‘Dizzying coastal paths, quiet beaches and dolphins': readers' highlights of the UK coastline
The Leas near South Shields (a few miles north of Sunderland) is a beautiful stretch of limestone cliffs and coastal grassland that is a haven for sea birds and wildflowers. There are footpaths and bridle paths across the Leas, so it attracts cyclists, dog walkers and runners all year round. The local parkrun uses the paths and it must be one of the most scenic in the country. The rock stacks along the coast are a great place for spotting cormorants, fulmars and kittiwakes among others. No matter the weather I love to walks these paths and feel the fresh sea breeze through my hair. A wonderful place.Matty
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Fife is a glorious peninsula bordered by a brilliant coastal path that takes in a variety of beaches, fishing villages and is an area rich in wildlife and diverse landscapes. The area from Crail to St Andrews is of particular beauty, with several gorgeous places to stop for lunch, such as Cambo Gardens cafe near Kingsbarns and the Cheesy Toast Shack at East Sands in St Andrews. There are loads of places to stay and use as a base to explore the region. The larch-clad cabins at Kinkell Byre offer the opportunity to rest in style. And farther north are the wonderful forest trails and sand dunes of Tentsmuir. Stevie Kirkwood
Wander the banks of the River Fal and Helford River in south Cornwall, through ancient Celtic rainforest, where the trees meet the sea. This rare habitat gives us a glimpse of prehistory, with lichen-laden branches, crisp, damp air and some of the UK's rarest wildlife. It feels otherworldly, yet oddly familiar. Amy
Penmon Point on the easternmost point of Ynys Môn is a great place to watch for sea birds. The stunning Trwyn Du lighthouse looks out to Puffin Island, and if you're lucky, one might fly right past you. But we have seen even more magic there when it gets dark. If conditions are just right, the waves light up electric blue with bioluminescent plankton as they crash over the pebbles. For refreshments, the Pilot House Cafe is nearby and has a fantastic view from its garden. Chris Jones
You need to consult your tide tables before visiting Sunderland Point on Morecambe Bay. This extraordinary place of sea-sucked mudflats, salt marsh and vast skies is cut off daily at high tide. I cross the causeway in May when the sea pinks (sea thrift) are flowering and the air is bright with the cries of birds – oystercatchers, curlew and redshanks. It feels remote, but in the 18th century Sunderland Point was a bustling port for Lancaster's transatlantic trade, which brought prosperity but also inhumanity. A walk round the peninsula leads to the grave of an unknown child slave abandoned here in 1736, now adorned by visitors with painted stones. Its bleak beauty will break your heart.Morag Reavley
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I've been walking my dog on the same stretch of coast for four years and I never tire of the sheer strangeness of it. Culmore Point is where Derry's River Foyle meets the North Atlantic. Some days you can see a line in the water where the silt-filled Foyle meets the sea. Beautiful old-money houses look out across the water to a power station and chemical plant. Farther downstream the weird treeless landscape of the reclaimed land of Eglinton Embankment catches the eye. Spare a thought too for the young men who trained on these river beaches in May 1944 for the Normandy assaults a month later.Keiran
From West Kirby on Wirral, you can walk across the tidal flats of the Dee estuary to the red sandstone formations of Little Eye, Middle Eye, and Hilbre Island, a string of uninhabited islands offering naught but spectacular nature. In summer you can spot grey seals hauling themselves on to sandbanks, and three types of terns (common, little and sandwich) darting past. Listen out for skylarks and meadow pipits too. For an extra challenge, search for the Triassic-era Chirotherium footprint. Always check tide times carefully, and for extra awe, time your return to the sun setting low, framed by the distant Welsh hills.Sarah
Cycling along the North East Coastal Trail from Portsoy to Macduff in Aberdeenshire is my idea of heaven. In stunning coastal countryside you cycle through charming fishing villages with historic harbours. I've spotted dolphins, porpoises and seals on the route. On a rocky coastline just beyond Macduff, there's an old tidal pool at Tarlair. Though no longer used for swimming, its beautifully restored art deco tea pavilion is the perfect spot to refuel before your journey back. While there, take a short wander to the secluded Salmon Howie beach tucked behind the cliffs – it's such a beautiful spot.Peter Diender
