The Sporting Bazaar – Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling Competition

by Justin Delaney on


On a hillside near the edge of the Cotswolds, competitors race down 90 yards of steep decline, chasing a delicious wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. This is one of the world’s most absurd displays of sport, and perhaps one of the most dangerous as well. This British springtime passion is notoriously precarious, causing many broken bones. The racers do not so much run down the hill as they do flip, somersault, and tumble across the racing plane, arms outstretched reaching for a fleeting disc of cheese. At the bottom of the hill, human-wranglers attempt to soften the landing of the racing lunatics by catching them. The event is a spectacle. Enthralled spectators travel far and wide to view the rough and tumble start to finish.Rumors abound as to the origins of the strange competition. Some say that it began as a pagan ritual. Others persist that the event has its origins in Roman Times. I do not know the truth about the birthplace of this oddball event, but must say that this festival of the absurd is a sight to behold.

The event takes place annually on the “Late Spring Break Holiday Monday” (last Monday in May) in Gloucester, England. While entrant safety is an issue, the “official” competition was actually canceled last year due to popularity, not injury concerns. The cancellation did little to stop the cheese from rolling as loyal fans and competitors held an “unofficial” event on the last Monday of May. This year’s event has yet to be canceled or announced, but will likely go on, as it has for many many years. This website is a pretty exhaustive resource for all your cheese wheel racing inquiries. To reach the event, travel to Gloucester by train from London.

flickr image via Hauggen

Launchpad London maiden journey: Midweek jaunt to Oslo

by Alex Robertson Textor on

London is one dizzyingly well-connected city, uniquely positioned as a hub for air travel around Europe and beyond. The city has five airports–Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, and London City–six if you count tiny Southend. In 2010, over 127 million passengers were carried through these airports. By way of contrast, Paris, the next biggest city in Europe in terms of passenger numbers, saw 83 million people pass through its two airports in 2010.

With this post, Gadling launches a new series designed to call attention to London as a launchpad for travel around Europe and beyond–from daytrip locations just outside the borders of Greater London to destinations as far afield as Dubai. We’ll provide an overview of transportation options and also provide a budget-minded navigation of each destination.

First up: OsloSeveral airlines fly from two London airports to Oslo. From London Heathrow, British Airways and SAS fly to Oslo-Gardermoen, the city’s main airport. From London Gatwick, Norwegian Air Shuttle flies to Oslo-Gardermoen and Ryanair flies to Oslo-Rygge, a secondary airport south of the city. When I searched for fares on Kayak, Ryanair’s flights to Oslo-Rygge were cheapest, though I decided against this option in order to avoid having to deal with the lengthy transit time between the center of Oslo and Oslo-Rygge.

The cheapest flight I found to Oslo-Gardemoen was flown by Norwegian Air Shuttle, a Norwegian low-cost airline with good reach across Europe and an especially strong network throughout Scandinavia. My flight ran £95.60 ($153). I booked it just six days prior to departure.

My accommodation, organized through airbnb, cost me $152 for two nights. The $76 nightly charge breaks down as follows: $68 for the room plus a $16 airbnb service fee. Budget watchers will observe that I’ve spent $305 before arriving in Oslo.

My accommodation via airbnb amounts to one of the cheapest beds in Oslo, though single rooms at Ellingsens Pensjonat, the least expensive Oslo guesthouse I came across during research, are cheaper at 400 NOK ($70) per night.

Bargain-hunters can find relatively low rates in private accommodation. Rooms in private homes can be booked at the train station tourist office on the day of requested accommodation. These rooms begin at around 300 NOK ($53) per night, and there are dozens of private Oslo rooms on offer depending on season.

Want more options? Bed & Breakfast Norway lists the following accommodations with single rooms available for under 400 NOK per night: the centrally-located Den Blå Dør for 400 NOK ($70) and Enerhaugen for 370 NOK ($65); and Ambiose Bed & Breakfast for 370 NOK ($65) and Bed & Breakfast Poppe for 250 NOK ($44), both of which are located on the outskirts of Oslo. During the summer, camping is another budget-friendly accommodation option. From June 1 through September 1, sites for one or two people can be booked at Ekeberg Camping‘s Oslo City Camp starting at 180 NOK ($32) per night.

I set off with a backpack containing two changes of clothes, my passport, a small present for my hostess, a notebook, a print-out of my ticket, my researched list of museums, neighborhoods, and restaurants, and my iPad. And my heavy winter coat, which I had to drag out of storage.

My objectives are straight-forward: to explore Grünerløkka, Grønland, and the city center; to hunt for good things to eat (especially hearty, rustic Norwegian fare and, if I’m lucky, some good Pakistani grub); to explore the local design scene; to avoid frostbite; to run into Stella Mwangi; and lastly, to remain financially solvent.

For another look at how a new home base opens up travel destinations, check out Gadling contributor Meg Nesterov’s Weekending series. In this series, the author details her travels from her home base in Istanbul to Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Lebanon, and around Turkey.

