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Travel, outdoor and garden writer

@fidarby

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If the 'system' is getting you down,
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Perhaps you can help me answer this question 🤷🌳👇

I love foraging for sweet chestnuts.

I also love sweet chestnut recipes.

So I'm wondering whether or not to plant a sweet chestnut tree in my allotment food forest. There are pros and cons to the idea 👇

1. SWEET CHESTNUTS ARE VERY BIG TREES

Pro - Food forests work like nature and need canopy trees.
Con - My plot is big but I do have to consider shading.

2. IT'S BETTER TO PLANT MORE THAN ONE TREE

Pro - Male and female flowers so they will fruit alone.
Con - Better pollination with two but I don't have space.

3. SWEET CHESTNUTS ARE VERY PRICKLY

Pro - Gives me a chance to beat the squirrels to them.
Con - Harvesting can be quite ouchy.

When I started the food forest, I was really keen to include plants that would provide the protein basis of meals as well as the tasty veg round the edge. Food that could sustain us if things got tricky, and that would be a good meat substitute.

I have annual beans and peas as well as my hazel trees (cue the squirrels) but there's something really substantial about a sweet chestnut that I really love.

If there's anyone out there with experience of growing sweet chestnuts, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

#foraging #foodforest #trees #permaculture #food taken in Devon, England by @fidarby

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21 hours ago

I have a confession to make 🥴👇

While we were Interrailing in Europe, I went to the supermarket more than once.

If that doesn't sound like a confession to you, it's worth mentioning that in 2023 I swapped supermarket shopping for a more planet-friendly combination of local shops, online whole foods and home grown fruit and veg.

I feel strongly about this but had no idea how much local food shopping I would be able to do whilst we were travelling by train through Europe.

As it turned out, the answer was not as much as I wanted to but there were a few things that helped me feel like we were doing our bit to support the local food economy.

The farm shop stocked with local bread and mountain cheese was my favourite shopping location and we ate plenty of its produce.

I was also pleased with my attempts to translate menus in cafes. This helped me gain confidence and at one mountain hut, I even said no thank you to the offer of a menu in English.

When we cooked for ourselves, we ended up buying all our vegetables in mini supermarkets. When I saw the bioregional food labels I chose those over imports and was pleased to find out that Austria has some pretty high local food standards.

Sustainable travel is about the whole picture, not just how you get to your destination.

How do you like to support local when you're on holiday?

#travel #interrail #localfood #sustainabletravel by @fidarby

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2 days ago

Okay! I'll be honest with you 😁👇

I'm not sure I really liked the roast mashua we ate for dinner. The squash was tasty, the parsnips were good and my 'best carrot ever' was delicious. Everything came from the allotment.

But the mashua root was a bit meh.

This might be my fault.

I harvested them quite early because I was impatient to find out how they were doing, and I think I read that mashua gets sweeter as the weather gets colder.

I had the same issue last year when I roasted Jerusalem artichokes (another really easy food forest veg). But those knobbly roots came into their own in soup and I'm looking forward to enjoying them again like that later this year.

Tubers like mashua, oca and Jerusalem artichoke might be a bit out there, and they're definitely not as satisfying as potatoes to grow or eat but they do fill a winter food gap.

And they do come back year after year.

At the moment I'm looking at mashua as an emergency vegetable. Something to leave in the ground and harvest when supplies are dwindling.

But perhaps it will grow on me as well as in the allotment food forest. It certainly wins points for easiness, diversity and determination.

#foodforest #allotment #growfood #permaculture taken in Devon, England by @fidarby

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4 days ago

I need to find a recipe for this perfect hiking food... 😋👇

I had heard of Kaiserschmarrn before our visit (by train) to the Austrian Tyrol and by the time we got up to this mountain hut, I was desperately hoping they would have some for us to try.

Kaiserschmarrn is a chunky smashed pancake cooked with butter, sugar and rum-soaked raisins. It's served with a generous side helping of apple sauce.

