Where on Earth will you ramble? With the world at your fingertips it’s easy to feel paralysed by choice. To ease your mind, please find presented a guide to where might be suitable for your next walking holiday. If you’ve read the first part of this article you’ll immediately know which style will suit, if not then you’ll soon discover which you are as your ideal destination leaps from the page and into your plans…
“What Kind of Rambler are You?” Part 2: Destinations.
The Romantic
Perfect destination for a walking holiday?: The Alps
After months of reading poetry by candlelight in the coffee houses of Vienna you leave your home in March, borne by the winds of an early Spring. What starts as a sabbatical soon evolves into a trekking holiday to be recounted through the ages. Making your way up the spine of the Austrian Alps you make slow progress marching to a rhythm of Petrarchan Sonnets and stopping every time you fail to find a rhyme for the word ‘Lush’. Months later, having arrived in Switzerland while hunting for Edelweiss, you stumble upon Lake Geneva determined to complete Shelley’s unfinished poem ‘The Triumph of Life’ before the winter cold aggravates your consumption.
The Nomad
Perfect destination for a walking holiday?: Western Australia.
Your travelling companions awake on their first day in Perth to discover you missing, but your backpack and clothes still present. They search for you in vain until a month later you return, naked and sun browned, with the sands of the Gibson desert between your toes. You respond to their anxious questions with nothing but a smile and the offer of a Wichetty grub.
The Survivalist
Perfect destination for a walking holiday?: The Kamchatka peninsula.
Tempted by rumours of Bears, Wolves and Lynx in an isolated volcanic area the size of Spain, you board the first cargo ship for Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky. You buy an old Soviet 4x4 that runs on a grade of diesel you don’t recognise and drive north without a map. Breaking down 700km from the nearest town you spend your holiday walking back to civilization, unsure of your chances. Perfect.
The Natural Philosopher
Perfect destination for a walking holiday?: Ecuadorian Highlands to the Galápagos.
With well thumbed copies of The Lost World and On the Origin of the Species in your satchel you spend a month wandering the lush Ecuadorian highlands. You stalk the Imperial Snipe by day and smoke a cheroot by night, gazing into the embers of the fire and philosophizing in broken Spanish. You reach the coast and, eventually, the Galápagos. After trying to make a name for yourself by debunking Darwin you realise he was probably right and content yourself with serialising your travel journal to ensure your fame.
The Captain of Industry
Perfect destination for a walking holiday?: Canada’s North West Territories.
Sparing less expense than Hannibal, you and your 400 man expedition leave Calgary aiming to discover reserves of oil, gold and diamonds revealed by retreating ice sheets. Unfortunately you leave at the end of autumn and find yourself waylaid by an impenetrable winter. Heading west you’re overwhelmed by the beauty of the Canadian Rockies and decide to abandon your previous plans, founding a ski resort instead.
The Explorer
Perfect destination for a walking holiday?: Madagascar’s Rainforests.
You’re shipwrecked on the shores of Madagascar while trying to find the Chagos Islands. Believing yourself to be on the East African coast you head inland. Upon reaching the sea in a matter of weeks you’re overjoyed to realise that you have in fact trekked through Madagascar’s virgin rainforest and have inadvertently secured a place in the history books.
The ‘Summiteer’
Perfect destination for a walking holiday?: The Patagonian Andes.
What begins as a trekking holiday with friends soon becomes a feverish pursuit of new heights as you realise how many of the peaks are unnamed and untouched. While your travel mates walk through the Argentine Lake District, enjoying the serenity and beauty of the glacial landscapes, you test your limits in a carnival of ambition, endurance and frostbite.
Wherever you spend your holiday, walking, hiking or otherwise, make sure you choose the right location and you’re bound for the experience of a lifetime.
Author Resource:-
Tony Maniscalco is the Sales and Marketing Manager for Ramblers Worldwide Holidays. Both a travel company and a charitable trust, Ramblers Worldwide have been operating since 1946 and now offer over 250 holidays in more than 70 different countries. (http://www.ramblersholidays.co.uk)