When, as a child, I read Z For Zachariah, I imagined a landscape with the exact fin-du-monde energy of the East Yorkshire beach from Ulrome to Bridlington. On this stretch of Holderness, you'll find neither the Norfolk chalk boards of iced latte and shakshuka nor the monastic ghosts of farther north. But if six miles of uninterrupted beach walk – in the company of nothing more glamorous than pure air, weather and proper decay (not the genteel sort) – is your thing, this is a place you should visit. Morcheeba soundtrack optional. Tired legs and a cleansed soul guaranteed.Eliza Ainley
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Telegraph
35 minutes ago
- Telegraph
A history of royal transport, from luxury trains to yachts and planes
It was in the early 1840s that Queen Victoria – a woman not least known for her exacting standards – made history, becoming the first British monarch to travel around the country aboard her very own train. Since then, members of the Royal family have dashed about the UK aboard several iterations of regal rolling stock – and, for that matter, around the globe on various other royal modes of transport, from the 'King's Flight' to the Royal Yacht Britannia. But all good things must, it seems, come to an end. Today, the royal train is the last official survivor of the royal transport fleet; and in March 2027, it was recently revealed, it too will be decommissioned, with senior royals instead making greater use of public trains and helicopters. It is the sad end of a glorious era of royal travel – but one whose significance can only be truly appreciated in the context of its earliest beginnings. The royal trains When the first royal train took to the tracks, it changed not only how the Royal family travelled, but its entire public perception, too. Before the British rail network had expanded sufficiently in the 1840s, the only modes of royal travel were by horse-drawn carriage or ship. With the very limited spread of public information available in those days, little attention was paid to royal travel, with the focus – if there was any – usually on the destination, where grand decorations and receptions would be the order of the day, rather than the journey. That all changed when Queen Victoria began traversing the country aboard her own train. From the 1840s onwards, Britain's rail network expanded rapidly, meaning that she was able to conduct more and more of her journeys by rail. Queen Victoria – the first monarch to recognise the importance of traversing the country and meeting the public – became more visible, and the public became increasingly fascinated. The lines benefitted too: when travelling between London and Scotland, Queen Victoria's preferred supplier was the London & North Western Railway (LNWR), who then – understandably – used this fact to market themselves as 'The Premier Line'. From its earliest beginnings, the train was housed at the railway works at Wolverton on the outskirts of Milton Keynes, the world's first 'railway town', built on a grid system to house workers – where the current version still resides today. In 1869, Queen Victoria commissioned her own set of train cars, day and night saloons lavishly painted with 23-carat-gold and blue silk details. The carriages were again built at Wolverton, at a cost of £1,800 – £800 of which the monarch contributed from her own purse, equivalent to £82,500 today. These new carriages were the heart of the long royal train, and – in a blatant PR exercise – the LNWR published postcards of them which were widely featured in the press: images of luxurious saloon interiors, otherwise only seen by royalty and staff, which created myth and mystique about its workings. When King Edward VII came to the throne in 1901, he requested a new royal train with all mod-cons – including cooking facilities, baths and telephones – for himself and Queen Alexandra. He instructed the LNWR that the interior should resemble the royal yacht of the day as closely as possible, and new postcards were duly published. During the First World War, King George V used the train so frequently that it became his temporary home, while the Second World War saw the very existence of the royal train become a closely guarded state secret. Wolverton-built armour-plating was fitted to the royal saloons, and the train was extensively used to boost public war morale with numerous visits across the rail network. Gradually, more technological advancements were added, including radio and telephones to create a mobile office; innovations which always eventually trickled down into ordinary public trains. After the formation of British Railways in 1948, individual regions continued to maintain the constituent railway companies' royal train carriages, until 1977, when Elizabeth II's silver jubilee demanded that a single royal train be constructed. The late Leo Coleman, a D-Day veteran who started at Wolverton in 1937, was asked to project manage the 1977 royal train construction scheme. In 2013, he told me that Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh and Sir Hugh Casson were heavily involved in the interior design, requesting a functional carriage interior rather than a luxurious one. It was to be a home from home where 'The Principles' (as the train's royal passengers are known) could, in Leo's words, 'Kick off their shoes, relax in their lounge, have a meal or go to their on-board office and be briefed for their next engagement.' 