The Nicholas Crane Interview

Last year I interviewed the BBC’s Nicholas Crane about all things British:

 

MR UK

 

Adventurer, author and television presenter Nicholas Crane has trekked across Europe, cycled through Asia and has even slept in a tent on the top of the Alps but still regards the UK as one of the most interesting travelling destinations.

 

I haven’t flown recreationally for ten years. I’ve not taken holiday flights, and I’ve stopped writing about places that will encourage people to fly airplanes but I have for work. As it happens I’ve not been on a plane for two years.

 

Ten years ago is somebody said to me can you come to a meeting in Glasgow I’d have flown, well I went to Glasgow on Wednesday, I got up at five in the morning did five hours work on the train got back on the train at four thirty in the afternoon did another five hours work. Train is you can do it is a much more efficient way of travelling than airplane. It’s four hours of completely wasted work time and it costs the nation a fortune.

 

No one is going to tell me that flying internally is a better use of work time, it’s a complete hoax put out by the airline companies. I don’t know how modern companies trying to make money can possibly think that it’s efficient to fly employees internally in Britain.

 

By taking flying out of the equation you become much more inventive and the travelling becomes part of the holiday, part of the fun. The actual business of moving from A to B is fun; nobody can convince me flying is fun.

 

One of the joys of travelling in Britain is the pubs. Modern pubs are absolutely brilliant, you can get great food, if you’re into beer and I am then its great.

 

I feel very strongly that pubs are a national institution worth supporting because they are closing very, very fast. We are loosing hundreds a year.

 

My favourite place in Britain really depends on my mood. There are some really beautiful places to visit along the coast.