Train to Run - a trip to the Basque Country

Published in The Fellrunner Magazine #124 (Oct 2019)

Finlay competing in Zegama-Aizkorri race 2019 (13th)

We live in an age of ever increasing opportunities for our running. Trail running and ‘skyrunning’ is booming with many new races springing up all over the world. There is more media coverage, more prize money, and more choice. Over the past few years I have been lucky enough to compete with some of the world’s best hill runners in races which have taken me to new and exciting places. We also live at the exact time in human history where our global response to the man-made climate crisis is critical: science is telling us that we now have just a small window in which to make rapid and unprecedented societal changes to quickly reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions and limit future catastrophic warming. I will often talk of how important the mountains are to me but increasingly I have been worried about how our mountain-chasing lifestyles are damaging the planet. 

In 2018, I flew to Sichuan Province in China to compete in a ‘World Series’ mountain running skyrace there and I had a superb experience. At the time I reasoned that going for a month to maximise the personal benefit to me relative to the environmental cost of flying was a reasonable balance. But looking back now I’m not so sure. Running is something I love but I don’t depend on it for my livelihood. I didn’t need to fly halfway across the world to enjoy my running, but flying is a surefire way to massively inflate your carbon footprint. Couldn’t I have had just as much enjoyment running somewhere closer to home, without flying? Of course for huge numbers of people it is not possible to avoid flying in our current globalized system as their livelihood or family responsibilities demand it. But what about when the trip is - basically - a holiday?

Increasingly runners are being offered financial support to travel to exotic places to run, and it’s a tough decision. There really is the opportunity to live a ‘jet setter’ lifestyle via mountain running now, but at what cost? Flying produces far more CO₂emissions than other forms of transport, and non-CO₂emissions like nitrogen oxides have a greater warming effect when released high in the atmosphere. This means that a typical domestic flight will produce, per person, four or even five times as many harmful emissions as a full occupancy car journey of the same distance. By contrast, public non-air transport has a much smaller footprint and can be a more satisfying way to travel as well. I haven’t boarded a plane for over a year now and have had some incredible trips to run and race abroad, without having to compromise on the quality or competitive level of those races.

I’m optimistic about making changes that will limit damage to the planet which sustains us and feel we should consider the environmental costs of any journey set against the personal benefits. If there’s a specific race or trip that is really important to you and can’t be done without flying then maybe that is something you will do to enrich your life. But there is no such thing as a £30 cheap flight to Europe as the environmental cost to the planet and future generations has not been included in that price. Rather than a quick weekend ‘hit’ which is decided by searching plane prices we could aim towards more considered and therefore satisfying journeys to indulge our running hobby, ideally without flying. 

In March I travelled by train and bus to the Basque Mountains of Spain to compete in the famous Zegama-Aizkorri race which is part of the Salomon Golden Trail Series. It’s an incredibly competitive race with an amazing spectator atmosphere and one I would recommend to anyone who fancies a taste of European racing. The race is a whirlwind euphoric experience notable for the crazy depth of competition and the thousands of spectators spurring you onwards emphatically.

The first part of my trip involved getting to London. I booked a place on the Caledonian Sleeper’s seated coach which is a cheap option if you can sleep in a seat, but won’t suit everyone. Sleeper beds are more expensive but also more of an ‘experience’: you can set off in the Highlands, have dinner in the dining car with a pint, retire to your cabin and wake up at Euston Station the next morning. 

From London to Paris I boarded the Eurostar train which is a great experience. Rather than squeezing into your budget airline seat you have a comfortable spacious seat, views out the big train windows, and it’s easy to get up for a wander along the train or for a coffee at the buffet car. The trains are quiet, bright and smooth; a perfect chance to relax with a book or even watch a film on your laptop.

Negotiating the Paris Metro isn’t a problem with a bit of planning - google will tell you which routes to take and www.rome2rio.comis another good planning resource. At Paris Montparnasse station I took the high-speed TGV train which carried me south through France in around 4.5 hours to Hendaye on the Spanish border. If you enjoyed the Eurostar then you will love the TGV: quiet, fast, sleek and comfortable. I sat on the top deck of the double decker train and alternated between reading, sleeping and watching the expanse of rural French countryside slide by. You could even stretch on the stairs to ease those DOMS on the way back!

