Great walks in the UK

In this episode Malcolm and David discuss their favourite places to hike in the UK.

Hear us talk about the best places to stay, eat and walk. We discuss, waterfalls in Yorkshire and the Yorkshire 3 peaks hike. The differences between the dark and white peaks of the Derbyshire Peak District. The best that Wales has to offer and the Viking Way in Lincolnshire and the seals and birds of Norfolk.

This episode is brought to you by Chiltern Walks who provide guided walks and walking holidays around the UK. You can find more details here:

Check out Chiltern Walks: guided walks and holidays https://www.meetup.com/chiltern-walks-meetup on Meetup

If you have a story to share or some feedback to give just contact us at contact.unraveltravel@gmail.com


Our theme music is Traveler's Blues by Jerzy Gorecki from Pixabay (with licence)

https://pixabay.com/users/jerzyg%C3%B3recki-2233926/

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Welcome to Unravel Travel, where every journey has a story.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Memory in Yorkshire is the Yorkshire Three Peaks, which is quite a an undertaking. Um, and the reason I've done it a few times, I did it a couple of times sort of with friends, and then I did it with a a guy I met on my on one of my walks, and I was trying to because you're supposed to do it under 12 hours is the time. It's 24 miles-ish, maybe a bit less, but your altitude gain is about a mile, and then it's a circular walk, so you descend a mile as well. So the time that you try to do it in is 12 hours, and I've done it under 12 once, but I just wanted to do it under 10. Uh so I met this guy. Turns out he was an ultra-marathon runner that I didn't realise at the time, and I'd and in his twenties, and I'd agreed to take him to do this just uh as a one-off thing, just because I wanted to get a good time. But he he was lovely. He he didn't try to push the pace or anything because he would have left me behind in the first five, ten minutes. And in terms of staying, not actually stayed in Hawes, but I am doing this year for the first time. I knew, I knew I wouldn't be able to get that past you. Did they want to charge too much? It is actually more expensive in Hawes than outside of Hawes. These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do. One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you. Are you ready, boots? Start walking. Today's episode is about uh walking holidays or great places to walk in the UK. Mostly based on my experience, or at least my side of it. Malcolm will talk to his. From uh before I was working as uh uh a walk guide holiday organizer with uh Chiltern Walks, which you can find the website on uh meetup.com. Is that a dating site? It sounds like it, doesn't it? But no. Although I have had a a couple of weddings from people that have uh met on my walks. So you know, maybe it is a dating site after all. Uh so it's prior to that, and uh in that I did most of these walks before or these areas, and then a lot of the my further experience in the area, sort of refining the walks, working out which restaurants and everything to go to, uh when I've been doing it as a you know, as a as a business, taking people on organized group walks. But all of these places are great, whether you just go on your own, whether you go with a mate, with a partner, or in a bigger group. Uh what's your experience walking in the UK, Malcolm?

SPEAKER_04 2:53

I've done a lot from my from my early days in the sort of cadets who went out and did lots of countryside walking and scouts and things, and family holidays in all sorts of strange places around the UK. Um, lots of walking involved. And then my Duke of Edinburgh's award, of course. So I've done quite a quite a lot of that sort of backwards.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Where did you do your gold for the Duke of Edinburgh?

SPEAKER_04 3:16

I did it in the Peak District, Dave.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Jacob's Ladder, Edale, all those sort of bits. That that's on my list of places that I think think people should go to. I noticed.

SPEAKER_04 3:26

I noticed it was, yeah. I like and I've taken Petra there to some of those haunts since then. Yeah, it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Maybe we should start there in the peak district. Yeah, why not? Sorry, carry on. Okay. My favourite place these days to stay in the peak district, so where to base yourself is Buxton, because there's just so many great restaurants in Buxton, and there's some pretty good hotels as well, and it's quite central because it in the Peak District you've got the Dark Peak in the north, which is the more rugged, more serious, uh Jacob's Ladder, Kinder Scouts, that's sort of in the north, and then in the south you've got the White Peak, which is sort of the Dove Valley and around Hartington and everything. So you're perfectly placed to have access to both of them. So I mean, I just love the walking around there.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