[Image: Flickr | Hyougushi]

My Valentine: 500 year-old letter is first Valentine’s Day card

by Sean McLachlan on

People often think Valentine’s Day is a modern invention, a diabolical conspiracy of florists and greeting card companies to suck money out of poor chumps who should be able to show their love without spending a dime. Actually, sending Valentines is older than modern commercialism.

The BBC reports that the first use of “Valentine” in the English language was in a letter dated 1477 from Margery Brews to her suitor John Paston.

Opening her letter to John with “Me ryght welebeloued Voluntyne”, the 17 year-old Margery shows some old-school teen angst by asking why he hasn’t written her recently. John, who was 33, had asked for her hand in marriage but didn’t get the dowry he wanted. The relationship between Margery’s father and John deteriorated and it looked like the marriage would never happen until the pair’s mothers intervened and saved the day. Love triumphed, something that didn’t happen as much as it should have in the 15th century.

To hear the whole letter read in Middle English, check out this link. It’s amazing just how much you can figure out.

The love note comes from a collection called the Paston letters. More than a thousand letters from this wealthy family dating from 1422 to 1509 survive and give an amazing insight into the life of the gentry in the decades before Henry VIII. They’re housed in the British Library in London. Watch the video below for a quick tour courtesy of Rick Steves.

[Painting of Saint Valentine by Jacopo Bassano, 1575, courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Budget-friendly London Valentine’s Day ideas

by Alex Robertson Textor on

With Valentine’s Day coming up shortly, it’s time to catalogue some romantic Big Smoke activities. Here are five budget-friendly London Valentine’s Day ideas.

1. Flower hunting at Columbia Road Shops & Flower Market. East London’s Sunday flower market is jam-packed with shoppers and aimless strollers alike. The streets are full of stands selling flowers, with salesmen barking prices in hardcore Cockney tones. Columbia Road shops are also delightful, with cafes, furniture stores, and curio shops sharing retail space. Columbia Road Market is open on Sundays between 8 am and 3 pm. Arrive early to avoid the crowds and to pick up the best possible selection of Valentine’s Day flowers for your loved ones.

2. Valentine’s Day at Tower Bridge. For £15 ($24) per person, participants can ascend to the bridge’s walkways, eat chocolates, drink a glass of bubbly (pink Champagne, no less!) and enjoy views over London. Organizers promise “scented flowers, seductive lighting and live mood music” in the background. Wow. In other words: one part cheesy spectacle, one part make-no-bones-about-it goosebump fest. This activity is scheduled on the evening of February 14 in four one-hour admission shifts, at 6:30 pm, 7:30 pm, 8:30 pm, and 9:30 pm. 18 and older only.

3. Romantic candies. Pick up some Valentine’s Day sweets at Hope & Greenwood. The very British confectionary shop has two branches, one at 20 North Cross Road in Dulwich and the other at 1 Russell Street in Covent Garden. They’re hawking a line of special Valentines candies right now; these include an organic spotted dick chocolate bar, love hearts, and champagne truffles.

4. Makeshift river cruise. Bypass the terribly pricey Thames dinner cruises and cobble together a romantic river journey of your own. On Valentine’s Day afternoon, take a River Cruise eastward from Westminster to Greenwich or westward from Greenwich to Westminster. A cruise leaving Greenwich at 4:50 pm arrives at Westminster at 6:10 pm, affording almost a full hour of post-sunset views of the city. A one-way journey for adults costs £9.50 ($15.30) and a roundtrip runs £12.50 ($20.10).

5. Primrose Hill views. Few neighborhoods in London are quite as picturesque as Primrose Hill. The hill itself perches on the northern flank of Regent’s Park, and affords beautiful, sloping views of central London. Primrose Hill is also home to ungodly numbers of British celebrities. Will they be out on Valentine’s Day evening, enjoying the view? Unlikely, but you never know.

Searching for the perfect romantic bolthole for Valentine’s Day? Of course you are. Check out our list of five romantic properties in Boston, California, Mexico, Quebec, and St. Lucia.

[Image: Flickr | siddhu2020]

Solar powered theme park planned for the United Kingdom

by Joel Bullock on

Devon England’s Crealy Great Adventure Park has unveiled plans to be the United Kingdom’s first solar powered theme park. The plans involve the installation of 200,000 square feet of solar photovoltaic panels on the roofs of the park’s main buildings. In addition, panels will cover carports providing the dual purpose of sheltering guests’ cars while generating electricity.

The energy generated by the solar panels is expected to meet around 90% of the park’s needs during the peak summer months when sunlight is the brightest. The panels will power both buildings and rides like the park’s family roller coaster, Maximus. Surplus power will be fed into the National Grid.

While the news will likely generate some buzz for the park and increase the small park’s profile, I have to wonder if adding the panels will result in an increase in attendance. At the end of the day, an amusement park’s success is decided by its attractions and the experience it provides. Regardless, it is good to see someone leading sustainability efforts in the amusement industry. Crealy Great Adventure Park can already boast a green track record as it uses bio diesel oil for its vehicles, extracts water from a borehole, and uses local suppliers.