At the border, I switched to the Spanish rail system and a journey of about 40 minutes took me to San Sebastian. This relaxed seaside city is worth a look for its pintxos (tapas), beaches and Old Town. From here there was a 40 minute local train to Beasain and then a 30 minute final bus up to the tiny village of Zegama. Rather than rushing to the airport and battling through the stages of parking, checking in, waiting then cramming into a tight seat before jostling around in the air and repeating it all at the other end you have taken a more relaxed option. I left London in the morning and was at Zegama the same evening.

Travelling without flying does take a bit more planning and time but in my opinion it’s worth it - both in terms of having a more enjoyable and relaxed trip but also because aviation usually makes up a disproportionately large portion of our individual emissions. Life is said to be about the journey, but we need to be thinking about how the journey will impact life on our planet too.

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Interview

Es Tresidder is the current Ramsay Round record holder, a Passivhaus Designer and an environmentalist. His low-energy buildings business can be found at www.highlandpassive.com. He has travelled by train in Europe far more extensively than myself and I asked him a few questions about his thoughts on travel without flying:

1. What has been the longest journey you have done via public transport and how did it go?

For our honeymoon we got the train (mixture of sleepers and day trains) to Istanbul and then travelled round Turkey on public transport. It was great! The www.seat61.comwebsite was invaluable in planning this.

For racing and other mountain trips I’ve travelled out to the Alps and back many times on the train. In fact the last time I flew for a race was, I think, in 2007. Since 2010 I’ve flown once for work (to Poland) and once for pleasure (to Reunion island). It takes a different mindset but I don’t think my racing experiences would have been any richer if I had flown during that time.

2. What do you see as the biggest changes we can make as concerned individuals when it comes to transportation?

If you fly a lot then replacing that with trains/multiple-occupancy cars/not going makes a big difference. For day to day stuff if you can manage without a car that’s fantastic and easier than a lot of people think, especially if you live in a city and are organised about finding lifts to races with other people. If you need a car choosing a fully electric one over an internal combustion engine makes a big difference too, and is also much nicer to drive, cheaper overall and needs almost no maintenance. My family have had an EV as our only car living in the Western highlands for the last 3 years and, even disregarding it being better for the climate, I prefer it to ICE [internal combustion engine] cars.

3. In a globalised world with ever-expanding race options what do you see as a sustainable approach to balancing running ambition with climate concerns?

I think a lot of this depends on what level you are at. I’m sympathetic to those at the top of the sport who need to travel to find suitably competitive races, especially if they have to fit this around a normal 9-5 job. For those of us further down the pack we don’t really need to travel far to find competition, we can find it at local races and foreign races can be kept for a more occasional treat accessed without flying. I’ve had a lot of success doing longer trips and multiple races to satisfy my desire for sunny races amongst bigger mountains. I also like the whole ‘FKT’ movement, and that can be achieved on local stuff if you live in the mountains. Now I live in Lochaber I’m often ambivalent about travelling to races when I could just be going out for really good runs on my own. Targeting FKTs gives a bit of a race focus to an outing without all the associated travelling. As a bonus, for the same amount of time running I’m away from the family for less time. Having a go at your Mamores round record last year, and doing the Ramsay this year, were both really rewarding and involved very little travelling. Having said that there was a fair amount of travel involved for my Ramsay pacers so maybe the future is in unsupported rounds. In any case I should do more of these FKT attempts!

4. What advice would you give a cash-strapped runner about to book an easyJet flight for a ‘dream weekend’ in the Alps?

The way I look at it is that your cheap flights are being subsidised by our children’s (and their children's etc) generation without their consent. Ask yourself whether you really couldn’t have as good a time locally or go for longer and travel overland. 

Also a long weekend from England to the Alps by train is pretty feasible so look into it if you really do want to do it as a quick hit like this, but it all gets much easier if you stay for longer. Again see the seat61 website and loco2.comand book as far in advance as you are able to (there’s some good guidance about how far you can book in advance here: https://help.eurostar.com/faq/uk-en/question/How-far-in-advance-can-I-book-Eurostar-tickets).