2012 Self Guided Walking Holidays Walking Holidays 2012 ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¡ ¦ ¤ § ¨ £ © ¢ ¡ ¤ ¡ ¡ ¢ ¢ © ¨ ¤ ¢ ¨ ¤ £ ¡ NORTHERN ENGLAND: ¡ ¡ £ ¤ ¥ ¡ ¡ ¨ ¡ ¡ ¤ ¤ ¢ ¨ ¦ ¤ ¤ ¦ ¤ ¦ ¡ Hadrian’s Wall ¢ £ ¤ ¦ ¢ ¤ ¤ ¦ ¤ £ ¤ ¤ ¡ ¤ ¥ Northumberland Coast Path ¡ ¡ ¨ ¡ ¡ ¦ ¨ ¡ ¡ £ ¨ ¤ ¦ ¡ ! £ £ ¤ ¥ ¥ ¤ ¦ ¨ ¤ ¤ Dales Way ¤ ¦ ¡ ¡ ¨ ¨ ¦ ¨ ¤ ¢ ¤ ¨ ¦ ¡ ¦ ¤ ¥ © ¡ ¡ ¦ ¡ ¦ ¤ ¤ ¤ Cleveland Way ¤ ¢ ¨ £ ¤ ¦ ¨ ¡ ¦ ¤ ¨ ¥ ¤ ¡ ¡ ¡ ¨ £ ¤ ¡ ¡ ¥ ¡ ¤ ¨ ¡ ¡ ¥ ¦ ¤ ¦ ¤ ¤ ¢ ¨ ¦ ¤ " ¢ ¨ ¦ £ £ ¤ ¥ ¥ ¤ ¦ ¨ ¤ Coast to Coast ! ¤ ¦ ¡ ¡ # ¨ ¡ ¢ ¤ ¤ © ¨ ¡ ¦ ¨ ¦ ¤ ¤ # THE LAKE DISTRICT : ¢ ¤ ¤ © ¦ ¡ ¥ ¡ # ¤ ! ¡ ¡ £ ¤ ¥ ¥ ¡ ¤ ¤ © ¨ ¡ ¢ ¨ ¤ ¢ ¡ ¦ ¤ Cumbria Way $ ¤ ¦ ¡ ¨ ¤ ¦ ¡ ¢ ¨ £ ¢ ¡ ¦ ¡ ¨ ¦ ¤ ¨ £ ¨ ¢ ¢ ¦ ¡ Westmorland Way ¢ ¨ £ % ¤ ¦ ¦ ¤ % ¤ ¦ & ¦ ¡ ' © ¡ ( ¨ ¦ ¨ £ ¦ ¤ ¤ ! ¤ ¦ ¡ ¦ ¡ % ¥ ¨ £ North Lakes Traverse ¡ ¥ ¨ ¤ ¢ # ¤ ¤ ¤ ¦ ¡ ¨ ) ¤ © ¨ ¡ # ¤ ¦ ¥ ¡ ¢ ¡ ¢ ¤ ¤ ¡ * ¤ ¦ ¡ ¨ £ ¤ ¦ ¢ ¤ ¥ ¦ ¡ ¡ ¤ ! ¡ ¡ ¦ ¨ ¢ Vale Of Lorton ¤ ¦ ¡ + ! ¨ © ¦ ¨ ¢ , ¤ ¦ ¡ ¡ ¨ ¡ ¦ Borrowdale ¡ ¤ ¡ ¦ ¦ ¤ ¡ - ¤ ¦ ¡ ¤ £ ¡ £ ¨ ¦ ¨ ¦ ¤ ¨ ¦ ¤ . SCOTLAND: ¢ ! # ! ¡ £ ¤ ¦ ¨ ¡ ¦ ¤ ¤ ¡ ¢ ¡ / ¨ ¢ ¡ ¡ ¨ £ ¡ ¡ ¦ ¤ ¥ ¡ ¦ ¡ £ © ¡ ¡ ¡ ¦ ¤ ¨ ¦ ¤ ¦ ¨ £ ¢ ¡ " ¨ ¡ ¥ ¡ ¦ Speyside Way ¤ ¡ " ¡ ¨ ¡ ¤ ! ¤ ¢ ¢ ¨ © ¡ ¦ ¤ © ¤ ¨ £ ¡ # ! ¡ ¡ ¦ ¤ ¦ ¢ © West Highland Way & ¦ ¤ ¤ ¤ ! ¡ ¤ ¡ ¥ ¨ ¢ 0 Great Glen Way ¨ £ © ¢ ¡ ¤ ¡ ¡ ¢ Rob Roy Way § . Mickledore Travel Ltd 42 St John’s Street Keswick Cumbria CA12 5AG UK Telephone +44 (0) 17687 72335 Fax +44 (0) 17687 71655 Email: [email protected] Web: www.mickledore.co.uk Why Choose Mickledore? x All your accommodation has been carefully selected and is regularly monitored. x We listen to you and tailor each holiday to meet your requirements. x We have an excellent level of customer service. x We have 15 years experience, and very high levels of customer satisfaction. x Many of our clients come back year after year. x Peace of mind – help is only ever a telephone call away. x We are all outdoor enthusiasts – we know what makes a good holiday, and we want you to have one! x 15% discount card for all your outdoor equipment purchases from Cotswold Outdoors. x 100% financial protection – in the very unlikely event of Mickledore’s financial failure, you receive a full refund. Holidays 2012 Self Guided Walking Holidays All of our holidays are self guided. We select and book all your accommodation and provide you with a holiday pack containing a guidebook, map and all the other information you need for a successful and enjoyable trip. You do the walking unaccompanied, at your own pace and if you take the luggage transport option, you only need to walk with a small day sack, as the rest of your luggage will be transferred to your next accommodation. Inbuilt flexibility Our holidays are designed to be flexible and can therefore be tailored to suit your requirements. If you're looking for something different, or extra, from the holidays described here, give us a ring and we'll do our best to please! You can start on any day you like. We can arrange extra nights at any of the overnight stops, allowing for rest days or giving you more time to explore the locality. Or you can book part of a walk if you don't have the time to complete the entire distance. Short Breaks As well as the full length trips which can last anything from 5 days up to 17 days, we arrange short breaks from 2 days upwards. These are based on our established routes but we break the walk down into bite sized chunks. We can also arrange to drop you off and pick you up, so you can maximise the time you have for walking. For each route the most popular short breaks are listed in the brochure. But if you want to do something else please contact us and we'll be glad to help. How to Book Once you have decided which holiday you wish to book, please fill in the form at the back of this brochure and either post or fax it to us. We will get in touch with you shortly afterwards to confirm your holiday details. Alternatively you can book on our website – www.mickledore.co.uk where the interactive price generator will automatically calculate the price of your particular holiday. Grading All of our holidays are graded to give you a rough guide of what’s involved: Mostly rolling countryside and on well defined paths, but with some sections on more challenging terrain, such as moorland. There may be some climbs, up to 250m, but not everyday. You do need to be able to navigate from a map. These holidays typically cross more remote mountain and moorland terrain for more than one day, with climbs of up to 1000m. Whilst most of the route follows well defined paths, there may be sections where the path is indistinct – so the ability to navigate with a map and compass is necessary. Much of the route will be over remote mountains and moorland and there will be sections of rough or boggy ground with indistinct paths. Competency in using a map and compass, along with the ability to keep yourself warm and dry on high ground, is essential. 