WESTERN EUROPE - Clean Breaks: 500 New Ways to See the World - page 55

the club see W www.sustainabledanceclub.com;
T [phone]. Take the train ( W www.
raileurope.co.uk; T [phone]) to
Rotterdam Centraal station and then change to
Blaak station, from where it's a 5min walk to the
club at Pannekoekstraat 106.

075 Generate Some wattS in
rotterdam

Enjoy the moment, or at least the momentum
of the crowd, at Club WATT in Rotterdam - the
first sustainable dance club in the Netherlands
- which is designed to use the kinetic energy
produced by people dancing to provide its
electricity.
So how does it work? Well, according to the
owners, each person produces between two and
twenty watts of energy with each dance step
(depending on their weight and how much they
move). That may not sound much, but once
several hundred clubbers collectively strut
their stuff on the dancefloor then enough of a
pulse is generated to excite the electromagnetic
generator beneath. The generator converts
movement into electricity, which is then used to
power the flickering floor lights.
The club has four sections: a main hall with
capacity for 1500 people and a 60-square-metre
dancefloor; a basement for three hundred people;
two rooftops; and a café at street level. Other
green initiatives include a rainwater-flush
system for the toilets, water-saving taps, LED
lights, an efficient heating and cooling system,
and drinks served
in recycled plastic
cups. The aim
is to cut water
consumption and
waste production
by fifty percent
compared to a
typical dance
venue, and
likewise to reduce
the total energy
consumption by
thirty percent.
Watt a great idea.

076 cycle mountain hiGhS in
the alpujarraS

Every day starts at an altitude of 1700m in the
crisp morning air of southern Spain's Sierra
Nevada mountain range. After a hearty breakfast
of porridge, local honey and orange juice on the
terrace, followed by a bike and kit check, you start
the day's cycling with a gentle pedal across a
300m plateau, then either take the high mountain
route or drop down into the verdant valleys of the
Alpujarras.
Pure Mountains' cycling holidays are based at
a remote stone farmhouse ( cortijo ) near the flat-
roofed, whitewashed village of Bérchules. The rooms
have large beds and open out onto a courtyard with
a fountain and there's a large sitting room with
a wood-burning stove. It is off-grid: solar power
provides the heat and electricity, while water is
supplied by a natural spring. The owners have also
planted hundreds of poplar, chestnut and fruit trees,
and there are glorious views across the meadows
and terraces of the sprawling, wild landscape.
These holidays cater for both novices and more
experienced bikers. Choose the “Easy Going” option
and you'll spend the week cycling along mountain
trails, picnicking by streams and whizzing down
long descents - but with plenty of time to do your
own thing back at the cortijo (including a Swedish
massage). Pure Mountains' English owners have
spent five years scouring the land and know the
best routes and places to stop for lunch - where
you'll be met by a Land Rover with all the necessary
supplies, such as banana bread.
Choose the harder “Classic” cycling holiday and
you'll be pedalling for six hours a day, negotiating
rocky trails and climbing into the peaks above
Granada. You'll cross the Veleta pass (3224m),

The dancefloor at
Club WATT

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