Last time we went, we stayed in Buxton at the big spa hotel, which is like some sort of really old, interesting place, isn't it? It's got a very strange swimming pool inside it, and and we went to uh the Buxton Theatre Opera House, whatever it is, for a production of the city. It's an opera house, yes. Yeah, and that's a very interesting building. So Buxton's a very interesting place, and we had a lovely curry, so yes, it's it's great, good spot, Buxton.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

And the the walks, I mean that one of my favourite walks is the Dove Valley. Started in Hartington. It's it's such dramatic scenery, but it's not like you know, a lot of the really good scenery in the UK, it's sort of like quite hard walking because you have to go up traps up a mountain or whatever. But the Dove Valley is quite gentle. I mean, there are steep sections of it, but it just feels that little bit more accessible. Uh, and you can probably avoid the steep stuff as well. I do do one route which is more low level. Another one which I've got on my list is the Tidesdale Five Dales, and you just go from dale to dale to dale, and you don't do an awful lot of climbing, they just sort of mesh in together. You walk along one river and then you join another, and it just sort of it's just a beautiful, beautiful walk. Any anything you'd like to add on the peak district?

SPEAKER_04 5:18

No, not particularly. I think the places you mention are particularly nice, aren't they? Getting up onto Kinder Scout and then sort of walking round the edge of it. The in the middle of it isn't very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 5:28

But they're the middle itself, you're right. But on the way up, it's quite it's quite challenging getting well, yeah. But it's quite challenging to get to the top of Kinder Scout. Yeah, well. Well worth it.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

We did a circular route which involved some scrabbling up uh a a stream a less a less Sorry you play scrabble on the way up. Multitasking up a a less commonly used bit and then came back down the sort of main bit on Jacob's ladder. But the the walking the edge of it is is good when we did our Duke of Edinburgh's gold. We we hacked across the middle of it in one point and it's pretty simple.

SPEAKER_03 6:01

Yeah, I presume yeah, you'd have been off all the well, you'd have been off the routes, wouldn't you, if you're doing gold.

SPEAKER_04 6:05

Yeah, I I mean you use the main footpaths as well, but yeah, that the navigation is a little bit more. But it's not easy to walk off the main footpaths there because it's very ravines and boggy and you can break an ankle really quickly.

SPEAKER_03 6:16

I remember it being very, very boggy when I was I think it was last year. I'm going there again this year, and it wasn't that early in the season, and it was really boggy at the top. It's probably about July time, I think. But yeah, very, very beautiful place, which I'm gonna swiftly go on to my one of my other favourites. It's probably we need to be swift. We've got about a million places to talk about. I know. When we were talking about what we're gonna cover, I said it's just so difficult because the UK's got so many good places to walk. So I guess we should make an apology if there's somewhere on somebody else's list that we haven't included, but please do put it in the comments. Uh, we are well aware that we will be missing out amazing walking places. But the next place on my list was the Yorkshire Dales, and in terms of staying, not actually stayed in Hawes, but I am doing this year for the first time. I knew, I knew I wouldn't be able to get that past you. Did they want to charge too much? It is actually more expensive in Hawes than outside of Hawes, but I have eaten there a few times, so it made me when I started to do set up the holiday for this year, I thought I'm actually going to base myself there. Got some really nice restaurants there, and again, central to the walks that I like doing. If, however, and uh one of the considerations when I'm working out where to stay when I'm doing it as a group is I need enough accommodation for I think I've got 20 odd people coming on my uh on my Yorkshire trip this year. Um, but if you wanted to stay as a couple, I could highly recommend either Gunnarside or Muka, very, very pretty little villages. Gunnarside right next to the river. Muca's more of the it's it's nearer a river, but it's more of a floodplain. But I can and that's uh Swaledale, amazing walk there. Other walks, um Aesgar Falls, you were talking in the previous episode about the falls in Iceland. This is completely different in that it's super super wide, but the drop is I don't know, three, four, five metres tops. Yeah, but it it must be 15 metres wide or more. Uh and if you go there after it's been raining, which I know doesn't happen very often in Yorkshire, uh, you do get quite a lot of uh water coming through.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

I'd just like to point out most of the rainfall in the UK happens on the wet, rubbish Lancashire side, uh, and and and it's dropped before it hits the pennines. Less of that sectarian stuff now.