2 Holidays 2012 Accommodation We use a variety of accommodation on our routes, including small country house hotels, guest houses in market towns, bed and breakfasts in farm houses, country cottages and Victorian town houses. In selecting the accommodation we look for helpful, friendly hosts with good quality accommodation close to the trail. For example, over the course of your trip you might stay in a village inn, a bed and breakfast in a converted barn, a Victorian guest house, on a working farm, and in a Georgian hotel. Some of the accommodation we use is pictured on these 2 pages. We always try to arrange ensuite accommodation, i.e. rooms with their own bathrooms for each night of your stay. However, in some of the more remote locations accommodation is limited and occasionally we may have to book rooms with shared bathrooms for one or two nights of your holiday, (especially if the booking is made at short notice). But we will always let you know if this is likely to be the case. We understand how important good accommodation is to your enjoyment of the holiday and we put a great deal of effort into selecting our accommodation and matching it to individual customer requirements. As well as visiting the accommodation ourselves, we ask all our customers to complete a short evaluation on each night’s accommodation, which then gives us an insight in to the day-to-day operation, which we then add to our own opinions. Meals Breakfast is included each morning with a choice of full cooked breakfast or continental breakfast taken at your accommodation before the day’s walk. We can also arrange packed lunches to be provided for each day’s walk by the accommodation. As some people prefer to stop for lunch, or organise their own packed lunches, these are included as an option in our holidays. On most evenings there will be a pub or café serving an evening meal within easy walking distance of your accommodation. Details of places to eat are included in your holiday pack and the accommodation proprietors will be happy to give further advice. (Occasionally, when there is no convenient local pub or cafe, we will either arrange for the proprietor to give you a lift to a nearby eatery, or book you a taxi, either of which may incur an extra charge to the customer). Luggage Transfer We will transfer your luggage between each overnight stop, if you leave your luggage at the accommodation when you set off in the morning, it will be moved on to your next B&B. You only need to carry a small day sack with the clothes and provisions you require during the day’s walk. As some people prefer to carry their own baggage, luggage transfer is included as an option in our holidays. How to Get There and Away We are happy to advise you on the best arrangements to suit you needs, whether you intend to travel by public transport or car. We will include information on bus and trains, to and from your start and finish points, in your holiday pack, as well as details of local taxi companies. 3 Holidays 2012 Parking and Transfers If you are travelling by car, we can usually arrange off road parking for your car for the duration, leaving you to enjoy your holiday. Please advise us at the time of booking if you require this option as it can be difficult to add later. If you don’t wish to return to your car by public transport, we can make arrangements with local taxi companies to provide your return transfer. When to Book The general rule is, the earlier you book, the better. Accommodation is limited in many of the villages and hamlets so booking early ensures you get first choice. We regularly take bookings up to 10-12 months in advance. We can however, often arrange last minute holidays especially if you can be flexible with your dates or overnight stops and the booking is outside peak season. If you’re looking for a last minute holiday it’s always best to give us a ring to check availability. When to Walk and the Weather The most popular time for our holidays is between Easter and the end of September, with May generally being the busiest month. The summer months are warmer and often drier. The north of England has a maritime climate. This means the weather is not often stable for long periods of time and predicting the best time to walk can prove difficult! You should always be prepared for both rain and sun and although the weather varies across the north of England the table below gives a rough guide to the temperatures and rain: Max Temp Days with ºC Rain Jan 6 15 April 11 10 July 19 11 Oct 12 14 Dogs We can generally accommodate dogs on Hadrian’s Wall and the Moorland Highlights on the Cleveland Way. Please note that accommodation is more limited, early booking is advisable. Some accommodation makes a small charge for dogs and most have a few common sense rules. Please give us a ring if you wish to bring your dog and we’ll try to work something out. Prices and Payment Prices are per person based on 2 people sharing a room.