| Go take a hike! |
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| Written by Gillian Thomas, 2008 | |
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A lazy week on the beach will never be the same once you've tried a walking holiday, says Gillian Thomas.
"We should organise a walking weekend together but without our offspring," said one of my Young Wives group at the end of a convivial day's walk with husbands and children. Her off-the-cuff suggestion was quickly taken up and soon we had a plan: three days walking along part of the 90-mile Ridgeway on the next bank holiday weekend. As a base, one couple suggested a cosy pub they knew, the Rose & Crown at Ashbury. Today, 25 years on, the same five couples who signed up for that first sortie still go walking each year. But some things have been adjusted. Weekends have stretched to full weeks and we now rent a large self-catering holiday cottage. To save on chores, we eat out on alternative evenings but take it in turn to cook on the others, which cuts down on driving and expense. After the Ridgeway, one of England's most ancient routes, running for 90 miles along the ridges between Avebury in Wiltshire and the Ivinghoe Beacon in the Chilterns, came two weekends on the 102-mile Cotswold Way. Then we decided to move away from 'official' routes and instead try some of the thousands of miles of marked footpaths that criss-cross Britain's countryside or lead around the most spectacular sections of its coast. Fortunately one of the husbands enjoys researching routes of a suitable length. Once we have settled on a particular area and where to stay, he gets to work which, his wife says, involves hours poring happily over maps on their kitchen table. His planning not only includes where we will walk - about 12 miles a day (in our heyday it was up to 17!) - but also how we get to and fro. This means working out the all-important 'car rota' which covers (1) who takes whom direct to the start in the morning and at what time, (2) who drives their car to the end and who then gives them a lift back to the start and - a recent innovation due to our advancing years - (3) who drops off a 'short' car half-way and who brings its driver back to the start. I am always amazed that we have never found ourselves or a car stranded in the wrong place - yet! Our planner also schedules coffee and lunch breaks in appropriate spots and works hard to identify a good hostelry somewhere along the drive back at the end of the day. Furthermore he has never got us lost, though in Pembrokeshire, where we walked this year and last, we had to make several unwanted detours at points where footpaths had completely disappeared. By rights this should not be allowed to happen. Over the years Exmoor, Dartmoor, the Peak District and Dorset have all been trodden by our boots, too. Of course this kind of walking system, appealing as it is, can only work when you have more than one vehicle to call on. Public transport convenient for walkers is sparse in the countryside, though in Pembrokeshire two special bus services, the Puffin Shuttle and the Celtic Coaster, operate along the coast during the summer. Look out too for walking festivals. Both North Devon and Suffolk usually have them in May, offering a week of guided walks for which you can sign up each day. Walking holidayThe alternative to organising everything yourself is to opt for a package walking holiday. More and more are on offer each year, like for example Greenways Holidays, which operates self-guided walking tours in Pembrokeshire or West Country Walks which cover North Devon and Exmoor.The enticingly-named Knobbly Stick specialises in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. HF Holidays offer various levels of self-guided or group walking at its 17 country-house hotels, while Ramblers organise guided groups in 30 areas throughout the UK. As yet, because there is so much good walking to be found in the UK, our group has never bothered to go abroad for our trips. However some of us have done so on individual walking holidays organised by tour operators like Inntravel and Headwater (self-guided walks) and Explore and Exodus (group walking). It is also easy to organise one's own walking holiday on the Continent. My husband and I have done this several times in Germany, a favourite location for us. Bavaria and the Black Forest are among many areas there that have a large network of signposted and graded footpaths. Recently we spent two days on the scenic Rheinsteig, a varied 200-mile trail that goes up and down hillsides beside the Rhine between Bonn and Koblenz. It took us through vineyards, woods and half-timbered villages and past farms and castles. Packages are available along it which let you choose how far you walk each day and include half-board at a choice of hotels, transport, packed lunches and maps. To combine walking with guaranteed sunshine and an abundance of wildflowers, take yourself to Madeira. We recently stayed on the island's quiet north coast at the Quinta do Furao vineyard hotel above the sea, one of Thomson's Lakes & Mountains walking bases. From it we could follow a steep coastal up and down to the next village (where we caught a bus back), or drive up into the hills to walk alongside the island's levadas. These narrow water gulleys were built about 200 years ago to channel mountain streams down to farms and vineyards. One day, following the four-mile Levada do Caldeirao Verde path from Queimadas, which is cut into steep wooded hillsides, we enjoyed amazing views of forested mountains and down to the sea before it ended at a remote waterfall and picnic spot. As these paths are completely flat, they are ideal for relaxed walking, though you need a car to get to them or go on a guided tour. |