SPEAKER_03 8:29

So and the other walk, which is sort of I've done it a few times now that sticks well in my memory in Yorkshire is the Yorkshire Three Peaks, which is quite a an undertaking. Um, and the reason I've done it a few times, I did it a couple of times sort of with friends, and then I did it with a a guy I met on my on one of my walks, and I was trying to because you're supposed to do it under 12 hours is the time. It's 24 miles-ish, maybe a bit less, but you altitude gain is about a mile, and then it's a circular walk, so you descend a mile as well. So the time that you try to do it in is 12 hours, and I've done it under 12 once, but I just wanted to do it under 10. Uh, so I met this guy. Turns out he was an ultramarathon runner that I didn't realise at the time, and I'd and in his twenties, and I'd agreed to take him to do this just uh as a one-off thing, just because I wanted to get a good time. But he he was lovely, he he didn't try to push the pace or anything because he would have left me behind in the first five, ten minutes. This guy's run the ridgeway in a day, it's just nuts. But yeah, so we did that in a really quick time, and then I I decided for the first holiday I wanted to do with my group, I thought I wanted to do something big ticket, attract people's attention, give it the best chance to make it a success. So I offered the Yorkshire three peaks with an option of either doing one, two, or or three peaks because you can sort of drop off and go back to the start. So it worked quite well to allow people to do shorter versions if they chose to. And the the the three peaks themselves, I've got to remember them now. Pennygent, Wernside, and Inglebrough. My personal favourite is probably Penny Gent because it's slightly more challenging to get up to the top. There's a bit where you have to scrabble, or is that scramble? Scramble, I think. Uh actually it's it's it's more it's more of a climb actually than a scramble, but you do have to use your hands. It's only a very, very short section, and there's easy footholds, and anybody who's not scared of heights, it's not difficult at all. But it does make it feel a little bit more exciting. Wernside is the highest, but the easiest. But the rest of the walk on Wernside is beautiful. You've got waterfalls, uh, a viaduct, or you know, aqueduct, actually. Absolutely beautiful walk. So I highly recommend whether you don't you don't have to do all three because you can do them all individually. And in fact, one time I did do a holiday and we did all three, but we did a peak a day to make it more accessible for people. You also, if you're doing all three, it it's a challenge and you don't necessarily enjoy the beauty. You're more worried about your blisters and having a lot of people. Stop and have a good look at the view, are you particularly if you're no exactly, and you uh by the end you're so tired that you're not you're you're enjoying it because of the sense of achievement, but you're not enjoying it for its grandeur and its beauty. So I would definitely recommend doing a peak a day type option for for many people. I think it's the best option.

SPEAKER_04 11:16

And a confession, because you're a yellow belly and you've done it twice, uh, I'm a proud Yorkshireman and I haven't done the three peaks yet. So I've actually done it four times now, but right, that makes you uh great.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Well, if we're counting. That's four times all in the same day. I've done them more many times individually.

SPEAKER_04 11:38

Well, I suppose if you're running walking holidays in that area, that's probably what's going to happen, isn't it? Exactly. I mean I haven't actually spent much time in the Yorkshire Dales. We spent well since I was a uh a young man, which is some time back. As kids we took a holiday cottage in the Yorkshire Dales many times until I was probably about thirteen or fourteen. Then we shifted to go into Scotland and it involved lots of walking. I I imagine probably something a bit like with Nell and I. We didn't get around to burning the furniture. I mean the sort of accommodation was like you know, a cottage in the middle of nowhere. No, right, it was that sort of thing, not the whole rest of it. And then I studied in Leeds, of course, and I had a car when I was a student, so I did get out into the dales quite a bit, but I I don't particularly remember exactly where I went.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

It's got a certain feel about it, the Dales though, haven't you? I mean I I just talked about the three peaks, but you don't have to go high to do amazing walks, just up on the moors with those dry stone walls, the sheep, swelledale sheep, it's it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 12:46

Yeah, exactly. That's what I was gonna say. Some of that sort of actually the sort of southern dales is quite just picturesquely nice. It's not it doesn't have to be fully impressive, does it? Mountains, you know, it can just be it can just be nice.

