One of the most popular walking routes in Yorkshire can be found between Malham and Gordale. These are areas of outstanding natural beauty that are renowned for their impressive waterfalls, rich vegetation and prominent limestone crags. The sheer beauty of Malham and Gordale is difficult to convey in mere words, which is why so many visitors to Yorkshire make sure that they explore the region on foot.

Malham Cove is one of Yorkshire’s greatest treasures. Featuring an extraordinary limestone roof, the cove provides impressive views of the surrounding area. Prior to reaching Malham Cove, walkers are usually keen to tackle the challenges of Watlowes, while Gordale Scar, Janet’s Foss waterfall and Malham Tarn are equally irresistible to ramblers. A sturdy pair of walking boots with excellent tread should be brought along for this adventure and walkers are advised to take great care on top of Malham Cove.

Gentle walks can be enjoyed in Dentdale, Hacker Gill, Aysgarth Falls, Coniston Dib, Askrigg and West Burton. There are so many ways in which to explore the countryside in Yorkshire, official routes tend to provide merely the platform upon which ramblers choose their own paths. Walkers who enjoy spectacular views should journey between Askrigg and Mill Gill Force in the Yorkshire Dales, not least to visit the historic St. Oswald’s Parish Church and Mill Dam footbridge to witness the breath-taking Mill Gill Force waterfall.

There are plenty of walking routes at a higher level of difficulty available in Yorkshire. Those in search of a challenging walk should consider visiting Three Peaks, Buckden Pike, Simon’s Seat, High Seat, Troller’s Gill and Little Whernside. Despite the names of some of these destinations, walkers are likely to encounter few opportunities to sit down as they traverse this rugged land.

Moderately challenging routes include Clapham to Ingleborough, Kettlewell to Old Cote Moor and Litton to Penyghent. Ramblers should also visit Grimwith Reservoir, Settle Caves and Moughton Scars for a complete experience.

Irrespective to the challenges posed by a particular route, walking in Yorkshire necessitates a warm, comfortable place to stay. Although some people choose to camp beneath the stars (or rain, hail or snow as is often the case), most prefer to enjoy one of the many Holiday cottages in the region.

Cottages in Yorkshire are scattered throughout the Dales and surrounding areas. Offering warmth and shelter in abundance, most cottages in Skipton, Haworth, Crakehall, Settle and other such beauty spots provide many of the creature comforts enjoyed at home.

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There are many reasons why a walking holiday could be the best holiday you have ever been on, take a look at what you could already be missing out on.

A walking holiday is a good choice whatever the weather and whatever the country, there is never a better way to see a place than by foot.

You can go on your own holiday and track your own routes, whether with the whole family or just you and your partner.  Or you can choose to go with an organised company and take the opportunity to meet new people.

If you go for the latter option then this can really take the stress out of having to plan the routes and finding your way around a foreign country which can be quite hard, especially if you do not speak the language.

If you go with a special tour group then you can also be sure they will know the best places to take you, however be warned, sometimes the walks can be quite tough and take up the majority of the day so you will need to be of a reasonable fitness level to partake.

Going on a walking trip will take a lot out of you so you should be prepared and have the right clothing to take with you to make it easier on your limbs.

If you are going on a walking holiday somewhere hot then take plenty of sun cream as you could easily get burnt when outside all day.

A hat is also a good idea as this will prevent you from getting heat stroke – although you should also remember to drink plenty of water too.

Some good walking shoes will also be vital and will protect your feet, ankles and knees from the strain walking can bring.

Take blister plasters just in case though, and an extra pair of trainers may also be a comfortable alternative every now and again.

Invest in some special walking socks as these will also cushion your feet when walking.  While even if you do not expect it to rain, waterproof clothing could be a good idea too.

Ladies waterproof jackets can come in a variety of colours so you can stand out from the crowd, while combined with waterproof trousers, your whole body will be protected from the rain.

Think about taking a compass with you too as this could really help you map read if you are on your own – while a mobile phone may also be a good idea, just in case you get lost and need some help getting back.

This article has explained that while a walking holiday could be tough, you will certainly feel like you have achieved something at the end and you may even make some lifelong friends too.

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There are walking routes suitable for everybody, whether you’re looking for a gentle afternoon stroll or a longer route that you’ll have to stretch out over days. Luckily, there are plenty of great East Sussex Hotels for you to stay in whilst travelling the length of whichever path you choose.

One of the longer routes you could take is the Sussex section of the South Downs Way, which we’ll give you some information on in this blog post (hence the title). This walk takes you along the lovely South Downs, where you can climb up and down the rolling hills and cliff tops and see the famous Seven Sisters white cliffs.

Depending on what time of year you make your trip you’ll want to make sure you have weather-appropriate clothing. Even in summer it’s a good idea to be sure you have a fleece or jumper as the higher areas can get windy.

