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Heritage Open Days and Doors Open London will see thousands of historically fascinating buildings open their doors to the public

Today Sarah Hamilton will throw open her front door in Kent and wait for a stream of total strangers to march in and sneer at her carpets. Hers is among thousands of normally tantalisingly closed doors joining Heritage Open Days, the annual event which, with next weekend's Doors Open London, constitutes the high point of the snooper's year.

Hamilton's Edwardian redbrick house in Paddock Wood is a time capsule of one family's history, the house where her mother and grandmother died, with some rooms unchanged since her grandfather bought it in 1920. She opened for the first time last year. "I'm passionate about history, and I love talking to people," she says. "And everyone that came was so nice."

The event is now coordinated nationally by English Heritage, with the help of thousands of volunteers: over the two weekends almost 5,000 sites will open. All are free, but many must be booked in advance. Here are seven doors that are opening this weekend:

▶ Birmingham, Edgbaston Lawn Tennis Club: the world's oldest lawn tennis club.

▶ Hoylandswaine, near Barnsley: 18th century nail-maker's forge, still in use in the 40s.

▶ Tyne & Wear, the Banqueting House: a Gothic folly built in 1746 on the Gibside Estate.

▶ Cambridge, the Cambridge Union: Victorian premises of the famous debating society, whose guests since 1815 have included Winston Churchill, Clint Eastwood and the Dalai Lama.

▶ Manchester: the Rufflette factory, where the curtain tape is still woven in a 1930s building originally designed to make machine-gun belts.

▶ Hastings, net shop: one of the oldest of the bizarre spindly black sheds on the beach, unique to Hastings and built in 1835 to store fishing gear.

▶ Bristol, Aardman Animation: state-of-the-art sustainability in new headquarters for the creators of Wallace and Gromit.

And three next weekend in London:

▶ Trellick Tower, Erno Goldfinger's loved and loathed London landmark since 1972.

▶ Beefeater Gin Distillery, Kennington, the last still in a city famous for the drink since Hogarth's vicious Gin Lane cartoon.

▶ Bromley, the Berresford House, 1957 design by Ivor Berresford, still strikingly modern, much used for photo-shoots and recently listed, dubbed "the perfect house" by Grand Designs.

• Heritage

Maev Kennedy
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Been there readers recommend their favourite castles across Britain for history, family fun and gory tales of battles past

Hermitage Castle, Hawick, Scotland

Liddesdale was described by George McDonald Fraser as the bloodiest valley in Britain. It was at the nexus of the murderous clan feuds which fed the Border Reiver conflicts and rent this lonely, stunningly beautiful part of Britain for 400 years. The Hermitage stands as a lonely reminder of that bloody past: massive, sinister, brooding, a dark H-shaped monument to power, politics and cruelty. It was there that Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie was starved to death by Sir William Douglas in 1342. An earlier Lord, De Soulis, was boiled to death at the castle because he sold his soul to the devil. The Hermitage's history feels soaked into its cold stones. It is effectively a ruin but there remains a grim evocative beauty about the building and its wilderness setting. The Reivers bequeathed us the words "bereave" and "blackmail": Liddesdale still whispers those words today. jonbb

• historic-scotland.gov.uk

Blackness Castle, near Linlithgow, Scotland

A 15th-century castle shaped like a ship on the shore of the Firth of Forth. Steep and scary ruins, rugged and rocky, perfect for clambering around with small children (really!). A small jetty projects into the river and there are fantastic views to the Forth Bridges. gkirrin

• historic-scotland.gov.uk

Edzell Castle, Perthshire, Scotland

The distinctive red sandstone ruin of Edzell Castle in Angus is perfect for exploring, but the real treasure is finding an Italian Renaissance garden nestling at the foot of a Scottish glen. This walled garden or pleasance was originally built in 1604. Triangular beds of dwarf box hedging create intricate designs while the wall is home to 16th-century German carvings using heraldic and symbolic imagery, plus flower-filled recesses. You won't meet one of the former guests – Mary Queen of Scots – but will you encounter the ghost of the White Lady? northernfi

• 10km north of Brechin on the B966; historic-scotland.gov.uk. Adult £4.70, Child £2.80

Kilchurn Castle, Argyll

A beautiful 15th-century castle ruin which sits beside the impressive waters of Loch Awe and nestles between the magnificent mountains of Argyll and Bute. My husband and I visited on a July evening this year and were lucky enough to share the experience with only the sheep and swooping swallows. We were free to explore the grounds, climb the castle towers and take in the breathtaking views at our leisure. Sipper

• Loch Awe, Argyll & Bute. Access on foot from Dalmally or boat from Loch Awe pier. Both on A85 road.

historic-scotland.gov.uk

WALESCastell Coch (the Red Castle), Wales

This castle can be seen emerging from the trees on a hillside beside the M4 (junction 32). It has a fairytale appearance even when passing at speed, but entering the castle takes this feeling of enchantment further. Unlike most castles this one is relatively modern (although built on ancient foundations) and is the result of money and Victorian imagination taken to the extreme. It was built as an elaborate holiday retreat for the 3rd marquess of Bute, to a design by William Burges, at the end of the 19th century. Its walls are beautifully decorated with intricate paintings of many things, including Aesop's Fables in one room. The furniture and decor is wonderfully over the top and bizarre and brings history to life in a refreshing way. lkerbiriou

• cadw.wales.gov.uk

Carreg Cennen Castle, Carmathenshire, Wales

Perched on top of – and carved out of – a huge crag, Carreg Cennen is one of the most surprising and romantic castles. From the medieval walls down the passage cut in the edge of the crag to the natural cave which runs beneath the castle, it's like something out of a wild fantasy story. Kids will love attacking the walls and we can all lose ourselves in the darkness below. Spooky, but torches are available for hire at the foot of the hill. Archaos

• cadw.wales.gov.uk Adults £3.70, children 5-16 £3.30

Castell y Bere, Abergynolwyn, Wales

Castell y Bere is a Welsh castle built by Llewellyn the Great in around 1221. It was besieged by the English in 1283 then later abandoned. It is a fabulous ruin with remains of towers, walls and a barbican. It is like stepping back in time when you walk up the path to the castle entrance. The views from the towers are of peaceful green hillsides that rise to heights above the castle. It is easily accessible, completely free and often deserted. rachbrock

• Take the Llanegryn turn off the A493 and follow the road to near the end of the valley, Castell y Bere signposted. cadw.wales.gov.uk. Entrance free.

Caernarfon Castle, Gwynedd

Why travel all the way to southern France to see one of Europe's finest medieval castles? While not on the scale of Carcasonne, Caernarfon has plenty of excitement of its own to offer.

It retains an angular, massive, military and almost industrial character (the closest comparison I can think of are 1940s flak towers I once saw in Vienna). As its purpose was to help subjugate the last area of strong Welsh resistance to the invading Anglo-Normans and symbolise royal authority, this isn't surprising. Come to think of it, Prince Charles' investiture as Prince of Wales in the castle doesn't seem too surprising either.

Though dominating the town, the castle really comes into its own when you (literally) get inside the walls. These are thick enough to contain a labyrinthine maze of passages linking the multi-layered, multi-levelled towers. You can easily become disoriented and enjoyably lost: I'd say it's the kind of place you could scamper round for hours with the kids, but to be honest I had hours of entertainment scampering round it as a supposedly responsible adult.