Lured by the helpful yellow signs and cable car uplifts, I had forgotten how many calories you can burn walking up steep hills.

Which meant that, after an inadequate breakfast, we had eaten our emergency rations by the time we were half way up to the hut.

Rooky errors I shouldn't have made!

But we made it up and the coffee and Kaiserschmarrn did an excellent job of replacing those uphill calories.

After bouncing back down a track that would usually have scared me, I decided Kaiserschmarrn was the perfect mountain food.

If anyone has a recipe, I would be very grateful.

#mountains #hiking #austria #mountainhut #walking taken in Wildseeloderhaus by @fidarby

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5 days ago

How to entertain yourself across Europe by train 🧶👇

Our longest train day on this Interrail trip to the Austrian Tyrol was ten hours. I knew I would need something to do on board.

So I decided to crochet myself a woolly hat to wear on mountain hikes (and whilst eating strudel at the top of cable cars).

But we were blessed with amazing weather in Austria and it was far too warm to even think about woolly hats.

I wore shorts and t-shirts most days.

We spent a day exploring Brussels on the way home and it was a bit chilly as we walked to catch our Eurostar.

So I finally got to wear my hat.

#interrailing #eurostar #crochet #mountains #hat taken in Brussels, Belgium by @fidarby

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7 days ago

Did we find the perfect Austrian mountain village? 🇦🇹👇

I guess we'll never know but Fieberbrunn in the Pillerseetal valley suited us very well.

🏡 Our Airbnb was gorgeous
🏞️ We felt remote
🚉 But walked from the train station
🚠 Were a short stroll from the cable car
🏊 And a swimming lake
⛰️ Had access to mountain hikes
🏚️ And mountain huts
🐠 And two more lakes

In the winter, Fieberbrunn is a bustling ski centre but out of season in early October, it was quiet and peaceful with just enough adventure opportunities for both of us.

We didn't have snow but we were blessed with the most glorious sunny weather. Even in the mountains.

We would have loved to have stayed in Fieberbrunn but also really enjoyed Innsbruck, which has to be my favourite European city (so far). With two accessible mountain ranges and a gorgeous river right next to the bustle of downtown, what's not to love.

Austria you have my heart. ❤️🇦🇹🚠

#austria #trains #europe #innsbruck #mountains taken in Fieberbrunn by @fidarby

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8 days ago

14 days? A 30 litre rucksack? What really works?🤩👇

I'm too old to be humping round massive rucksacks, so when I go Interrailing I do very minimal packing.

If the weather and activities are predictable, this isn't difficult but with this autumn train holiday to Austria, I had to do a lot of thinking. Especially with mountains and unseasonably warm weather in the mix.

I don't have much with me but here are three pieces of outdoor gear that I will definitely be packing again.

1. FJALLRAVEN Keb tracking trousers. The pockets are big enough for phones, tickets and passports, they're warm with a pair of leggings underneath and cool when I open the impressive venting zips.

2. La SPORTIVA Lycan II running shoes. I've only run once (for a bus) but these took me up (and down) a mountain track and have been super comfortable for travelling.

I thought long and hard about this one as I wouldn't usually recommend trainers for rough or steep tracks, in the end I decided my leather boots would be too much for long train journeys and that, if conditions weren't perfect, I would stick to good paths.

3. SMARTWOOL Hike Light Cushion Crew socks. Wool socks do eventually get smelly but it takes them days. These are great for temperature adjustment, are super comfy and I have worn them almost every day.

#outdoorgear #travel #interrail #europe #packing taken in Fieberbrunn by @fidarby

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10 days ago

I didn't expect to find this here 🍁👇

When I think of autumn colour it's usually English woods that come to mind. All.those colourful leaves, intriguing fungi and that soft decaying smell.

I didn't expect to find autumn at 1,000 metres.

Half way up a mountain in Austria's Tirol.