There are plenty of options for walking along it. Wild camping is a possibility, but you have to get permission from the landowner first. You can easily organise your trip to end at a bus stop each day though, or even arrange for pick-ups from local businesses that offer such services to ferry you back to whichever of the hotels in Sussex you’re staying at.

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The Enlightened Traveller walks the 252 kilometres of The Stevenson Trail once every year and participated in the Trail’s 130^th anniversary celebrations in April 2008. Here are some considerations on a classic French trek from Le Puy to St Jean du Gard,

The overnight stay in Le Puy was not great, despite having booked into a 2-star national chain for that supposed extra bit of ‘reassurance.’ Like so many of the region’s hotels, it had seen better days and was suffering from underinvestment. The welcome was poor to put it mildly, but was at least consistent with the failure to communicate by email – and I work for a tour operator prepared to give them business for nothing!

The room wasn’t ready until 16.00 hrs; the reversible heating system only worked one way, the radiators were cold at 16.30 and breakfast was an after-thought. I wouldn’t be arranging my picnic lunch here, then. Was this symptomatic of Le Puy? I recalled having had my head bitten off the last time I was in town (when walking The Regordane) as a result of asking for a second blanket for my bed; and was shocked to find myself forced to use the table as a plate for my croissant and jam the next morning. Thankfully, I took the opportunity to check out some alternative accommodation that was above average, and here lies the first reason for booking through a specialized and responsible tour operator – we stay in the same places we send our customers to and continually check out alternatives for their benefit. Nothing is left to chance in order that holidays run smoothly and comfortably.

The tried-and-tested taxi and baggage service the next day was first class. Stevenson started his seminal trek from Le Monastier and our belief in offering authentic experiences rules out making customers walk from Le Puy. Le Monastier’s polychrome abbey is one of Velay’s finest Roman works of art and its contiguous chateau-cum-museum a delight to behold. It houses a permanent Stevenson exhibition that my early start obliged me to forgo – I was in no mood to hang around for the June opening.

The walk to Le Bouchet is challenging, but immensely rewarding. First come the red soils of the volcanic uplands, followed quickly by a sharp rocky incline down to the Upper Loire Valley. Some of our customers actually opt to do the middle section only of Stevenson’s Trail, thus missing out on the memorable descent to Goudet that definitely qualifies it as part of our ‘Best of’ tour.

Stevenson sketched the ruins of the chateau de Beaufort at Goudet; you will delight in snapping it from multiple angles as you commence your climb to your night’s stop-over. Once again, I had chosen to risk-take in order to experience something new; but I hadn’t expected to find a brand new gite d’etape minus bed sheets and bathroom towels. Was I really going to add such items to my barely-sufficient 15- kilogramme luggage allowance? Another night, another lesson learnt.

The next day’s highlights include the splendid Arquejols viaduct which, like its counterpart at Mirandol to the south, was not around in Stevenson’s time. Built in 1908, the line was closed for economic reasons over a decade ago. Thus this wonder of industrial architecture remains eerily silent and sadly ignorant of the access requirements to France’s interior of the modern-day, back-to-nature, hiking fraternity. Lozère, the department that boasts the highest average altitude and the lowest population in France, fears a similar fate awaits its one remaining railway line, Le Cévenol, which would spell the death of the remaining family-run hotels, hard pressed to make ends meet as a result of the region’s glorious isolation. Whilst Stevenson was quick to laud the “sancta Solitudo” of French country life, the heavy toll dealt by WW1 (visible on the many cenotaphs in villages en route) and the subsequent rural exodus, sees the remaining locals worried sick about losing their main life-line to modern France due to narrow economic rationality.

Stevenson had other concerns to contend with as he trekked, like his own personal health problems, a departed lover and The French Wars of Religion. My preoccupations were much more profane: ensuring there had been no alterations to the route since my colleagues last walked it; taking photos for our website; and the gentle nursing of a nascent blister using a Compeed compound apparently not available in North America.

Stevenson slept out rough for the first time, and in inclement weather, at a place called Fouzillac, just north of Cheylard L’Eveque. Like our customers before me, I fared rather better, and chose to check out some alternative accommodation in Chaudeyrac. The day’s walking hadn’t been that good and rain had somewhat dampened my enthusiasm. The advertised one-and-a-half kilometre detour seemed more like four, but it was worth it: a warm welcome, great food and all mod cons. Other hoteliers could learn a few things from this proprietor, who has heavily invested in his business and, besides running the hotel, sells cepes mushrooms worldwide, raises wild boars and still has time to moan at his teenage daughter’s reluctance to do her half-an-hour’s homework in the evening – unfortunately in earshot of everyone in the hotel but, as a father of two small but headstrong girls, it was rather like relating to my own future.