Add beautiful views across the Menai Strait and Snowdonia from the ramparts and the relatively unspoilt walled town (there's also a particularly good curry restaurant in one of the side streets yards from the castle) and you have a near-perfect day out. fivewindows

• 8 Castle Ditch, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 2AU; caernarfon-castle.co.uk

Raglan Castle, Abergavenny

A majestic ruin of a once splendid castle just inside Wales. From a distance it looks surprisingly small but on closer inspection, Raglan offers a good hour's worth of exploring. There are nooks and crannys aplenty for both the kids and brave adults to seek out; a water filled moat adds to the splendour, helping you to imagine yourself in the 15th century when the local gentry spent their days walking the long gallery or enjoying the fountain in the one of the two courtyards. That is until it was raised to the ground during the English civil war. And for a final spectacular, climb the steps to the top of the tallest tower to admire the views and see the castle in all its beauty. Re-enactors patrol the grounds, giving demonstrations of musket loading and firing. Whitemoon

• Raglan, Abergavenny;‎ cadw.wales.gov.uk. Adult - £3.00, Concession - £2.60, Family - £8.60

Caerphilly Castle, Glamorgan

This is a largely unknown gem, just seven miles north of Cardiff. As well as being a fine example of medieval castle architecture, it's the second largest castle in the UK (after Windsor), with a tower which out-leans Pisa's, and the most amazing water defences – so much more than a moat, trust me. Small children will love it, and will adore the life-size working replica medieval siege engines which get fired on special days in the summer. Buy some of the famous cheese in the town after your visit. KDBristol

• Five miles north of junction 32 on the M4, in the town of Caerphilly; caerphillycastle.com. Adult - £3.60, Concession - £3.20, Family - £10.40

ENGLANDWarkworth Castle, Northumberland, England

As any 12-year-old will tell you, the castle at Warkworth is a text book example of a motte and bailey. It was set out in 1200 and was the favoured residence of the Percy family from the 14th to the 17th century. We love it because there is plenty of scope for children of all ages to use their imagination. Stand in the shadowy passage of the gatehouse and picture missiles being dropped through murder holes on to would-be attackers, wander through the buttery, once stacked with beer barrels, or imagine a banquet in the Great Hall. The tiny port of Amble, framed through the ruined windows, is worth a stop for fish and chips at the end of your visit. morpethwriter

english-heritage.org.uk

Norham Castle, Northumberland, England

This is one of the most beautiful castles I have ever visited. It has an action-packed past. Look it up and try to work out how its history has impacted on the stones. It has barbicans that still inspire a closer look and inner baileys with mysterious buildings. Even better, it is rarely visited and overlooks the Tweed river. Some of its more illustrious neighbours don't come close. Turner painted it, Scott gave it a verse in his poetry and Mons Meg helped to bring it down. This is one of my favourite places. You will not be disappointed. Take a picnic. There is currently restricted access to the castle keep due to falling masonry, but the rest of the site is still open. The Sheep Gate is closest to the car park - just find your way through a gate, no one else will be there! NitromoorsFlashback

• Norham Village, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland TD15 2JY; english-heritage.org.uk.

Lindisfarne (Holy Island), Northumberland, England

A beautiful, tidal island with a majestic castle on a rocky outcrop above the North Sea. The castle faces the imposing Bamburgh Castle, and has views of the Farne islands. You can only cross at low tide, so make sure you check the timetable! Miles of sand, rockpools and rugged walks, it is amazing at dawn seeing the sun rise over the sea and castle. I loved it so much I got married there. culprit

• Marygate, Holy Island, Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 2SJ; lindisfarne.org.uk, nationaltrust.org.uk

Chillingham Castle, Northumberland

Chillingham Castle in Northumberland is as haunting as it name suggests – the castle enjoys numerous ghost stories, as well as dungeons and quite a disturbing torture chamber. The castle played a key role in bloody border battles throughout medieval history. Also a private residence, the often eccentric displays of personal belongings and home-cooked provisions in the kitchen really provide the visitor with an intimate experience of a key historic site. Landscaped gardens and tours to see truly wild cattle ensure something for everyone. Lijun

• Chillingham, Alnwick, Northumberland, NE66 5NJ; chillingham-castle.com. A family ticket is £18

Bamburgh Castle, Northumberland

Perched on the Northumberland coastline, Bamburgh Castle has to be one of the most dramatic, beautiful buildings in England. Explore the history of the site and see archaeological excavations in progress, but to experience the true beauty of this place take a walk along the often deserted beach (coats and scarves are a must). Looking back you get a breathtaking view of the castle standing proud above the sand dunes. The nearby town of Seahouses offers delicious fish and chips at the end of the day. Ali81

• Bamburgh, Northumberland, NE69 7DF; bamburghcastle.com

Corfe Castle, Swanage, Dorset

Just north of Swanage, on the way to Wareham this castle is one of the most stunning in the country. Blown up by Oliver Cromwell, the ruins dominate the town and for me no visit to Dorset is complete without a visit here. The views from the top of the castle of the surrounding country side are amazing, and the history of the castle can be felt everywhere. Once a very important Anglo-Saxon castle, most of the ruins that remain are from the time of Henry II. A castle not to be missed. didotwite2001

• The Square, Corfe Castle, Wareham, Dorset BH20 5EZ; nationaltrust.org.uk. Adult £6.20, child £3.10

Lulworth Castle, Dorset

An outstanding looking castle of fairytale grandeur. It's free to get into the grounds, free to park and only £10 to get into the castle itself. When we visited, there was a wizard in the castle in full costume, which added to the fairytale atmosphere. Just down the road from Lulworth Cove as well. Perfect day out. scottbrawn

• East Lulworth, Wareham, Dorset; lulworth.com

Norwich Castle, Norfolk, England

Norwich Castle is my local, and I've known it since I was small. It dominates the city of Norwich, where you can't really move without stumbling over some bit of medieval history - a church every 50 yards, a bit of city wall here, an ancient pub there. But Norwich Castle tops it all - quite literally - from its Norman mound. It's never fallen into ruin because it's never been out of use. The keep is all open inside, and feels strangely small after you've looked up at it from outside. It certainly gives you an idea of what it must have been like for the Normans, crammed together in a stinky, smoky hall. And you get a sense of everything that's gone on since. It was a prison for hundreds of years, and must have been pretty grim, but now I find it rather homely. It's got an art gallery (with stalwarts from the Norwich School of Painters) and even, slightly bizarrely, a rather good but compact natural history museum. hereward99

• Castle Meadow, Norwich, Norfolk NR1; museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=200.21. Castle ticket £6.20, children £4.40

Rye Castle Museum, East Sussex, England

More than a castle, Rye's 13th-century Ypres Tower forms part of the citadel of this ancient town, one of the seven Cinque Ports of Kent and Sussex. It was built in 1249 under the orders of Henry III to defend England from the French who just over a hundred years later raised Rye to the ground, leaving only the fort intact. You'll find spiral stone staircases, panoramic views and horrific instruments of torture. You can try on helmets and armour and lie on a bed in one of the cells in the narrow turrets. Children are kept busy with competitions or treasure hunts and outside they can clamber over canons in the Gun Garden. With its cobbled lanes, ancient buildings and 900-year-old church, huddled together with the castle inside the citadel, Rye is an impressive and beautiful historic town. Millyu

• 3 East Street, Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7JY; ryemuseum.co.uk/. Adults £3.00, concessions £2.50. Children free when accompanying family

Beeston Castle, Cheshire

There are not many family friendly attractions in the UK that allow pet dogs within their grounds, but Beeston Castle in Tarporley, Cheshire is one exception.

It's super to explore on a fine day and picnics are welcome.The pretty sloping grounds often host reenactments and interactive demonstrations for children. Alongside this there are woodlands and bat caves to discover and explore.

The walk up to the castle summit is wonderful, but very steep in parts - however the buggy pushers did not seem to falter! At the top the views are incredible and on a clear day no less that eight counties can be seen, from the Pennines to the Welsh mountains. As a budding photographer, my husband was in his element and the children loved tearing around while the adults marvelled at the view. JohnnySegment

• Beeston Castle, Tarporley, Cheshire, CW6 9TX; english-heritage.org.uk

Adults £5.30, children £2.70

• United Kingdom
• Europe
• Heritage
• Day trips

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Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary wants to use just one pilot per flight as part of his drive to save costs at the budget airline

Ryanair chief Michael O'Leary will seek permission from aviation authorities to have just one pilot on shorter flights

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary wants to use just one pilot per flight as part of his ongoing drive to save costs at the budget airline.

O'Leary said he intends to write to aviation authorities for permission to use only one pilot per flight because he believes co-pilots are unnecessary in modern jets, the Financial Times reported today.

The airline boss, who has previously considered standing tickets on flights, as well as charging for the use of toilets, conceded that two pilots would be needed on long-haul flights, but said on shorter trips that flight attendants could do the job.

In an interview he said the second pilot was only there to "make sure the first fella doesn't fall asleep and knock over one of the computer controls".

He backed up his comments by adding that trains were allowed to have one driver even though this could conceivably cause a crash in the event of a heart attack. He said: "It could save the entire industry a fortune. In 25 years with over about 10 million flights we've had one pilot who suffered a heart attack in flight and he landed the plane."

But industry experts have labelled the proposal "unwise". A spokesman for the British Airline Pilots Association said: "This is just a bid for publicity. His suggestion is unsafe and his passengers would be horrified."

O'Leary frequently courts controversy with his attempts to cut costs at Ryanair. This year he raised the baggage charge for the summer holiday season and, following the volcano ash cloud crisis, initially capped the level of compensation to passengers. He later bowed to EU pressure and agreed to pay out costs to customers affected by the eruption.

