 min)
Directors: Antoine Frioux, Maxime Moulin
Producers: Antoine Frioux, Victor De Le Rue
Production Company: Ivresse Films

Red Bull via YouTube »

In Frozen Mind, the pro snowboarder Victor de Le Rue is testing the limits of what is possible and challenges himself against unforgiving, ice-covered slopes in Chamonix, France.

Chamonix is one of the most prestigious places for mountaineers in the world. Now these dramatic mountains lure more and more skiers and snowboarders to ride the steep, unforgiving faces and it is in Chamonix that we will discover the adventures and evolution of Victor de Le Rue.

It is being together with his old friend Pierre Hourticq, mountain guide that Victor will try to write a new story in the iconic mountains of the Mont Blanc Massif, riding extreme slopes of more than 45° that also have extreme consequences. Frozen Mind is not just a film based on snowboard/ski performance. It is above all a story of friendship and a journey of discovery as the two men take unique paths in order to conquer the same objectives.

Switzerland remains the best country in the world » Canada has moved up to the second spot » U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings

2020.01.15 /

For Switzerland, the 2020 ranking is the the fourth consecutive yearhas been judged No. 1 by residents of 36 countries. Canada was chosen second, overtaking Japan in the U.S. News’ fifth annual survey.

The Best Countries report, produced from an annual global survey of more than 20,000 people in 36 countries including the United States, reflects increasingly negative views of the world and within countries. Nearly half of survey respondents say conditions around the world have worsened in the past year. Likewise, an increased percentage of people say the gap between the rich and poor has grown and that nationalism is increasing.

According to the ranking, here are the Top 25 Countries in the World

  1. Switzerland
  2. Canada
  3. Japan
  4. Germany
  5. Australia
  6. United Kingdom
  7. United States
  8. Sweden
  9. Netherlands
  10. Norway
  11. New Zealand
  12. France
  13. Denmark
  14. Finland
  15. China
  16. Singapore
  17. Italy
  18. Austria
  19. Spain
  20. South Korea
  21. Luxembourg
  22. United Arab Emirates
  23. Russia
  24. Portugal
  25. India

The Bottom 5 of the U.S. News 2020 Best Countries rankings are

  • Lebanon
  • Serbia
  • Oman
  • Belarus
  • Tunisia

See the full report.

 

 

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Please tread lightly, pack out your trash, and treat every person and location with respect.

Please do not bury waste or wipes – even those that are biodegradable. Always pack out bags, sanitary wipes, and feminine hygiene products to minimize impact on the environment and the spread of disease.

If you find any errors, have any tips, or see anything that might need improving, please let me know.

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