"Look at it this way"

This is the video I used as a starter with groups this week, courtesy of David Rayner... While it's showing, ask people to think "Where would I JUMP to...."

Mark Beaumont cycled into Paris last Friday to smash the Guinness World Record for cycling solo unsupported around the world, covering 18 300 miles in 195 days. Thanks to Val Vannet for sending this image of Mark's first taste of champagne after he'd finished ...

Mark Beaumont is just a few days away from finishing his epic solo cycle around the world. We have mentioned his trip in quite a few lessons this year. Also a good article in this week's Sunday Times The opening paragraph gives a good flavour for the effort that Mark has put in: Imagine getting up tomorrow, climbing bleary-eyed onto your bike and cycling from Bath to London; or Birmingham to Liverpool; or Belfast to Dublin. Then imagine doing it again the next day. And the next day and the day after that. For six months. Now picture doing the same thing, but in the mountains of the Indus Valley, the torrential rain of Thailand and the mind-melting heat of the Australian outback. Throw in a few nights in a police cell in Pakistan, a collision with a moped in India and a mugging in a Louisiana crack house, and you’ll have some idea of what it takes to cycle around the world in record-breaking time. Val Vannet has continued to blog the journey daily, apart from a short Christmas br...

Ecotricity are the company behind the huge turbines at Swaffham that I pass regularly - went past them last week on the way to a conference at UEA. They have a very useful website which features a whole range of resources. There is a time lapse video showing the construction of one of their installations. I particularly liked the interactive map of their installations, and also the PDF downloads of the plans, for example the wind turbines that they are putting into Manchester City's football ground. These include photomontages and maps showing how the turbines will look once they are in place. Swaffham is also KINGDOM COUNTRY after the Sunday evening ITV series starring Stephen Fry. Two of the students I teach featured in a recent episode as they were in a local cricket team which hosted filming of an episode. The local tourist authorities are finally waking up to the potential that this has to attract visitors. I used to live quite close to Holmfirth: the Last of the Summer W...

With thanks to David Rayner Spot the landscapes links !