• Ryanair
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This week, Lonely Planet's Tom Hall offers expert advice on experiencing Bolivia's salt flat, New Zealand for New Year and malaria-free exotic breaks

I have been looking for a location I once saw on a travel programme. It's one of the most extraordinary places in the world. I'm not sure what country it's in but, in an attempt to describe what I saw, I would say it's a desert location maybe - the ground reflected the sky so although you are walking on a solid surface it appears as though you are in a state of limbo. 
Adyam Markos

The near-unanimous verdict of colleagues who I consulted about this was that the place is Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni. This is the world's largest salt flat, covering an area of just over 4,000 square miles and sitting at an altitude of 12,000ft (3,657 metres), and when covered with water becomes one giant mirror. This is when many of the other-worldly photos you may have seen will have been taken.

Gap Adventures (08444 10 10 30; gapadventures.com) offer a 25-day Andes to the Atlantic Experience from 16 September-10 October 2010 for £1,589. Highlights include La Paz, Salar de Uyuni, Potosí, Sucre, Santa Cruz, the Pantanal wetlands, Iguazú Falls and Rio de Janeiro. The price includes a three-day 4WD excursion to the Salar de Uyuni and a two-day wildlife excursion to the Pantanal, transport, accommodation, some meals and local guides.

There are other places where you might get a similar visual effect – the Bonneville salt flats in Utah, where world land-speed records are usually attempted and the Etosha salt pan in Namibia.

I am flying with Continental Airlines from London to Cartagena (Colombia) via Newark and Bogota. The return flight departs from Cartagena and goes via Panama City and Newark. Since booking the flights, I have decided that I would like to sail from Cartagena to Panama and, therefore, approached the airline to cancel the first leg of the return journey and requested that I depart from Panama City instead.

The airline have confirmed that it will cost £75 plus the difference in ticket price (currently £100) to change the flight. Are they able to charge this even though I will be flying fewer air miles? What happens if I don't change anything but just try to check in in Panama?
Alexa Whitehead

Continental's terms and conditions say that they will "reroute a passenger at the passenger's request and upon presentation of the ticket or portion thereof then held by the passenger plus payment of any applicable fees, charges, and fare differentials." What this means is that there are charges for any changes to an issued ticket, provided the change was made after 24 hours from the time of your booking. These will usually reflect any change in fare and taxes, plus an administration charge from the airline. In this case, the latter fee is £75.

Since the cost of a fare is determined by more than how far the plane has to fly, and varies according to the date of travel and how busy it is when you book, it is possible that you are trying to fly on a shorter but more expensive flight. Therefore while this fee seems illogical the airline can charge more. As many readers will know, you could be in a worse position as many airlines would under these circumstances only be able to cancel your ticket and issue you with a new one.

Don't risk turning up at Panama City and trying to board the plane there. Chances are you'll be marked as a no-show in Cartagena and not be able to get on the plane, or have to buy a new ticket to do so.

My boyfriend and I are planning a three-week trip away, either at Christmas and New Year or the first three weeks of January 2011. We were planning to go to New Zealand but the flight prices look too steep.  Do you have suggestions for somewhere equally as stunning, with good weather but flight prices at around £700 mark rather than the £1k prices we've been seeing for NZ? 
Mollie Lewis

Early and mid January is not a cheap month to travel, as it coincides with the summer holidays in the southern hemisphere. If you can postpone your trip until the start of February, you will find airfares drop dramatically. A £1,000 return fare to Auckland in January isn't a bad price. I took a sample of fares across January on Expedia going from London to Auckland. While I was quoted upwards of £1,250 for early January departures, as soon as I searched for February dates the price was as low as £850 with Royal Brunei Airlines, going via Dubai and Bandar Seri Begawan.

Alternatives will have similarly inflated airfares in January, and nowhere has quite the same combination of attractions that New Zealand has. I found some £831 fares to Melbourne, Australia with well-regarded Qatar Airways, from where you could pick up a cheap flight with the likes of Jetstar (jetstar.com) to Hobart or Launceston in Tasmania. The island is green and very scenic and there are some superb hikes including the South Coast Track. Tasmania (discovertasmania.co.uk) is also home to some wonderful beaches and wineries and has a fascinating colonial history. I was lucky enough to visit a few years ago for the Guardian and there are some suggestions in my article. There's not three weeks' worth of things to do here so consider spending a little time exploring Victoria (visitvictoria.com), possibly following the Great Ocean Road. If the flight has to come in at under £700 you could get an open-jaw flight into one Central American city and out of another. One option is to fly into Guatemala City and out of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, visiting Mayan temples, Belize's beaches and Honduras' Bay Islands.

Note that parts of Christchurch's central business district are currently off limits following the earthquake, but that the rest of the city and the South Island is operating as normal, including Christchurch airport. See newzealand.com for daily updates.

Since it is generally advised that pregnant women shouldn't take anti-malaria pills, where can a pregnant woman go for one last exotic beach/snorkelling/exploration holiday? Central America would have been great, but for the mosquitos.
Joel

Assuming that you don't want to risk visiting areas with even a limited risk of malaria transmission, this rules out a huge swathe of the world, mostly between the tropics and neatly counting out most of the places that fit the bill, based on what you're after. Most, but not all. Much of Brazil, except for Amazonian areas, is malaria-free, and there are huge swathes of coast that would be suitable for you including the beautiful archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, areas of which made Gavin McOwan's top 10 beaches last year. Cuba also has no risk of malaria. Voyager Cuba offers tailor-made trips (voyagercuba.co.uk). Lastly, one of the most fashionable destinations of the past few years is Oman, whose mix of upmarket resorts, historic cities and some excellent snorkelling and diving fit the bill.  Destination Oman (destinationoman.com) can give you some more ideas.

• New Zealand
• Bolivia

Tom Hall
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Photographs from the Guardian Eyewitness series

The procession of bards wends its way through narrow streets in St Ives. From the Guildhall they pass St Ia's church, whose pillars are garlanded in hops, the lifeboat station, harbour, cafes, ice-cream and pasty shops, art galleries, gift shops, holiday lets and crowds of bemused visitors, en route to the Island, the site of this year's Gorsedd. There, yntra deu vor (with sea on each hand) the gathering of blue-robed bards attracts spectators perched on rocks and grass below the chapel of St Nicholas. This chapel was used as a watch house and landmark by fishermen before the War Office set about demolishing it in 1904; protests led to its restoration in 1911.

Inland and out to sea is hazy and dull but this shore is brightened by fleeting sunlight, which glistens on the adjacent Porthmeor beach while also enhancing the blueness of the circle of bards and reflecting on their copper regalia. Today's ceremony includes the introduction of a recently forged sword, carried in two halves by a Breton and a Cornish bard, and presented whole to the delegate from Wales to symbolise links between the three Celtic countries. Before the sound of harp and pipes heralds the bards' arrival, people gather around stalls selling books about Cornwall's history and language. The Guild of Cornish Hedgers displays photos of old walls, hedge banks and stitches (remnants of medieval strip fields) which contribute to distinctive landscapes; there are references to dialect words still associated with traditional hedge-building like batter, ram, rab hard and tob off. Tros an Treys, a group of dancers dressed in red and black perform a serpent dance, and the local concert band's music mingles with the sound of waves and gulls.

• Cornwall

Virginia Spiers
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A zero-carbon heating initiative in Paris plans to harness hot air generated by underground travel to warm up nearby homes

Warmth generated by sweaty passengers as they commute on the Paris Métro may be used to heat a block of low-income flats located near the Pompidou Centre in the city centre. This could slash the building's energy bill and carbon footprint by a third, according to the property's owner.

The temperature in nearby Rambuteau Métro station stays at a toasty 14-20C degrees all year round thanks to the heat generated by passengers, trains and other machinery. Paris Habitat-OPH, the owners of the building, plan to use the underground heat to warm up water as it courses through pipes. It will then be pumped to the surface into an underfloor heating system in the block of flats.

"It's a huge source of free, zero-carbon heat so it couldn't make more sense," said Dr Patrick James, a researcher at the University of Southampton's School of Civil Engineering and the Environment. "I guess the only problem will be if there's a train strike in the winter, in which case they'll need a back-up source of heat."

The UK is currently considering similar projects. "By 2016, all new residential buildings will need to be zero carbon, so people are definitely starting to think about innovative ways to heat buildings," he said. Heating accounts for roughly two-thirds of the average UK home's carbon emissions.

