Bernese Oberland

Discovery Travel provides walking, hiking and cycling holidays in a wide range of specially selected destinations for the independent traveller. This means that you have the independence to start a trip on a day to suit you, travel at your own pace, visit places of interest and do all the things you want to do when you want to. You usually stay in a different village or small town every night so that you sample a variety of places in your chosen area. However, if you wish to add one or more rest days to any itinerary this is easily done and we can often extend or reduce the number of walking/hiking/cycling days as well, to suit your needs.

We provide the essential services, which you need to enjoy this independence to the full, namely, booking carefully selected accommodation, moving luggage daily, providing maps and route details and local information as well as emergency support. If you are on a cycling holiday we provide bikes etc. We can also help with your travel arrangements

 PAYMENT PROTECTION

 As legally required by the EU Tour Operators Package Travel Regulations, we have financial protection which ensures that any money you pay to us is protected in the unlikely event of our insolvency.

Walking and Hiking Tours in Britain

English Lake District

Discovery Travel offer several classic nationally and internationally renowned long distance walks such as the Wainwrights Coast to Coast, the Cleveland Way, the Cumbria Way and the Dales Way. The support which we provide allows you to concentrate on successfully completing and enjoying these long-distance walks with the minimum of fuss. Having expanded our portfolio of classic walks, we are now also pleased to offer the West Highland Way, the Great Glen Way, the Cotswold Way, the Hadrians Wall Walk, the Wolds Way, the Offas Dyke Walk, Pennine Way and St Cuthberts Way.

In addition, we have two circular walks of our own, one in the Lake District (the Lakeland Round) and one starting and ending in Ilkley and taking in parts of Wharfedale, Pen y Ghent and the spectacular limestone scenery of the Malham area (the Wharfedale Ribblesdale Malham Circuit). The Westmorland Way which gives wonderful Lakeland walking in the ancient county of Westmorland and the Lady Anne Cliffords Way is a superb route linking Skipton with Penrith.

Lindisfarne

For those looking for a shorter break we are now providing the Herriot Way and single and two centre breaks. The latter allow you to choose how much walking you wish to do in a day from a variety of walks on offer at each centre.Whilst daily distances vary, our walks average about 12 miles per day, which gives you a full days walking, but with enough time for some sightseeing and certainly for leisurely visits to local teashops and hostelries. Please remember - all our walks can be amended to suit your personal needs, for example by including rest days or additional walking days.

Cycling Tours in Britain

Country Lanes

Our Whitehaven to Whitby Coast to Coast route continues to prove popular. Also popular is the Sustrans C2C route which runs between Whitehaven and Sunderland. The brand new Hadrian's Cycleway, also created by Sustrans, linking Ravenglass with Tynemouth is likely to attract riders from home and abroad. Parts of these routes are on purpose-built cycle paths constructed by Sustrans, and the rest follows quiet country lanes. For those wishing to explore an area in more detail, we highly recommend our circular tours of the Lake District, and of the Yorkshire Dales. Another circular tour begins and ends in York and passes through the Lower Dales and the North York Moors National Park.

Distances

All our seven night holidays average less than 30 miles of cycling per day, which will allow you ample time to enjoy the sights, the pubs and the tea shops along the way. Remember, a moderately fit cyclist will average about 10 mph so you should find our daily distances within your capabilities. If you have any doubts, ring us first. All our routes follow quiet country lanes and traffic-free cycle paths, avoiding busy roads.

Walking and Hiking in Europe

Santiago de
Compostela

We now have many self-guided independent walking tours in Spain and Madeira (including walking and hiking in the Alpujarras and along the Way of St James), France (including the Tour du Mont Blanc and Balcon de la Cote D'Azur), Italy (including walking and hiking in Tuscany and Umbria) Switzerland (including the Bernese Oberland) and Austria (including walking and hiking in the Tyrol).

Each provides you with the freedom you need to enjoy the splendid countryside and local culture at your own pace, but safe in the knowledge that the essentials have been organised for you including good quality accommodation each night, luggage transfers and an interesting itinerary.

Cycling in Europe

The Rhone Trail

Our European cycling holidays are based on the same winning formula and naturally include the provision of a bike suitable for the holiday you book. We now have bike-friendly routes to follow in France, Switzerland (including the Rhine and Rhone Trails), Austria (including the Danube Cycle Trail and the Inn Cycle Trail as well as cycling from Salzburg to Vienna), Germany (including cycling along the Moselle) and Italy (including the Gulf of Venice and Tuscany) and we are continually developing and extending our selection.

Accommodation

We make every effort to ensure the high quality of all the accommodation we use and our reputation depends on this. In mainland Europe and Madeira the majority of our holidays use small family run hotels with private facilities. In Britain we use mainly B&Bs and inns or similar standard accommodation, and whilst we cannot guarantee private facilities due to it not being available in some small villages, this will be the norm. However, the absence of private facilities in some locations in no way detracts from the overall quality of the accommodation we use.

Fitness

The Dales Way

Our holidays are aimed at people who are reasonably fit, but they are intended to be enjoyed rather than endured. If you are not walking or cycling regularly, don't worry, but it is a good idea to do some preparatory exercise. However, you do not need to be super-fit. We grade all our walks and rides to give you a good indication of what is involved. Please call us if you need more advice.

Singles

Most of our holidays are suitable for single people walking or cycling alone. We cannot guarantee that you will be joining other people except on guided walks. Unfortunately, we have to charge a single supplement as single accommodation is invariably more expensive, but we keep this to a minimum.

Getting There and Back

Wainwright's Coast to
Coast

As our customers come from all over the world, travel to your first night's accommodation is not included in the holiday. However, if you are travelling from the UK we can advise on trains and flights. Also if you are coming to Britain from abroad we can advise and book train and coach tickets for travel in Britain as required for a small fee.

Luggage Transfers

We will transfer your luggage door to door every day on which you are walking or cycling, except on one or two holidays that include an overnight stay in a mountain hut. You can bring one bag per person, but recent Health and Safety legislation means that no bag should weigh more than 20 Kg. If you need us to transfer more than one bag, please contact us to discuss this and we will do our best to accommodate your requirements.

Insurance

We strongly recommend that you take out holiday insurance for your peace of mind.

Flexibility

Please remember - all our walks can be amended to suit your personal needs, for example by including rest days or additional walking days.

THREE PEAKS WALK

In aid of Arthritis Research Campaign

PEN-Y-GHENT • WHERNSIDE • INGLEBOROUGH

Saturday 17^th April 2010 Take a walk on the wild side and help us beat arthritis.A 26 mile guided sponsored walk through the beautiful Yorkshire Dales countryside in aid of the Arthritis ResearchCampaign (arc). For more information call Kathryn Leverett on 01423 324158 or email her at k.leverett@arc.org.uk