week two challenge update

Transport has been on my mind over the last week following the challenges that I set. We changed travel plans for a journey and we all bundled in the back of a friend's van rather than driving to a party at the weekend. I found a brilliant bus timetable which centres around a large map of the downs and all the places that you can visit, such as the Long Man of Wilmington and gorgeous woodland - Abbotts Wood, using local bus services and trains. We can also get to my favourite crystal shop with a short walk and a hop across a field - hurrah! We went on lots of bike rides last week, mainly locally - the kids are getting so confident on their bikes now. On one ride we cycled to a local village and found a rope swing behind the church, which made a fun rest stop. On the way home from that ride, we sang the whole journey and the hills suddenly didn't seem nearly so challenging. I signed up to Flight Pledge last year and we haven't flown for several years, but have taken holidays by train and car instead. I haven't yet discovered how much it costs to drive a mile but Chris Goodall, author of How to Live a Low Carbon Life, a fabulous sourcebook of crunchy figures and insightful comment says that it costs on average £0.10 a mile to make a car journey. I would like to work out how much it costs taking into account the road tax, insurance and initial cost of the car so will get back to you on that one. Out of curiosity I have been looking at the G Wiz electric car - apparently they cost £0.017p a mile to run and owners also don't have to pay tax. It does cost £6,999 to buy new though. Am going to ask the neighbours how they feel about car sharing too. New challenges will be posted later...