Normally, it would be prohibitively expensive to hook up a building's heating system to a subway. "You'd have to dig up roads and it just wouldn't be cost effective," said Dan Phillips, head of sustainability at environmental engineering firm Buro-Happold. It only works here because the flats are connected to the subway by an old stairwell which can house the new pipes bringing the heated water to the surface.

Engineering companies will be invited to bid for the contract by the end of the year and Paris Habitat-OPH hopes to start construction in 2011.

Paris is not the first city to attempt such a feat. Heat generated by Central Station in Stockholm is used to heat an office building. And in Oslo, heat is captured from sewerage and used to heat the city.

• Carbon footprints
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Scientists are racing to prevent a build-up of water under a glacier on Mont Blanc from flooding the village of Saint-Gervais

Viewed from up here, the world of man appears very small and vulnerable. The Tête-Rousse glacier, hovering between sky and earth at an altitude of 3,200 metres, dominates the scene splendidly. It is a magnificent panorama of infinite horizons, the perfect silence interrupted only by sound of the climbers' crampons as they start the ascent to Aiguille du Goûter, the normal route up Mont Blanc. Facing us, the Aravis range and the Chablais Alps break up the horizon, while in the valley below, tiny chalets appear to be clinging to the mountainside.

But the serenity is deceptive. In the core of the glacier lies a silent threat that could, without warning, destroy the village of Saint-Gervais below. Trapped under the glacier lies an enormous 65,000 cubic metre pocket of water – the equivalent of 20 Olympic swimming pools – that could burst and surge down on to the village below. "It's impossible to predict when that might happen," said Christian Vincent from the Grenoble Laboratory of Glaciology and Geophysical Environment. He is here to carry out a regular temperature check at Tête-Rousse.

The 75 metre-deep glacier covers 8 hectares of a rocky basin. Early this summer, several boreholes were pierced with a high-pressure hot water drill and special sensors introduced on to the bedrock. Using a snow shovel, the scientist clear the markers that show where these were placed and note down the temperatures. "Precise knowledge of a glacier's temperatures is vital to understanding how these water pockets are formed," Vincent explains.

The danger may be invisible but it is real enough. One such disaster remains in Saint-Gervais's collective memory. In 1892, 80,000 cubic metres of water that had collected in a sub-glacial cavity burst through the ice "cork" that was holding it in. A torrential flow of water tore down rocks and trees in its path and buried Saint-Gervais in mud and debris, leaving 175 dead.

According to the current mayor, Jean-Marc Peillex, far greater damage would be caused now, "due to urbanisation and the large number of tourists visiting the glacier". As many as 900 houses could be swept away.

The alarm was first sounded in 2007, when the thickness of the ice was measured by radar. "Nobody thought there might be water under the glacier," Vincent said. "But the images showed something abnormal about 10 metres above the bedrock."

In 2009 this was confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance, a technique similar to a medical MRI scan. It proved that an enormous pocket of water – or possibly several pockets – was locked deep inside Tête-Rousse. The reason for the water collecting lies in climate warming. But paradoxically – grassroots science being more complex than theoretical models – this has led to a cooling of the lower part of the glacier. The probable process, as described by Vincent, is that the water from thawing in the upper part of the glacier trickles down on to the bedrock though micro-fissures until it finds an outlet.

In the case of Tête-Rousse, the warming observed over the past decades has reduced the thickness of the snow cover (the firn, which provides thermal protection), and to a greater extent in the lower part of the glacier than in the upper part.

As a result, during a recent cold snap, the thinner spur of ice below cooled more rapidly than the ice at the glacier's summit (there being a difference of more than 2C between the two), resulting in the formation of a dam that blocked the water trickling down from above. However, being unable to find an outlet, the water has accumulated and now the pressure is rising – and threatening to burst like a pressure cooker.

A scientific report issued in July by three Grenoble laboratories concluded that it was necessary to pump the water out the sub-glacial cavity as soon as possible. A warning system, costing $640,000, was immediately set up. Two metal cables were placed across the glacier, which, if broken, would trigger a siren in the valley below. The nearest inhabitants have been informed about the 17 rallying points on high ground, and would have 10 minutes to reach the nearest one if the alarm sounds.

The pumping of Tête-Rousse began last month. Powerful boring machines and pumps were transported by helicopter to the glacier. The water will be pumped out within a month and gradually released. The whole operation will cost $2.5m, 80% of which will be paid for by the French government and the European Union.

Is that the end of the story? "In a year or two we will have to check if the pocket is filling up again," says Vincent. "If that is the case, we will have to consider boring a permanent channel to drain the water." Models show that the water collected in just two years.

Reservoir formation under glaciers is a rare phenomenon. But with global warming these risks are increasing, such as the collapse of surface ice and, with the receding permanent snowline, the formation of proglacial lakes whose natural barriers will give way, up there between earth and sky.

Keeping the lights on

In Chamonix, climate change is also a reality for EDF, the French electricity giant. The Mer de Glace glacier has been retreating fast in recent years and is threatening the sub-glacial water intake in the Les Bois hydroelectric power plant.

When this plant came on stream in 1973, the intake took place 200 metres under the ice. In spring 2009, it was out in the open, and, to make matters worse, covered by a mass of glacial rock and sediment following a number of storms.

EDF now has to maintain electricity production while carrying out the work needed to adapt to the new circumstances – and keeping the Les Bois plant "at the highest level of environmental integration".

Not without reason: the 12km Mer de Glace is the longest French glacier and something of a national treasure.

The stakes for the Haute-Savoie region are considerable. The Bois hydroelectric plant produces 113m kWh per year, mostly during the thaw, which is the domestic consumption of 50,000 inhabitants, or a town the size of Annecy.

However, the glacier has been retreating at a rate of about 30 metres a year since 2003. "And the pace has increased in the past few years," said an EDF official. At the Rochers de Mottets level, for instance, ice thickness has been falling by between eight and 10 metres a year since 2004.

"We anticipated this situation, and after some research, we decided to move the intake upstream in the glacier under 100 metres of ice, which won't change anything to the scenery or the tourism business," said EDF, before launching the $19m project. Work started in 2008 on an underground channel to divert the water permanently to the new intake area – no easy matter under such difficult geographic and climatic conditions. The installation is due to come on stream in the spring.

Meanwhile, a temporary solution was found by digging a channel a few dozen metres long to emerge below the glacier. That will provide sufficient water to feed the plant until 2011.

This article originally appeared in Le Monde

• France
• Climate change
• Climate change
• Climbing holidays
• Glaciers

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London commuters face major disruption as tube workers in the RMT and TSSA unions hold a 24-hour strike

Homestays are becoming increasingly popular, allowing you to experience real India at affordable prices, says Lesley Gillilan

The Indian "homestay" experience has grown from strength to strength since the idea first emerged in Kerala, a decade or so ago. Now there are homestay tours and specialist agencies for the many hospitable families offering modestly priced accommodation in a variety of homes from city apartments to plantation houses. The majority are in the far north or the far south (Delhi, Rajasthan, Kerala), but the idea is spreading into other states. As a general rule, they are middle-class houses, largely run by the active retired professionals, though there are younger, or poorer, families among homestay hosts. Website galleries proudly feature pictures of "European-style toilets"; they often promise safe drinking water, station and airport pick-ups, drinks in the lounge among the family portraits. Some simply offer homely bed and breakfast while others veer towards the boutique hotel (which is reflected in the price), but the ones to look for are those that invite you to join the family, sample home-cooked regional food and explore the suburbs, hilltops and backwaters of those untouristy corners of India you might never otherwise see.

1. Sirohi House, Old Delhi

The former home of the Maharajah of Sirohi, this mansion of a townhouse is close to Civil Lines, in the thick of Old Delhi, but only two metro stops from Chandni Chowk (three from Connaught Circus). Beyond the gates, a private drive leads up to a grand entrance. It's big on ornate fireplaces, chandeliers, carved hardwood, bits of Hindu temple (the owner, the amiable Ashok Sahdev, collects antiques). For guests there's a choice of two standard doubles and two suites, all with bathrooms, air-con and cable TV, plus the run of the communal rooms - including a cocktail lounge with bar where you can chat over G&Ts. They serve up sit-down meals, buffets, barbecues, picnics, canapés and even room service. And a big plus is the lovely urban garden – a world away from the mayhem of the Indian capital.

• From £47 a night; homeandhospitality.co.uk.

