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ben
on 14th August 2009 |
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Adventure travel is a funny old term, covering a far wider range of experiences than one might imagine from the adrenalin fuelled moniker. Most of the tours and holidays we feature on Tourdust tend to fit somewhere under the adventure travel umbrella, so what is new in the space?
The stuff we are getting most excited about here at Tourdust tends to be at either end of the adventure travel spectrum. At the (hideously-termed) ‘soft adventure’ end, I get hugely passionate about the emergence of the UK’s burgeoning 'foodie' culture in some great adventure breaks. From mountain biking and breweries, road cycling and foodie pubs to an antipodean style tour of the vineyards. Here are some of my favourites:
- A weekend mountain biking & brewery break in the Yorkshire Dales whose destination is a fine local real ale brewery (no fancy visitor centres here, just loads of the old top fermented special, brewed up in the fine surroundings of an industrial estate).
- A self guided gourmet cycle tour of the Forest of Bowland with a route taking in some great inns and farm shops (coming soon to Tourdust)
- An English wine tour: A first for England, remember that awesome day spent touring the vineyards in the Hunter Valley (Marlborough, Stellenbosch, Margaret River substitute your favourite) hopping from one picturesque vineyard to another, a little taste here, a little taste there. Ben & Georgie Furst have bought it to the fine and upcoming vineyards of Kent and Sussex. Within easy train reach of London or Brighton you can forget about the car and enjoy the wine. Read our interview with Ben and Georgie from English Vine Tours here.
- Walking holiday in Spain : Everybody knows about the long distance walks in the UK, and the superb walking in France, Austria and Italy, but Spain is proving a real hot for walking holidays at the moment, ranging from the thoroughly adventurous Sierra Nevada, Alpujarras and Pyrenees to the rolling vineyard territory of the Priorat region
I'm currently on a rather personal hunt for real ale tours in the UK. I am partial to some properly brewed beer. On a recent visit to Asheville in the States there were no less than 4 or 5 brewpubs serving superb beer (why can't we serve our ales cold in the UK?) and an outfit offering tours of the breweries. With countless real ale breweries and loads of great pubs the time is ripe for some specialist UK ale tours surely?
At the other end of the spectrum I’m itching with impatience to get out on some of the jaw dropping adventures (or should I say expeditions) I’ve come across recently. The kind which take you across incredible wilderness back-country. We’ve got a bunch in the pipeline I’ll write about at a later date.
Let us know if you’ve found any great foodie breaks in the UK (I’m thinking more than just the spa hotel with a nice restaurant here if you don’t mind).
Other great sources of information for adventure travel tips can be found at www.adventuretraveltips.com