'The Principles did not want change,' explains Chris Hillyard, the final royal train foreman, who retired in 2013 after a lifetime at Wolverton and on the train. 'They knew how the train worked, [and] trusted the railway staff involved who carried out the train's operation to perfection. This is why it was the preferred method of travel for them.' The royal yachts It's tricky to pin down the first British iteration of a royal yacht – though there have, officially, been 83 designated as such since the Restoration in 1660. Was it Henry VIII's golden-sailed craft, for example; James I's Disdain – the first royal vessel intended purely for pleasure cruising, rather than battle; or those of Charles II, who was gifted the extravagant Mary by the Dutch on his ascension to the throne, establishing the owning of a yacht as a royal tradition? In its strictly modern sense, British royal yachts have been around for about the last 350 years – sometimes officially naval owned, sometimes privately owned – and have included the likes of HMY Alexandra, named for Edward VII's wife; the stately SS Gothic, used for Elizabeth II's 1954 tour of Australia; and, briefly in 1953, the RY Surprise. But the most famous is, of course, the 400ft Royal Yacht Britannia, built specifically for the royal household, launched in 1953, and decommissioned in 1997. Unlike the royal trains, royal yachts are designed not only for travel, but also for hosting state receptions and boosting the UK's presence and influence around the world – a role Britannia played with panache. During her tenure, she travelled more than one million nautical miles around the world, calling at more than 600 ports in 135 countries – hosting dignitaries, presidents, honeymooning royals and even, during the South Yemeni Crisis of 1986, 1,000 refugees. The interiors were – famously – grand, designed in the style of an elegant English country house, with floral sofas and antiques, a large state drawing room, a teak-clad sun deck, several sitting rooms and six bedrooms. The late Queen once described the yacht as 'the one place where I can truly relax', and was seen to shed tears during its decommissioning ceremony. The royal planes 'The King's Flight', as the fleet of aircraft used to transport members of the Royal family was known, was instituted in 1936 when King George VI became the first UK monarch to take to the air, flying from Sandringham to London to attend his Accession Council. It was the world's first air organisation dedicated to a head of state, and was subsumed into the RAF in 1942, then resurrected after the war and based at RAF Benson near Oxford, with five aircraft. Unlike rail and sea travel, the King and Queen always flew in different planes, each accompanied by Princess Elizabeth or Margaret, but never both. When Princess Elizabeth became queen in 1952, the fleet was renamed 'the Queen's Flight', with royal helicopters being added in 1958. The Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles qualified as pilots, often flying themselves to appointments. The Queen's Flight was disbanded in 1995, and again was subsumed in the RAF, combined with the royal air fleet of BAe 146 aircraft, which was used to fly members of the Royal family and other dignitaries for 39 years, until it was retired in March 2022. What's next for the royal train? The expectation at Wolverton was that the train would cease operations once King Charles stopped using it – though that time has arrived a little sooner than anticipated. Now comprising just seven carriages, the interiors of the current train are surprisingly sparse and practical, with an enduring 1970s aesthetic that feels somewhat corporate and increasingly dated; a far cry from the sumptuous carriages of Victoria's day. Before its official decommissioning, the train is likely to travel around the network on an emotional farewell tour in 2026 – after which, its fate remains as yet unknown. Nevertheless, with two of the Royal family's former vehicles now open to the public – the Royal Yacht Britannia in Edinburgh, and one of the BAe 146s at the Duxford Imperial War Museum near Cambridge – it's not unreasonable to hope that the royal train's seven remaining carriages might yet live out its golden years on display in Wolverton.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Millions of O2 customers warned of huge change to free perks coming in HOURS as popular site closes down