But there it was. Nature's own Oktoberfest.

I couldn't be sure of identification because the berries were finished but the lovely orange in the video came from some whortleberry relation. Lingonberry perhaps or wild blueberry. I also found what I think was wild euphorbia (still green), which were gracefully accompanied by dancing grass flowers.

What really made this Austrian autumn colour sing though was the clear, fresh mountain light. I felt so blessed.

#autumn #austria #tirol #mountains #nature taken in Wildseeloder by @fidarby

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11 days ago

So did we make it to the top mountain hut? ⛰️🚠👇

There's no doubt about it, hiking Austrian mountains is very different to walking on Dartmoor.

But apparently I do have some mountain legs.

Here's a brief description of today's hike in Austria.

Cable car 🚠
Cable car 🚠
Start a hiking route 🚶
Look up - 'HOW HIGH!!!' ⛰️
Carry on up - 'HOW STEEP!!' ⛰️

Not sure if I can get back down 😬
Carry on ⛰️
Lake 🚣
Hut 🏨
Kaffee und Kaiserschmarren ☕🥞

Now a caffeine-sugar-fuelled mountain goat 🐐
Speedy descent before sugar wears off ⛰️
Wow! I did it! 🥳
Cable car 🚠
Schnitzel und Weissbier 🍺
Cable car 🚠
Apartment 🛌

PS This entire trip from the UK to Austria has been car free and flight free. We travelled by train and bus.

#flightfree #train #europe #austria #sustainable taken in Wildseeloderhaus by @fidarby

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12 days ago

There's something you should know about Austria 🇦🇹👇

The hills are pretty steep.

I'm pleased to say though, that the steepness doesn't so far appear to be beyond my fitness levels. That said, I've picked my trails carefully and seen other people hiking up the most incredible slope angles.

In the case of this walk, it wasn't fitness that made me turn around. It was the time of day. I was walking into the late afternoon up a track I knew I was going to be slower coming back down.

So tomorrow we're going up in the cable car.

But I'm chuffed I gave it a go.

#austria #walking #hiking #mountains #cablecar taken in Fieberbrunn by @fidarby

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13 days ago

Does anyone else do this on cable cars?

When we first visited Austria I was super nervous to ride on the cable cars. And in Queenstown New Zealand, I once scrambled up a steep hillside to avoid one.

But I have made myself get used to it.

Because the rewards (views, trail access and mountain huts) are worth a touch of vertigo.

These days I actually enjoy a cable car experience. This one was the Patscherkofel near Innsbruck. We got out at the top station and walked an hour to the summit.

But I just can't get used to the moment on the descent when the cable car launches at full speed from the platform.

I had to close my eyes!!! 😟

#austria #trainadventures #mountains #walking #hiking taken in Innsbruck, Austria by @fidarby

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14 days ago

London to Austria by train? Is this the best route? 🇦🇹🚄👇

It's fabulous to be travelling in Europe by train again.

And I found it easy to book through the Interrail app.

But is this the best train route from London to Austria? We loved it but I'd be interested to hear if you have other suggestions. Through Paris perhaps...

1. London St Pancras to Brussels Midi (Eurostar) 🇧🇪

Overnight stop

2. Brussels Midi to Frankfurt (ICE) 🇩🇪

One-hour stop

3. Frankfurt to Munich (ICE) 🇩🇪

One-hour stop

4. Munich to Innsbruck (Railjet) 🇦🇹

Our second travel day was a long one but I deliberately chose trains that gave us plenty of time at each station to aid holiday relaxation.

Innsbruck station is very central to the city centre and accommodation options but we took advantage of the great local bus service (free with our Innsbruck visitor card) and chose accommodation in a nearby village.

We have a balcony and amazing mountain views just two days by train from London (one day if you don't have to travel far into London).

How would you do this journey?

#flightfree #trains #europebytrain #austria #interrail taken in Devon, England by @fidarby

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15 days ago