6 walks you never knew you wanted to do!
I think we’re all familiar with the classic long distance walks such as Alfred Wainwright’s Coast to Coast, the Roman frontier Hadrian’s Wall and the iconic West Highland Way, firm favourites each of them and rightly so. However as we turn our attention to our summer holidays we’re looking at what we believe are 6 walks you never knew you wanted to do. These are perhaps lesser known, but by no means any less of an adventure. Maybe one of these will inspire you to enjoy your summer holiday a little off the beaten track! Cotswold Round The Cotswold Round is a circuit of some of the most picturesque towns and villages the Cotswolds has to offer. Their very names themselves an invitation to the inquisitive – Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton-on-the-Water. Almost all of the round falls within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Covering over 2000 square kilometers, it’s the largest such protected area in England and Wales. Only Cheltenham lies outwith the boundary. Choose from our 59 mile Cheltenham Circuit or 45 mile Morton-in-Marsh Circuit. Accompanied by the sight of wildflowers and the sound of birdsong, this is a country walker’s dream. A mix of open meadow, track,…
Vita and the Cumbria Way
In May 2021, just one day after lockdown ended, Vita, originally from Latvia, now living in Bedford, walked the Cumbria Way along with her husband and brother-in-law. Vita very kindly took the time to tell us all about their adventure. “This was our second holiday with Mickledore – we’d previously done Hadrian’s Wall last summer during COVID times, which was fantastic so we immediately booked our holiday last September for 18th May. In January, we were so worried we weren’t going to make it after Boris announced the 17th May deadline but we just kept waiting and we were so lucky. It was the three of us this time – my husband and my brother-in-law. We are all keen walkers so just follow the trails with OS maps, but the directions are also super easy. Ulverston was a great surprise! Never heard about it before. Our B&B had a great location, we warmed up our legs by exploring the surrounding area and the weather was very kind to us. One of the very best things about Mickledore for us is the accommodation. After every guesthouse was so great on our last trip, this time we got the list and didn’t…
Our Fantastic Walk on the Fife Coast
I recently spent six days walking the Fife Coastal Path along with my sister Aggie. The route stretches from the Forth Bridge to the Tay Bridge. Having previously done long-distance paths in England and Wales, we decided it was now time to walk one in Scotland. I didn’t really know what to expect from this route, but I must admit I was positively surprised with the scenery. Day 1: North Queensferry to Burntisland We started our Scottish adventure from the small village of North Queensferry. We left our accommodation in glorious sunshine and headed for the iconic Forth Rail Bridge. The path goes beneath the railway bridge and heads towards Inverkeithing. We then went through the town centre before getting back onto the coastal path at St David’s Harbour where you get panoramic views of the Firth of Forth towards Edinburgh in the distance. Just past Dalgety Bay, we passed the ruins of St Bridget’s Kirk, a medieval church, dating back to the 12th century. The route then heads inland all the way into Aberdour. Past Aberdour the path goes next to the train line and only moves away from the railway just before Burntisland. As our accommodation was on…
Embracing the Elements on the West Highland Way
This article was written by Katie Armitage during her time with Mickledore and reflects her first-hand experience of the route. Myself and my partner Pedro recently walked the West Highland Way over seven days. We couldn’t wait to see what the route will treat us with! I’ve been booking the accommodation on our West Highland Way holidays for the past five years at Mickledore and I was really looking forward to meeting our accommodation hosts along the way. The route begins in Milngavie which is just outside of Glasgow and finishes in the heart of the highlands in Fort William. Mickledore offer several different walking itineraries depending on how far you like to walk each day. We decided to walk the route over seven days so that we could slightly challenge ourselves but still have a few shorter walking days. Milngavie to Drymen We left Milngavie after a perfect full Scottish breakfast to gear us up for today’s 12 mile adventure. The weather was surprisingly sunny whilst we walked through the outskirts of Mugdock Country Park. We then passed Craigallian Loch and had beautiful views of Dumgoyach which is a very distinctive circular hill. We even spotted some highland cows…
Walking the Westmorland Way
A relatively low-level 95 mile walk through the historic county of Westmorland and the Lake District National Park, the Westmorland Way takes you through some of the finest Lake District Scenery, the market town of Kendal, and canal paths and meadows to Arnside in Morecambe Bay. The guidebook for the route was written in 1984 and went out of print some years ago. Having used up all the copies we could buy, our clients now navigate this route themselves using OS maps that we have marked with the route. As many people do not feel confident route-finding this way, I decided I would walk this route myself and write some new instructions that we can provide to our clients to add confidence when walking. So far, on weekends and days off I have completed Appleby to Ambleside so this week I have set out to walk the remaining 40 miles from Ambleside to Arnside, in 4 stages. Day 1: Ambleside to Windermere Ambleside and Windermere are really familiar to me having completed all of the 214 Wainwright summits of the Lake District, some of them many times. However, the route between these towns that this walk takes was almost completely…
Captivating Cleveland Way
When my husband Paul and I were asked if we would like to walk some of the Cleveland Way, the second oldest National Trail, we jumped at the chance. Mickledore offer a range of itineraries along this 109 mile route. We walked the Moorland Highlights adding an extra walking day along the coast to Runswick Bay. Mickledore offer bespoke itineraries like ours so if you would like to walk something different to what is advertised on our website we are always happy to see if we can make it work for you. Day 1: Helmsley to Sutton Bank After arriving the evening before at the beautiful Yorkshire market town of Helmsley we were offered by our very kind hosts to walk the first day in reverse. This gave us the opportunity to visit a few historic landmarks along the way and walk downhill back into Helmsley for our second night stay. So after a lovely Yorkshire breakfast including homemade yogurt and jam made by our host we were taken to Sutton Bank to start our adventure. From there we had great views to places like Richmond, Knaresborough Castle and York. Following the trail past the gliding club to the White…