O2 customers have been warned of a big change coming to the network's popular perk programme starting tomorrow. And it's important to take note so you don't miss out on any freebies and offers. 2 Fortunately, all the usual top rewards are still on offer for millions of customers to get hold of. O2 Priority is making changes to how you access the service from Monday. That's especially key given O2 releases its biggest rewards on Monday with a limited number of codes given out. The most recent offer was discounted tickets to Thorpe Park, Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures. But the website version of O2 Priority is closing down meaning you can no longer redeem anything that way. Instead, you will have to do it all entirely via the dedicated app on iOS and Android. An alert on the website reads: "From 11 August 2025, you won't be able to access Priority through our website. "Don't miss out on exclusive rewards and experiences - download the Priority app today." Of course, O2 Priority is also well known for providing access to pre-sale tickets. The firm has revealed that users will still be able to access O2 Priority pre-sale tickets on Ticketmaster following Monday's changes. 'To access O2 Priority pre-sale tickets on Ticketmaster, firstly, make sure that you're signed into your O2 Priority account, then click on your desired link in O2 Priority and it will take you to Ticketmaster, where you can book and pay for your tickets," O2 said. 2 How to save on your mobile phone bill NOT happy with your current mobile phone deal? If you're outside the minimum term of your contract then you won't need to pay a cancellation fee - and you might be able to find a cheaper deal elsewhere. But don't just switch contracts because the price is cheaper than what you're currently paying. Take a look at how many minutes and texts, as well as how much data you're using, to find out which deal is best for you. For example, if you're a heavy internet user it's worth finding a deal that accommodates this so you don't end up spending extra on bundles or add-ons each month. Also note that if you're still in your contract period, you might be charged an exit fee. Ready to look elsewhere? Pay-as-you-go deals are better for people who don't regularly use their phone, while monthly contracts usually work out cheaper for those who do. It's worth using comparison websites, such as MoneySupermarket and to compare tariffs and phone prices. Billmonitor also matches buyers to the best pay-monthly deal based on their previous three months of bills. It only works if you're a customer of EE, O2, Three, Vodafone or Tesco Mobile and you'll need to log in with your online account details. There's also MobilePhoneChecker, which has a bill monitoring feature that recommends a tariff based on your monthly usage. If you're happy with your provider then it might be worth using your research to haggle a better deal.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Improvements made to sustainable travel options in Penzance
More work as part of a scheme designed to transform travel in Penzance has been Sustainable Transport Network (PSTN) said access for walkers and cyclists had been improved at Causewayhead and the entrance to the town had been made more attractive.A PSTN spokesperson said two new puffin crossings had been installed at Bowling Green and Newlyn Green and a vehicle-activated 20mph sign had been introduced to help reduce speeds. PSTN received £3.5m from the Town Deal programme, run by the government, and £3m from Cornwall Council. Chair of the Penzance Town Deal board Martin Tucker said: "Through the Penzance Town Deal and our Sustainable Travel Programme, we're investing in a town centre that works better for everyone: residents, businesses and visitors."Previously there were no pedestrian crossings on New Road that directly linked to Newlyn Causewayhead the existing footway has been extended, new paving has been laid, the existing zebra crossing on St Clare Street has been improved and a raised table pedestrian crossing introduced where Causewayhead meets Clarence existing zebra crossing on Taroveor Road has been replaced with an uncontrolled 'build out' crossing point which is designed to reduce crossing distance for carriageway has been resurfaced and new landscaping and street furniture, including benches and bicycle stands, have been introduced in pedestrian areas. The PSTN spokesperson said work on the Ponsandane Cycle Hub, the bus station and Branwells Gyratory was expected to start in September. Penzance Town Deal Board, in partnership with Cornwall Council, said it successfully bid for £21.5m to support a range of projects that would contribute to the regeneration of the town and boost the local economy.