2. Vikram and Paaro Ranawat's home, Jaipur

Vikram is a retired air force officer; Paaro is descended from the Rajput aristocracy and she has her own clothing company (kaftans and vegetable-dyed cottons). Their home is a suburban villa to the west of Jaipur; a series of airy, open-plan living spaces arranged around a flower-filled atrium; marble floors, a roof terrace, antique-modern furnishings, two guest bedrooms with a private lounge and a self-contained cottage in the garden. Paaro can organise cookery demonstrations, Hindi lessons, yoga classes, or a visit to her clothing factory. Or you can just hang out in the garden on lawns dotted with fruit trees (papaya, pomegranate, custard apple) and organise your next outing (the Ranawats have family all over Rajasthan).

• From £26 a night; homeandhospitality.co.uk.

3. Mr and Mrs Mehra's home, Dehradun

Set in a quiet residential area, the house has a bowling-green lawn, geraniums spilling out of window boxes and views of the Shivalik hills - this city in the Doon Valley is the capital of Uttarakhand and makes a handy stopover en route from Delhi to the Himalayan National Park. After settling into your homely room, Mr Mehra, a retired wool processing specialist, wheels out the drinks trolley (whisky, anyone?), while his wife hands around her apparently famous snacks (try the tandoori chicken or the lamb brain kebabs). From the balcony you can see the misty forests of Mussoorie - the so-called Queen of hill stations. You can walk there in three hours or, for a modest fee, borrow the Mehras' car and driver.

• From £27 a night; homeandhospitality.co.uk.

4. Colonel's Retreat, Delhi

This smart city bolthole in south Delhi's Defence Colony is home to well-travelled couple Arun and Suman Khanna (the Colonel takes its name from Arun's Indian army father). Three bright guest rooms offer clean-cut decor and all mod-cons (marble bathrooms, Wi-Fi, air-con, cable TV and hospitality trays). There are balconies to sit out on, views of the city, staff to look after you (all meals are provided on request), plus the help and hospitality of your charming hosts (Arun is particularly up on round-Delhi cycling routes). Shops, markets, restaurants and the Humayun tomb, a World Heritage site, are all within walking distance.

• From £57 a night; colonelsretreat.com (also mahindrahomestays.com).

5. Capella, Northern Goa

Jamshed and Ayesha Madon's lovely Goan house sits in lush tropical gardens in a quiet hamlet roughly halfway between the market town of Mapusa and Baga beach. Jamshed, an ex-merchant mariner, and Ayesha, a former journalist, built the traditional-style house after moving south from Mumbai to start a new life. They now run a successful Italian restaurant, J&A's in Baga; they have a young son, eight-year-old Zal, a family of dogs and cats and three cool, spacious guest rooms - two in the house and one in a self-contained cottage in the garden. All are furnished with snazzy modern bathrooms and antique beds. Relax on the verandah or the sala (the Madons' living room), enjoy simple, homemade lunches such as curries, rice and salads, help yourself to a drink from the honesty bar, or head for the beach (a 15-minute drive). A swimming pool is planned for later this year.

• From £60 a night; capellagoa.com.

5. Spiti Homestays, Himachal Pradesh

This isn't one homestay, but a whole community of them – a choice of 14 in all, spread across six high-altitude villages all in the isolated Pin Valley, set against the frosted peaks of the Himalayas (Kibber, one of the world's highest villages, stands 4,500m above sea level). As homestays go, these mud-and-brick dwellings are a bit rougher than most (instead of bathrooms you get buckets of hot water, and the toilets are composting squats) but the guest rooms – one a household - are clean, and colourful, furnished with rugs and folksy fabrics. Aside from home-cooked Spitian cuisine (momos perhaps, or noodle soup), you get rugged scenery, invigorating mountain air, smiling faces and the odd yak safari. Not only will you step into a way of life in this Bhuddist community that hasn't really changed for centuries, but you will also help to keep it going.

• Rooms from £35 a night, including meals and a guide; mahindrahomestays.com.

7. Nelpura, Alappuzha, Kerala

At Kuttanad, a tranquil corner of the Keralan backwaters, this "heritage homestay" is the 150-year-old home of a Syrian Christian family, Chackochan Edayady ("Mr Chacko") and his wife Salimma. Although both are academics (he is a professor of pharmacy; she teaches chemistry), they still run the family farm, a few watery acres of paddy and coconut palms just off the River Pampa. A traditional Keralan granary house (carved wood, a wraparound verandah, a pagoda-like tiled roof), provides three guest rooms (two are air-conditioned); and the food is fresh, homely and plentiful. Visit the magnificent St Mary's Forane church at Pulinconnoo, meet the locals, potter about in a country boat, or take a backwater trip to, say, Alappuzha (12 miles away).

From a £100 a double, full board; nelpura.com, +91 477 2702336 (also keralaconnections.co.uk, +44 (0)1892 724913).

8. Evergreen Estate Bungalow, Mundakayam, Kerala

In the heart of rubber country (between the hot coastal plains and the high tea gardens of the Western Ghats), George and Anju Abraham's 1950s house looks more Florida than Kerala - all Art Deco curves and decks of concrete – but what it offers is a taste of traditional Indian plantation life. Set in a tropical garden, peeking at the Mundakayam Valley through slender rubber trees, the bungalow has two large, simply furnished guest rooms, whirling ceiling fans, wicker chairs on shaded verandahs. George's family has farmed here for generations and he's keen to show you around: the Pullakaya River, the village rubber factory, Mundakayam's colonial-era planters' club. Dine en famille, while Anju bustles in and out with plate after plate of wonderful food: Appams with mild vegetable stew, fish moily, meat-ball curry, banana fry, fresh passion fruit juice (home grown). You can nip into the kitchen and see how it's done.

• From £59 a night; mahindrahomestays.com, +44 (0)203 140 8422 or stayhomz.com/evergreen.htm, +91 48 28 28431.

9. Glenora Homestay, Wayanad, Kerala

In the Wayanad District, a belt of rainforest in the northern Keralan highlands, Glenora is one of those homestays for whom success has meant a push upmarket - but that doesn't dim the quality of the experience. Home to the hospitable Rajagopal family, and registered as a "farm tourism provider", the house is set in 90 acres of coffee, pepper, betel nut, lime, ginger, guava and avocado among other fruit and spices. As well as three light, well-furnished rooms in the house, there are two new cottages on stilts (each of the latter has two balconies overlooking the plantation – birds, monkeys, foliage and not another house in sight). Activities include trekking, jeep safaris, badminton and trips to Sunrise Valley (less than a mile away), Meenmutty Falls or the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary.

• B&B from £45 a night; glenorahomestay.com, +91 4936 217550/217450 (also mahindrahomestays.com).

10. Nandan Farms, Sawantwadi, Maharashtra

In the Sindhudurg region of southern Maharashtra, this rustic, adobe-style home offers two guest rooms opening on to a wide verandah that overlooks Ammu and Ashish Padgaonkar's farm - 12 acres of cashews, pineapples and coconut palms. It's off the beaten track, a bit of real India, but they offer hot water, proper loos and a great location. To the east is Amboli, the little hill station in the Sahyadri hills, to the west, the beaches of Vengurla - both are less than 20 miles away. Hop on a train at nearby Sawantwadi station (on the mainline Konkan Railway), and you can be in northern Goa in half an hour (the state border is some 10 miles south). Or just stay put; try a local bullock-cart ride, kcik back in a Nandan Farms hammock or enjoy Ammu's excellent cooking (fried mackerel, say, or Malvani-style chicken curry).

• Doubles from around £36 a night, full board; responsibletravel.com.

• India
• Hotels
• Asia
• Kerala
• Delhi
• Goa
• Top 10s

Lesley Gillilan
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At the Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show we paused at a tent surrounded by gleaming, blue agricultural machines to see a friend who knows the area's farmers, as he has spent his whole working life travelling north Dorset to sell tractors. He spoke of the trouble the long rainless spell (since broken) had caused, with only one good cut of hay rather than two or three. By Christmas, he said, fodder would be like gold dust. But there were positive signs too: a giant tractor bristling with sophisticated add-ons had a "sold" notice on it, and the farming folk sitting down to a ploughman's lunch and a glass or two had a hearty and contented look. Later on, Dorset was to provide supreme champions in both dairy and beef cattle classes.

An eager crowd pressed round the Turnpike Ring to watch a falconer training a young peregrine. A peregrine, he said, could reach a speed of over 200mph. This one, only eight months old, was very reluctant to leave his glove and perch on an assistant's while he slowly backed away to a distance of about a cricket-pitch length. Then, at a command, the bird was released, flew to the falconer's glove, and was rewarded with a piece of steak and appreciative applause. Next, the trainer stood farther away and twirled the "lure", a pheasant wing on the end of a line. The young bird swooped to a midair catch, earning a bigger reward and louder applause.

