Europe has a great choice of walking routes for the independent or guided traveller. But one of the first questions to be answered is: are these holidays worth the money?
Gone are the days where you have to make a hundred phone calls to book your hotels and Bed & Breakfast accommodation, it can all be done on the internet. However if you are arranging accommodation for 7 nights in a row in different locations, it starts to look like a job in itself. This is where the walking tour operator comes in.
For little more than you would pay yourself, walking tour companies can make all the arrangements for you. That is not all though, they often make sure your rucksack is transferred from one over night stay to the next, leaving you to only carry a light daypack. They provide maps, list of things to see along the way, packing lists, and how to get to the start of your walk and home from the end.
Walking holiday companies make their profit from adding a little onto the totle cost of the accommodation, plus they receive discounts from all their hotels and Bed and Breakfast suppliers. It is a win – win situation for everyone in the chain.
Some of the most popular walking destinations are in Spain, Scotland, and England. In Spain the two most popular walking areas are the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago, and the area around Andalucía in southern Spain. The Camino far outstrips any other destination with more than 100,000 people walking along the most popular of these routes each year. Spain’s big advantage over many other destinations is that you can walk here almost all year round.
In Scotland the two most walked routes are the West Highland Way and the Great Glen Way.
The West Highland Way is the most popular and the longest walking trail in Scotland at 132 miles. The route starts just outside of Glasgow and leads the hiker into the highland of Scotland finished in Fort William at the foot of Ben Nevis. During the winter much of this route is impassable and without using a walking company it can be almost impossible to find good accommodation during May and June, the busiest months.
The Coast to Coast and Hadrian’s Wall path are two of the most popular English walking routes. Hadrian’s Wall is just that a wall built 2000 years ago by the Romans and still in existence today. It is an incredible thought to walk along with the Romans on paths they built to defend their empire against the Scots so long ago. The Coast to Coast starts in St Bees at the Irish Sea and travels the width of England finishing in Robins Hood Bay on the North Sea Coast, a truly wonder adventure.
Sarah James is a writer that loves travelling and walking and cycling holidays. Her favorite holiday is the West Highland Way in Scotland and the Camino de Santiago in Spain.