In The Cevennes Journal, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote: “Why any one should desire to visit either Luc or Cheylard is more than my much-inventing spirit can suppose.” One hundred and thirty years later, and with even less of Luc castle remaining, I have to agree with him. The February snow storms had taken a heavy toll on some of the Gardille forest’s pine trees, many of which lay savagely snapped in two under the sheer weight of the deluge. Yet, as with life in general, perhaps it’s the dull forestry trails that make us appreciate more the splendour of walking the crest of the hill. And many are determined to walk the walk, come what may.

As a Presbytarian married to a French Catholic, I decided to give the trappist monastery at Notre-Dames-des-Neiges a wide berth, fearing imminent conversion, stomach upset (they brew some renowned liquor) and foot swelling from the extra distance. I settled for the night in my comfortable hotel in La Bastide and looked forward to better things. I was not disappointed. Whilst the next day’s walking to Le Bleymard had its high spots, it was the following day, and the day after that, Day Seven, that will live long in the memory.

The six-hundred-metre climb up Mont Lozere is challenging to say the least, but it wasn’t enough to make me camp out on the north side and light up a cigarette as Stevenson had done one late September evening. At a watering hole by the ski centre, I met a modern-day shepherd, whose job it was to rent out donkeys to inexperienced and unsuspecting tourists. He was awaiting a visit from some Spanish journalists and delighted in telling me that following week he was expecting the English Press – although he couldn’t remember the name of their paper. Donkeys were great companions, apparently, and quite cheap to run as well; but woe betide he who tries to dominate them. You have to negotiate, he said. Not having the time to explore the niceties of donkey diplomacy, I bade him farewell and continued on my way.

Snow still covered parts of Le Pic de Finiels which, at 1699 ms, is the highest point of the trail and of Lozere itself. The general appearance of the summit, in all its lunar splendour, is a field day for 1969 space conspiracy theorists that would have even the most ardent of NASA spokespersons running for cover.

The warmth of the Catholic welcome in Le Bleymard was in stark contrast to the ‘salutations Cévenoles’ proffered in Protestant Le Pont de Montvert – and they don’t put the draught lager on until June; so when the TV imploded in the packed Bar du Commerce at half time during the Barça – Man Utd Champions’ League semi-final, there seemed nothing much else to do than retire and administer more Compeed.

I met my second brace of French geography and history teachers early the next day. Critical of President Sarkozy’s recent flirtations with the Jet Set (as if that had altered their opinions of him!) they failed to see how fortunate they were at being sponsored by the Private Sector to walk for four days in a lunar orbit around Florac. Yet the fact they were camping seemed to suggest the subsidy was insufficient to combat the rising costs of living within the Euro-zone.

The southward climb up and out of Le Pont de Montvert, and onto the Cham de l’Hermet, was scenic indeed; and the walk along the ‘ligne des crêtes’ that afternoon was a real joy that I must repeat. The trail winds its way westwards, slipping over the ridge from the north face to south side, as you enjoy the delightful juxtaposition of sunkissed and broomy Mediterranean flora one moment, followed by lush, alpine vegetation the next. As we approached the final leg of Day Seven, the smart teachers disappeared down the GR 68 to Florac, whilst I was duty bound to see it through on the newly-elongated GR 70. I had a bad feeling about it and the experience confirmed my fears. It’s one thing being true to history, but when the tourist board re-writes the ending, which should have been a big finish, maybe it’s justified to take the shorter, and more scenic, conclusion to a memorable day.

After Florac, the remainder of the trail is a little disappointing – too much emphasis is placed on forestry trails and insufficient attention to more interesting alternatives – after all, unlike some genuine historic trails, such as the nearby Regordane, in most cases we do not really know which path Stevenson took.

Perhaps I was just getting a bit weary by the end, as the full trek definitely justifies more than the nine days I gave it. Cassagnas, a Camisard stronghold, deserved more time, and I thoroughly enjoyed my night in an unclassified inn at Saint-Germain-de-Calberte, where the Catholic landlord’s son welcomed me with a handshake that would have made the most ardent of Huguenots feel at home. Sadly, the bathrooms failed to live up to the same billing.

The Signal Saint-Pierre and its ‘table d’orientation’ offers a superb view back up the Vallée Française along which one has trekked; and when I finally reached the Col de Saint-Pierre, with just the steep and challenging descent into St Jean du Gard ahead (a fine finale) I was looking forward to dipping my feet in the Gardon River, to eating a simple pizza as opposed to ‘produits du terroir’, and to showing my girls photos of where dad had been for the last ten days.

Visit The Enlightened Traveller’s Best of the Stevenson Trail.

© The Enlightened Traveller 2008

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