It’s hard to tell if my legs are wobbly because it’s the first time I’ve been ashore in four days or because I’ve just been on a steep climb. I’m on a cruise and walking holiday with Ramblers in the Canary Islands and, as both an active traveller and a cruise virgin, I’m curious to … Read more
Great British boltholes: The beautiful boutique pub that’s a heavenly reward for tackling Cambridgeshire’s Devil’s Dyke hike The Mail on Sunday’s Jane Knight checked into The Three Blackbirds, a dog-friendly pub in Woodditton The rooms would ‘not be out of place in a boutique hotel’, with oversized headboards and proper milk for tea And the … Read more
Britain at its best: Chalk up a walk along the ancient Ridgeway track, which takes in the mysterious Uffington White Horse, Iron Age hill-forts and Bronze Age burial mounds Kate Eshelby embarked on an ancient walk between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire known as The Ridgeway For more than 5,000 years, drovers, traders and invaders have travelled … Read more
An Inspector calls… at The Town House in Arundel and loves the view from his room to the castle, but it has ‘strangely depressing’ curtains and a ‘hideous’ bathroom mirror The Inspector checked into The Town House in Arundel, West Sussex, which has an ‘impressive’ history His room had a narrow balcony that offered ‘spectacular’ views … Read more
Sicily is the triple distillation of Italy. The sun is fiercer, the wine stronger, the sweets sweeter, the shadows darker, the baroque more baroque. And, it has to be said, the dirt dirtier. Every writer comments on the island’s severe contrasts: great beauty and the smell of jasmine here, bloodstains and brutal poverty there. The … Read more
Step into Tenerife’s secret side: It’s not all beaches and infinity pools on the popular Canary Island Most people don’t consider Tenerife a place for walkers: it’s the beaches and tapas that attract the crowds But Matthew Hirtes joined the challenging Grand Walking Tour of Tenerife and got lost in the island’s beauty His favourite … Read more
Splash of colour: Locals in traditional dress in Mexico, where there are holiday deals to be had We can thank the United States for the annual price-slashing ritual that takes place on the last Friday of November — the day after Thanksgiving. It is meant to represent the day retailers begin to turn a profit, … Read more
A designer friend was given the task some years ago of changing the interior décor of a stuffy London ‘Gentleman’s Club’ without its members noticing. Something similar has been going on at the redoubtable Cobblers Cove, just outside Speightstown on the north-west coast of Barbados — a much-loved hotel which the Godsals, a British family, … Read more
Snow is falling steadily. It’s -15c, my hands are frozen and the icy windburn is cutting into my face. But I’m having the time of my life driving a sled hauled by six husky dogs across classic Arctic terrain. In front of us is a large frozen lake. Our instructor is far ahead on his … Read more
Rain hammers down on the tin roof and the tiny ten-seater seaplane rocks from side to side. ‘You’ve chosen a good day to fly with us,’ the barefoot pilot says with a smile. The sky is black as we take off along the sodden runway, and lightning strikes the second the plane lifts off the … Read more