Glorious Gower
This article was written by Hayley Finn during their time with Mickledore and reflects their first-hand experience of the route. This August I walked the Gower Peninsula with my wife Anna. I chose this walk as it is one of our easiest walks and we have a great local taxi firm for transfers and connections. My wife has long-covid and so we wanted to find a route she could try walking with Nordic poles to assist her, but also she could skip days and rest if she was struggling. This route has a rating of “two boots” on our website, meaning it is “easy to moderate” it is quite flat and has itineraries that offer shorter walking days so was perfect for our needs. Pen-clawdd to Llanmadoc The first day leaves Pen-clawdd via its industries, taking you past commercial fisheries with the remnants of cockle shells littering the salt marsh. Be careful to check the tides as at high tide and for roughly an hour afterwards the salt marsh road is flooded and a less pleasant diversion by road is needed. Along salt marsh road we met the semi wild ponies, one of whom stole our snacking apples when we…
Sue & Mike’s Speyside Adventure
This article was written by Sue Williams during her time with Mickledore and reflects her first-hand experience of the route. For this year’s Fam Trip I opted for another Scottish adventure with my husband Mike. I chose the Speyside Way this time as I liked the idea of walking from the coast into the highlands, absorbing the changing scenery of the journey. The opportunity to sample a whisky or two was also a bonus! The Speyside Way is generally walked from Buckie to Aviemore. You can add additional sections to include a circular walk to Dufftown from Craigellachie and the Tomintoul spur. Our walk included both of these optional sections. Without the spurs the walk is about 65 miles roughly following the river Spey. We added a further 12 miles for the Dufftown circuit and 15 miles for the Tomintoul spur. These take you away from the river Spey for a wider adventure. For the latter option Mickledore provide a taxi to Tomintoul and you walk back to Ballindalloch. We had a lovely meal at our accommodation on the evening of our arrival and a fabulous breakfast with some locally smoked fish the following morning. There was plenty of choice…
Our Amazing Week on the Isle of Wight
This article was written by Charlotte Briggs during her time with Mickledore and reflects her first-hand experience of the route. I’ve been lucky enough to do the Hadrian’s Wall previously with Mickledore, which I really enjoyed however this time I wanted to head south! I suppose the main reason I wanted to do the Isle of Wight is because of the sunshine – and it certainly delivered! I’d also been discussing doing a walking holiday with my parents for years since I’d started working with Mickledore (four years ago). We felt this trail would be a good first experience with consecutive days walking. My parents are relatively fit already with access to the Lake District fells on their door step so we picked the IW7, 6 days, 7 nights itinerary as they felt it was the most comfortable. I hope you enjoy reading about my experience along the Isle of Wight trail. Sunday: The Journey There The Red Funnel is surprisingly fast – the speediest catamaran I’ve ever been on! Within 30 minutes we were on the island and were lucky enough to be visiting during Cowes week! The regatta was filled with stalls of music, drink, local produce and…
Reflections on the River Thames
My role here at Mickledore is to create new holidays. Over the winter months we added a number of new routes across the country as well as our first two holidays in Ireland. However when the opportunity arose to go on my first ‘Fam Trip’ or familiarisation trip, to give it it’s full title, I had no hesitation in picking a holiday that’s been at the top of my wish list since I joined Mickledore … Oxford to Marlow on the Thames Path. I love country walking and I especially enjoy riverside walking. On paper, Oxford to Marlow had it all. A chance to explore the magnificent city of Oxford, followed by easy riverside walking through meadows and woodland with evenings spent in picturesque towns and villages. Better still, I’d be accompanied by my daughter Ebony. One night in Oxford isn’t really enough The first thing to know about the Oxford to Marlow section of the Thames Path is one night in Oxford isn’t really enough. Arriving late afternoon the day before your walk and setting off walking after breakfast the following day will leave you feeling you haven’t even scratched the surface of this beautiful historic city. There is…
Spotlight on Cowes
Our Isle of Wight Coastal Path holiday is a 70 mile circuit of the island starting and finishing in the seaport town of Cowes. As is the nature of circular routes, Cowes will feature heavily in your holiday. The anticipation of arrival and your introduction to the island. The place you return to, circuit complete, ambition achieved, a time for reflection no doubt. Finally, sadly, all too soon, the place from which you have to say farewell to the island and head for home. Each of the locations around the island will undoubtedly have its own unique appeal. Memories will be made every step of the way, friendships forged, however perhaps none more so than in Cowes. Now I was preparing myself to tell you much more about Cowes and the truly amazing Isle of Wight, however who better to do that job than some of the Cowes residents themselves, our accommodation providers. We begin with Mandy from Holly Tree House “I love Cowes because there is always something going on, from International Sailing Events such as Cowes Week and Round the Island to our very own Isle of Wight Proms featuring major stars from the West End and Classical…
What to Pack for a Walking Holiday
People naturally pack for any kind of holiday in one of two ways: under or over. They either throw in the first things that come to mind forgetting many of the obvious and less obvious essentials; or they throw in everything they can think of, quickly swelling the size of their baggage to impractical dimensions and weight. For a walking holiday especially, hitting that right balance between comfort and practicality is of huge importance and shouldn’t be undertaken without some guidance. Even if you hit the right mark yourself, it can’t hurt to have the extra confidence of a second opinion. The Two Sets If you’re using a tour provider that includes the shuttling of your night gear from one point to the next you have a great advantage. You’ll be able to pack more things, and heavier things, and not have to worry about lugging them over the trails. If you choose to carry your own gear you’ll need to pare it down to the bare safe minimum in order to have the room and carrying capacity to haul it all with you. Let’s assume for now that you’re using a shuttle service for your gear. You’ll have two…