England Walking Tours
 

We are tossing around the idea of doing a walking tour (May/03) in England along the the coast. I would like to hear from any one that can recommend an inexpensive 6-7 day tour.<BR>Maureen

My wife and I have done six HF Holidays walking trips (including the coast of Cornwall). Do a Google search for their Web site. The price is good and we like them a lot.

I have to be honest and say I have never done anything like that but these are some sites I found having searched for walks uk.<BR><BR>http://www.outdoorholidays.com/Holidays/HolidayDetail551.htm<BR><BR>http://xplorebritain.com/england.asp<BR><BR>http://www.discoverytravel.co.uk/walking_england.htm<BR><BR>http://www.walkingbreaks.com/home.htm<BR><BR>http://www.sherpa-walking-holidays.co.uk/tours/britain/wccrc.htm<BR><BR>Hope this helps.<BR>

I have done walking holidays with three companies. HF Holidays, http://www.hfholidays.co.uk/hfholidays/ mentioned above, is the largest and most comprehensive, offering walking holidays from 20 or so locations. Sadly, they have, in recent years, closed their locations at Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast and Thurleston on the south Devon coast. This has seriously reduced the number of coastal walks that they offer. I just returned from walking holidays with them in the Brecon Beacons and in north Wales; they continue to offer good value.<BR><BR>The second is Countrywide Walking, http://www.countrywidewalking.com/ . While I have had excellent walking with them in the past (including marvelous walking on the Cornwall coast), they have changed ownership and my attempts to book with them in 2001 and 2002 met with failure as they cancelled the planned holidays.<BR><BR>Somewhat more expensive than HF and Countrywide is Footpath Holidays, http://www.footpath-holidays.com/ . The attraction here is that they lead walks on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, perhaps the best coastal walking in all of the UK.<BR><BR>

Maureen,<BR>I have done a number of walking tours in England with UK based companies and <BR>have had the best experiences with Footpath Holidays. Ron's correct, they<BR>are more expensive than HF, but I think they provide real value with nice hotels with excellent food, experienced guides and very hands-on management and attention to detail by the owners. Other walkers with Footpath are likely to be from the UK, Germany, France, NZ, Australia and US; small groups of 8-14; and the days on the moderate tours are usually from 9 or 9:30am to 4 or 5pm with lunch and other breaks (pub, tearoom) for a total of 8-12 miles a day. They have easy and energetic tours as well as the moderate ones, but I think most of the coastal ones are moderate. As for which coast, I have walked a couple times in south and far west Cornwall and it's just an incredible experience, I hope to make it soon to the Pembrokeshire coast as Ron recommended. <BR>Hope this helps-<BR>Jan<BR>

I have heard that WWW.inntravel.com quite good, but never try them yet. I prefere to arrange the walks on my own.

Folks may want to NOT go to the inntravel website referenced above. It results in the opening of a number of advertising websites and attempts to change your home page.

Ron,<BR>Thanks for the heads up, so far the suggestions and recommendations have been great.<BR>Maureen

I have taken two walking tours in Cornwall with Adventureline (www.adventureline.co.uk). The person who runs this business lives in Cornwall. It is a Sat.-Sat. deal. You arrive at your hotel (where you stay for the week--no unpacking/repacking/moving luggage). Your free day is Sun. Then you walk Mon. - Fri. All meals included but one evening meal which can be eaten at a pub or restaurant in the village. The guide is the owner of the business. He is very knowledgeable, interesting, humourous, etc. He also offers walks in other parts of the world and I have down 2 others: New England and the Dordogne in France. The groups are limited to about 8-10 in Cornwall. I highly recommend Adventureline and if anyone wants more info you can email me directly. (Also go to his website). Oh, prices--very reasonable--biggest expense is getting there!