This is a great show for dogs and dog owners. There were gun dogs, fox hounds, hearing dogs for deaf people, and all manner of working dogs. We met a pair of big, amiable and beautifully groomed dogs with black, woolly coats. The owners told us they were Tibetan mastiffs, once bred as fearsome guards of herds and nomad camps. And the three tall, rangy dogs with sparse, wispy coats, lounging in the sunshine, were Scottish deerhounds, noted less for lively action than for spending long hours stretched out in comfort.

• Dorset
• Farming

John Vallins
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8:38 pm: Advice on the platform at Paddington was to take the first train and change "where necessary." I'd hoped to go to Whitechapel by way of the District Line, but a Circle train came first so I jumped on. I shared my carriage with about eight other people. The big slowdown is underway - it felt rather luxurious. I got out at Cannon Street, where a sign told me that the ticket office had been closed since 3 May due to station improvement work. A man sat alone in a booth by the barriers. Otherwise, the place was empty of staff and almost of passengers too.

Above ground, the main line station was equally morgue-like. Outside, it was raining. I walked to Bank, drifting through those ancient, narrow City narrow steets I hadn't lingered in since the G20 demos and, having failed to find a different alternative location, I'm now I'm back in Liverpool Street station. The ticket office is still open, the staff by the barriers are still on duty, the information boards are still showing that a "special service" has been laid on for Bakerloo passengers heading north of Queens Park and that "minor dealys" are affecting the Circle, District and Central lines.

With nine o'clock approaching, the strike will really start to bite. Its teeth will make their mark in the morning. I'm off to catch the train back to Clapton. Tomorrow morning, I'll be going to City Hall. It's going to be a whole other day.

7:15 pm: I've made my way by Circle Line to Paddington where life is good because the in-house music system of the Starbuck's where I'm sitting has just played Toots and the Maytals singing Country Roads. Downstairs, Tube business looks slow. As I waited on the platform at Liverpool Street an announcer warned that coming delays would be "severe" and another had news that the strike was starting to bite: no trains on the Bakerloo from Queens Park to its endpoint at Harrow and Wealdstone. By the time I got here "minor delays" were being reported on the Central and District.

It was quiet on the Circle, quite weirdly so: only a dozen people in my carriage were obliged to stand, there was room for couples to engage in a little light snogging action and for me to read Boris Johnson's leader page piece in the Standard (quite a lucrative slot during the Max Hastings era, I pleasurably recall). The Mayor characterises the dispute as a struggle between modernisation and "Luddites". He describes changing station staff working practices in the Oyster age as a "duty" and he reasserts that there will remain a ticket office at every station. This last claim is true. But the weaseling begins when he writes that "opening times [will be] better matched to demand," which is one of the ways in which he conceals the issue of the 800 job losses planned. The other is neglecting to mention them at all in his piece. There's courage and integrity for you.

Back at Liverpool Street, I went to a ticket office window and told the person behind it that I needed a ten pound top-up (which I didn't) and that I found using the machines instead of a human being confusing (which I do). I asked what time the strike would shut the office down and was told this would happen at the end of the shift, which was a bit after the official down tools time of nine: "The real impact will be tomorrow. I'm afraid it's got to be done."

I said I appreciated the service I'd been given and hoped that any job loss programme would be implemented fairly (and TfL has pledged that no redundancies will be compelled). I'm not sure I was believed, but I think it was worth saying. As ever, the media are far more interested in the effects of industrial disputes than the reasons why employees are engaged in them. The RMT and TSSA between them represent 11,000 LU station staff. The potential loss of 800 represents a huge percentage.

I've a friend who works for TfL on the sub-surface side who reckons plenty of those workers will accept the voluntary redundancy terms available and that, in the end, LU management's offer will be broadly accepted. He sees this strike as very largely a show of strength in anticipation of the budget cuts to come; a warning against anyone thinking that swingeing staff cuts will be an easy option for filling TfL's financial black hole. Maybe that's what that Liverpool Street ticket office worker was telling me. If so, should anybody be surprised?

5:42 pm: I'm perched on the high walkway above the well of Liverpool Street station reading a coffee-stained Evening Standard (my spillage) which confirms what friends and colleagues who, unlike me, went out to work today have been saying – that commuters have been heading home early in order to beat the effects of today's – and tomorrow's – Tube strike.

This formally kicked off on a network-wide basis a short while ago at five o'clock, though from where I'm sitting the melee at this major public transport hub looks much the same as usual at this rush-hour time, or maybe a little quieter. People are entering and exiting the Underground barriers in numbers. Panic is in short supply.

Do not be deceived, though. Transport for London acknowledges that the expected reduction in services, however large it turns out to be, will intensify throughout the evening. That five o'clock start was for London Underground's maintenance staff (mostly RMT members). The operational staff – they're the ones the public meets and depends upon in ticket offices on concourses and so on – aren't scheduled to withdraw their labor until later (they're a mixture of RMT and TSSA members).

Meanwhile, there's another Tube strike already in full swing. A couple of hundred engineers on the Jubilee and Northern lines, employed by the contractor Alstom, downed tools yesterday. The RMT said today that the strike was rock solid. TfL said it had no effect on services whatsoever. It is just about possible to reconcile those two statements – think about it – but my primary insight is the brilliant one that there must be a Tube strike on.

I'm going to nip down to the Underground entrance again now to see if anything has changed since I arrived from Deepest Hackney. After that I'll take a stroll into the City. Or maybe an Underground train. Who knows?

• London
• London politics
• London
• Transport

Dave Hill
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Barney Ronay, Paolo Bandini, and Simon Burnton join James Richardson for an international round-up on the latest Football Weekly.

We start with England, who got their qualification campaign for Euro 2012 off to a fine start with a 4-0 win against Bulgaria. Next up for Fabio Capello and his team is Switzerland, and Kieron O'Connor - aka the Swiss Rambler - gives us the lowdown.

Also in the podcast, Ewan Murray tries to raise a smile about the state of Scottish football after Craig Levein's side could only manage a 0-0 draw in Lithuania.

Finally, we discuss Wayne Rooney; wonder what Aston Villa fans have in store with the potential appointment of Gérard Houllier as the club's new manager; and ask, what's the best film about Greco-Roman wrestling (is it this one?)

Let us know what you think on the blog below, follow us on Twitter, and make sure you sign up to our daily email, The Fiver.

Thanks to all of you who've bought tickets to our live show in Liverpool in October - it's now sold out.

James RichardsonBen GreenPaolo BandiniSimon BurntonBarney RonayEwan Murray

Michael Tait visits Scotland's western Highlands to meet Stephen and Jo Wanderley, practitioners of the 4,000 year old art of falconry

Michael Tait

Patrick Kingsley and Guardian photographer Sean Smith travel to the popular gap year resort of Had Rin, on the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand, to meet backpackers attending the Full Moon Party

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Welcome to the Flyer. This week:

Discover the less-visited corners of the Middle East, from an inspiring walk in Palestine to Jordan's surprising green wildlife parks; on Been there, see the winning images of local life from last month's photo comp; slow travel to Norway on a coastal road trip; plus all the latest news and comment, late deals and more ...

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Walking through the heart of Palestine
An extraordinary new walk through stunning landscape gives a heart-warming insight into Palestinian life. Read more in our Middle East travel special

London to Stavanger by road
Debbie Lawson takes the slow route north on a camping road trip along Norway's stunning south coast

Video breaks: Ireland's school of drums
Every year bodhrán drummers from all over the world descend on the little-known island of Inis Oírr for a unique insight into Ireland's traditional music

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Don't let the tube strike defeat you. Our tips on on how to cycle past the queues

If you are a London commuter dreading tube strike chaos this evening and tomorrow there is an alternative to fighting your way on to overcrowded buses or a long walk.

Whether you are a lapsed cyclist nervous about busy roads, or don't even have a bike, here's our practical guide to cycling to work:

• I don't have a bike. If you're really keen, this could be the perfect excuse to fork out for a two-wheeled steed. London Cycling Campaign has lots of advice on what to look for in a new bike plus the accessories like lights and a lock that are pretty essential. Alternatively, you could try hiring a bike for a couple of days, or sign up for the new central London cycle hire scheme. It costs just a pound to access the scheme for a day with usage charges varying depending on how long you use the bike for (up to 30 minutes is free). That won't get you into work from the suburbs, but if you are commuting into a central terminus like Liverpool Street or Charing Cross then a hire bike would take you the rest of the way.

• I haven't used my bike for a while. If your bike has been rusting at the back of the garage for a few months (or even years), you may not be confident it is actually safe to ride. LCC has a step by step guide to simple safety checks. If all is not well, they also have advice on how to fix some of the basic problems.

• Isn't it dangerous? London cycling certainly demands that you have your wits about you, but it is not the suicidal activity that some people think. There are now more than half a million cycle journeys in the capital every day - nearly double the figure in 2000. And cyclists experience roughly the same fatality risk per kilometre travelled as pedestrians.

For nervous cyclists who prefer strength in numbers, TFL is organising escorted rides from the following locations at 8am on the morning of 7th September:

• Ravenscourt park to Trafalgar Square; meeting point main entrance on Kings road
• Finsbury Park to St Paul's; meeting point entrance to Finsbury Park on Seven Sisters Road
• Mile End to St Paul's (utilising Barclays Cycle Superhighway route 3); meeting point corner of Mile End Road and Burdett Road at entrance to the park
• Swiss Cottage to Moorgate; meeting point junction of Eton avenue and Adamson Road
• Brixton to the West End (utilising the Barclays Cycle Superhighway route 7); meeting point the Ritzy cinema
• Clapham Common to the City (utilising the Barclays Cycle Superhighway route 7); meeting point the bandstand on the common

• How do I avoid main roads? Transport for London has a handy "Journey planner" in the top right hand corner of its homepage for cyclists. It is designed to help you stick to safer roads. TFL also has a set of cycle maps which can be picked up at bike shops or ordered online. The londoncyclist blog has a great round up of online route-finding tools. And the much criticised Barclays superhighways are an option if you happen to have one near you.

If you have any tips for beating the strike with your bike please share them below.

• Cycling
• Cycling holidays
• Transport
• London
• London
• Tube Lines
• Trade unions

James Randerson
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Ever wondered what students really get up to on their gap years? A report from the Full Moon Party in Thailand

Up and down the beach, young western men are unzipping their shorts and peeing into the Gulf of Thailand. Behind them, under the light of the full moon, thousands more shirtless, shoeless Europeans are massed outside 14 beachside bars, their knees bending awkwardly to a soundtrack of the Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber and generic drum'n'bass. And squeezed between the bars and the crowds are 35 wooden stalls, each selling plastic buckets filled with a litre's worth of vodka and Red Bull. The stalls are daubed with deeply dubious slogans, ranging from the lurid to the the moronic. "No Bucket No Boom Boom", "Fuck My Buckets", "Everybody Fuck My Strong Buckets" – that kind of thing.

Welcome to the Full Moon Party, the largest beach rave in the world. Twenty-five years ago, this was a little-known hippy hang-out on the remote Thai island of Koh Phangan. Today, frequented every month by between 10,000 and 30,000 European youngsters, the all-night party is the ultimate destination on south-east Asia's "banana pancake" trail; a mecca for footloose gap-year tourists. This party scene, right here on this beach, is arguably the epitome, the pinnacle, of the modern gap-year experience.

Three weeks ago, the chief executive of the universities and colleges admissions service (UCAS) declared to a Sunday newspaper that "the golden age of the gap year is over". Mary Curnock Cook argued that while in the past "a gap year has been when young people take a nice break and go out and see the world", the period should now "be used in a focused way to support an application to the course or university you are targeting". In a year when the number of university applications – a record 660,000 – has dwarfed the number of university places available – 450,000 – Curnock Cook may have a point.

But this is a point that has yet to trickle down, in practical terms, to the nation's school-leavers. In fact, the vast majority of gappers do not use their year-out in anything approaching a fashion that might – in the eyes of universities – be viewed as "constructive". Every year around 160,000 British school-leavers take a gap year before entering university. More than 80% of them, says Richard Oliver, chairman of trustees at Year Out, "just go off and travel independently without any real purpose. Sun, sand and sangria, as I call it." Indeed, the trend might even be away from the year of constructive good deeds that Curnock Cook might be thinking of – a trend towards increasingly mindless hedonism. Hans Hoefer is the founder of Insight travel books, and the man who co-ordinated one of the first guides to Thailand back in the 70s, when fewer tourists visited the entire country (150,000) than now visit Burma annually. These days "gappers" touring Koh Phangan and its surrounding islands are, says Hoefer, "not experiencing anything apart from tourism. It's an absolute joke. They don't want to understand the culture – they just want to binge. I don't understand why they go."

Attempting to understand why they go, however, why this is the modern gap-year experience, is exactly what brings me to the Full Moon Party, surrounded by scores of topless teenagers urinating into the ocean to the words of the Black Eyed Peas' "I gotta feeling/That tonight's gonna be a good night/That tonight's gonna be a good, good night." What exactly is the lure of this beach to teenagers who are, after all, meant to be Britain's brightest? I'm here to find out.

When gappers touch down in Bangkok, their first port-of-call is almost always the backpackers' ghetto on the Khao San Road. In The Beach, Alex Garland's 1996 novel about a young man's search for adventure in Thailand, Khao San is described as a decompression chamber between east and west. But when I arrive, it soon becomes clear that even this is a generous description; the Khao San Road actually doesn't feel like it's in Thailand at all. The street is crammed with bars showing premiership football; Britney Spears and Bob Dylan blare out of every speaker; hawkers selling European T-shirts jostle with those selling fake British ID cards. This April, 20 Thais were massacred in clashes between soldiers and anti-government redshirt protesters barely 100 metres from the Khao San Road. But it might as well have been 100 miles away: the Khao San's tourist festivities were barely disrupted. And when Alex, a well-travelled graphic designer from west London who "took several gap years", muses to me that "the Khao San just feels like home", he's spot on, though perhaps not in quite the way he intends: apart from the fat, bald westerners parading their suspiciously beautiful Thai girlfriends, the road could be a carbon copy of Camden High Street.

In years gone by, backpackers travelling onwards to the Full Moon Party might have briefly escaped this westernised gauntlet by taking the overnight train or bus down the coast to the ferry terminal of Surat Thani. Today, however, it's almost as cheap to take the plane down – and so this is what photographer Sean Smith and I end up doing. A couple of cramped ferry journeys bring us finally to Koh Phangan, and it isn't long before I'm talking to the cream of British gappers.

"You know what the worst thing about travelling is?" asks Londoner Jez, 19 years old, dressed in a vest, and approaching the end of his year out. He enlightens me: "TOURISTS." It's a slightly strange answer: we're sitting on the side of a dirt track near the centre of Had Rin, the main tourist town on Koh Phangan, and venue for tomorrow's Full Moon Party. Tourists are whizzing past every 30 seconds on mopeds belching out acrid fumes. Every second shop is an internet cafe packed with tourists checking Facebook. Every third shop is a travel agent's filled with tourists plotting their next move. It's an odd place to visit if you don't like tourists. And particularly if you yourself are one.

But Jez – a warm, welcoming guy – doesn't think of himself as a tourist: he's a backpacker. "Most of the people here are backpackers," he insists. "Backpackers are infinitely different to tourists. Backpackers will accept anyone. Whereas tourists are the kind of people who back home would end up in fights. But backpackers have no interest in fighting anyone, do they?"

Jez directs this question at Pete, an even friendlier backpacker whom he met a few months ago in Vietnam. Pete, earringed and also wearing a vest, is 23, British and on a different kind of gap year; he's been given a year's leave of absence from the army. For most of his time off, he has been working as a promoter for a bar in Vang Vieng, Laos, but he's back in Had Rin for one last Full Moon Party.

Pete couldn't agree more with Jez. "Yup," he says. "Tourists are the people who spend their time fighting here. Tourists are people who go on holiday for two weeks." He pauses, then adds: "So if you can, put in the Guardian, somehow, that this is not a place where you can go for two weeks. This is a place for backpackers. Tourists may pay more money, but they're fucking idiots."

Pete's not sure I've got the message, so he leans in once more. "Where I work in Vang Vieng, I saw these two tourist girls with handbags, wearing skirts and dresses. But in Vang Vieng you should be wearing a bikini, and nothing else. So I said to them, 'You girls are a fucking disgrace, get the fuck out of here.' And my job is to get people into a bar! So I've ruined the chance of those people coming into my bar. But that's how much backpackers hate tourists."

In The Beach, Richard, the protagonist, is told that "Hat Rin's [sic] a long way past its sell-by date. They sell printed flyers for the full-moon parties now." And that was 14 years ago. But to Jez, even in 2010, the town is still sacred. "I just fucking love this place," he says, "because it just sums up everything about youth. Ten thousand people condensed into one area where they can do every single thing they want to, without any regrets. Back home, you get really shit-faced and there are repercussions. Out here you can do what you want. It's somewhere like Ibiza before it turned shit. It's way cheaper, too."

And, of course, there are the backpackers. "As most of the people here are backpackers," Jez re-explains, "you'll be walking along and you'll see someone you know. And then you'll see them again and again. All the people you've met while you're travelling will be here. It's just awesome."

The drugs are also a big draw. These guys know exactly which pharmacies sell speed – and what to ask for when they're at the counter. They know where to go to buy weed, and can name the three bars in town that list magic mushroom milkshakes on the menu.

Sounds fun, I say, but if everything here is all so western and familiar – and if they're spending most of the week off their heads – are they really experiencing Thailand? Pete is brutally frank. "This isn't a Thai experience," he admits, instantly. "This is a party experience. Chiang Mai and Bangkok, you get a Thai experience. Koh Phangan is a party place." Jez agrees, but is quick to emphasise that, for them, the "party experience" is a supplement to, and not a replacement of, the "Thai experience".

"We've gone through the Thai experience," Jez clarifies. "We've seen it, we've done it. So for us this is just a nice way to cap it off and celebrate what we've achieved, all that we've been through. A lot of people just see the Khao San Road and here – and they're tourists. They're not travellers. They're not going to learn anything here about Thai culture. Whereas going to places like Chiang Mai, you just learn so much about their culture of respect, and the emphasis they place on those . . . those aspects."

Jez and Pete are having a "shroom" session with some of their many backpacker friends that evening, and, true to their backpacker philosophy, they invite me along. And so, a few hours later, we rendezvous once more in a bar built high above Sunrise Beach (where, in 24 hours, the Full Moon Party will take place) – a bar nicknamed, for reasons which soon become apparent, Mushroom Mountain. Turnout is lower than expected; Jez and Pete are joined only by two second-year medical students from Nottingham – Hailey, who took a gap year, and Laura, who didn't.

When I raise Curnock Cook's comments, I get: "That is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard," from Jez, who will start at Newcastle this autumn, studying philosophy. "Taking a gap year was probably the best decision I've ever made. It's taught me more than 18 years in school ever did. I could write you an essay on Shakespeare or tell you the strengths and weaknesses of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, but at the end of the day that means fuck all in the real world, unless you go out and experience it. And fair enough, Koh Phangan isn't really the real world, but it's still an experience.

"I met a guy three days ago who'd done five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he was telling me that during a Full Moon Party in 2008, he'd had to pull two Swedish girls who'd washed up, dead, out of the sea. To meet people like that, to see the lives that people go through, to escape the private-school bubble that a lot of kids end up in, it really opens your eyes to stuff. Shows you how life isn't just about getting good A-level results, getting a good degree and a good job."

Hailey's gap-year experiences were slightly different to Jez's. She didn't go travelling at all, she says, but spent the entire period working in a hospital in order to enhance her application to medical school; a perfect exemplar of the kind of gap year favoured by Curnock Cook. In many ways, though, she wishes she'd chosen a more relaxed path. "I don't know if I should say this," she starts, pauses, then continues: "I was in a verbally abusive relationship for three years, which meant I had no self-confidence. And I turned into a bit of a slut on my gap year because I was really messed up in the head. And then I went to uni, and I thought, 'I don't want to be either of those people I've been, I want to be someone else.' So then I sort of had three personalities. But coming out here on my own, having to go over and talk to people, having to be nice, not an asshole . . . It's been great. It teaches you how to socialise properly. It makes you so much more confident. Coming out here, travelling on your own . . ." She trails off, and then hurriedly starts again: "If I'd done the whole travelling on my own thing in my gap year, I would have been slightly less messed up at uni."

I'd been warned that as Full Moon night grew messier, the beach's toilets would be rammed full of lady-boys at work, their feet three-inches-deep in urine. Old hands predicted that when the sun rose the following morning, the sand would be carpeted with couples rolling around on a terrine of broken bottles, cups, buckets, straws, pills, lost flip-flops and unconscious drunks. This isn't quite how it happens on this full moon though. Certainly, the music is crap, and there are sordid aspects – the bucket stalls; the odd party-goer collapsing to the floor; one man vomiting into the sea beside that long line of urinators. But, despite being sober and solo, I find the atmosphere surprisingly euphoric, and my overall memories are of smiling dancers whose moves became more liberated as the night rolled into morning.

One such happy chappy is Francesco, a 19-year-old gapper from Bournemouth whom I encounter near a giant fiery skipping rope. "Mate," he says cheerily, "throw away that notebook, get a bucket, and just get TRASHED." Francesco would probably be described by official backpackers as a tourist – not that Francesco himself would mind. "There's different ways of travelling," he says. "This is about getting smashed. Getting in the buckets of Chang" – a local beer – "and just going for it. Back home, you walk in a pub, you get ID'd. Out here, you just lose the plot."

Working-class Francesco comes from the opposite end of the gap-year spectrum to most gappers I meet. "I had to work night and day to get here," he says. "I went round all the hotels back home trying to get work. I ended up working seven days a week, in a call-centre by day, and a pub by night." For him, then, the Full Moon is a once in a lifetime event, and it's hard to begrudge him his utter elation at being here.

There is though one group who seem less enamoured with this event: the locals. Though the Full Moon might be the festival highlight of the year for most of the gappers, tourists and backpackers on the beach, for the Thais that run it – and clean up after it – the party must seem like a monotonous, monthly chore. As Charlie Cassidy, a tall, bald expat who has lived in Hat Rin for the past decade, explains, "The locals don't actually go to the Full Moon. We go to the after-party up the hill the following morning. The Full Moon's just for the kiddies."

At four in the morning, I visit The Rock, a bar perched high above the sand at the opposite end of the beach to Mushroom Mountain. At the back, staring out over the partying crowds below, stands the long-haired Sutti Kuasurkul. Sutti's the man who opened Had Rin's first backpacker accommodation in the mid-80s – the Paradise Bungalows next door – and who, legend has it, organised the first Full Moon party shortly afterwards. But rather than smiling proudly at the institution he inspired, Sutti merely looks on forlornly, face motionless, eyes dulled. Would he mind answering a few questions about the origins of the party, I ask him? He shakes his head. Maybe tomorrow, or the next day, he says, before disappearing downstairs.

"Sutti doesn't really like talking about the party," explains Charlie. "For him, the Full Moon's just some farewell party he held for an Aussie mate back in the 80s, which just happened to catch on." Sutti, it seems, isn't too enamoured with what the party's become. "Sutti?" asks Charlie, rhetorically. "He'd rather be fishing."

Fifty metres away, in the DJ's booth at Paradise Bungalows, sits Burmese immigrant DJ Shine – or just plain Shane to his friends. Shane's 25 and he's lived in Had Rin since he was 16. This, then, is roughly his 50th Full Moon as a DJ, and his 100th overall. And Shane's bored – bored with playing the same electro-house on the same broken CDJ to the same crowds. He speaks perfect English, complete with a cockney accent, but he's never been to Britain, never visited the British friends he's made during his time on the island. And so, as he plays mix after mix after mix, month after month after month, Shane stares out at the thousands of Europeans who will soon be flying home, and wishes he could one day go with them. "But," he says, "I just can't afford it."

Up and down the beach, young western men are still unzipping their shorts and peeing into the Gulf of Thailand. Though I never took a gap year, never took the chance to either let my hair down like this, or do something more constructive, nothing that I've heard or seen here makes me want to join them.

Some names and details have been changed.

For more on travel gap years, go to

www.guardian.co.uk/travel/gap-year-travel

• Gap year travel
• Gap years
• Students
• Asia
• Thailand
• Higher education

Patrick Kingsley
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Further to Simon Hoggart's report (Diary, 4 September) of the music student who missed her Ryanair flight while trying to buy a seat for her violin, readers should know that the £80 fee payable in advance for travelling with a musical instrument is for checking it into the hold, not taking it on board. My ward and two schoolmates travelling to a music course in Italy, who had paid this fee and had no hand luggage other than their violin cases, were asked by Ryanair, when they checked in, to pay £300 each to buy seats for their instruments. Eventually they were permitted to check their violin cases into the hold and carry their violins – worth thousands of pounds – unprotected on their laps. Meanwhile the lockers above their seats were completely empty.

Jane Ginsborg

Sheffield

• Ryanair
• Airline industry

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