SPEAKER_03 12:59

If if they had better weather all year round, I think I'd move there. Okay. The next one, I'm not gonna talk too much about the next one, even though it's sort of probably everybody's favourite, but the lakes. Uh you can't not mention it. I mean, when I ran a holiday there, I stayed at Honester Slate mine at the youth hostel there. Amazing location. Unfortunately, it was driving drizzle pretty much the whole week that we were there. But just absolutely brilliant. You're up high because it's on Honester Pass, so you're almost the highest point all the way around. Yeah, you're very close to Borodale, a beautiful walk in Borodale, just down the down the road. And it's not that far to go over over the other side of Honister Pass, and you're down at Buttermere, and then you've got Buttermere and Haystacks, which is one of my favourite walks in the area. A little bit too far for Helvelin, which is probably my favourite mountain in the lakes, uh, especially if you go up Striding Edge. That's the the lakes for me. When I did it last time, we stayed in Keswick, which is a little bit easier than staying up at Honester because you've got all the res restaurants and uh and and easier access, I guess, to some of the other walks as well. But yeah, very, very pretty the lakes.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

Have they introduced the sort of penalizing payments for hosts in those places? So, like Cotswolds now, you know, hosts charge double council tax and stuff, and St. Ives, you know, limits on accommodation. Is it a challenging place to stay? You know, the parking and all the rest of the malarkey that goes with it.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

That's a good really good question. I I don't know about the host side of things, uh, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's double council tax. Gonna be going that way if it's not already. The parking, yes, is challenging, although I'm usually talking from the perspective of somebody getting 20 people to a walk. We we do car share, so that usually means you're sort of like only looking at parking four or five cars, but it's the lakes, even that can be a challenge. But what I do is you just start early. And actually, there's a I can't remember the name, but that there's a website that shows you how busy the car parks are. There's a little bit of a lag on it, but it gives you an idea. And I tend to go up a day early. I'm I know I'm lobbying that I'm throwing this up for you to smash back at me, Malcolm. But I do a tour of the car parks the day before the uh the holiday starts to see how busy they are at a perfect time. What time of the evening do you do this, David? Good point. In the morning, because that's when we're gonna go there when we're doing the walk. Okay. Car parks can get busy, and it is worth if you're going to be doing a walk, you're probably out for quite a long time. So I I'd recommend starting earlier uh just to avoid that. But then there's the other option which I've not used, but I did research it in case, especially during COVID, I was looking at the options. But there's a bus that takes you to most of the major starting points for the walks. Uh, and some of the people did use the the bus for getting back after some of the walks. They decided some decided to go on the bus rather than drive. So it is actually, and obviously uh you've got the the boat on the lake as well, which drops you off trying to think what's the name of the lake near Keswick? I'll come back to me, but it it drops off at various Dermont water. It drops off at various different points, and there's great walks from most of the places that it stops at. In fact, the lakes is probably one of the best places for going without a car. Wainwright was very keen on uh travelling to the lakes by bus, wasn't he?

SPEAKER_04 16:13

I think that's the case, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

And I think it's still the case that you can do that, and there's not many places in this country, uh in my experience, that it's so well set up to do that without a car. So good on the lakes.

SPEAKER_04 16:24

We use some put we'd we've done sections of the southern coastal path. I mean, they're not really good as circular walks, obviously. You're starting at one place and ending at another. We've used public transport a little bit on that and and had to pay for a taxi once or twice as well to get from Valentine. Are you talking Cornwall or in different places? So we did the first leg, which is Swanich. Well, we did Swanich to Lulworth Cove. Yeah. Yeah, I've very pretty and and a bit of a nightmare because you're down to sea level up to the top, down to sea level up to the top. It's it's I think the stretch with the largest amount of height change in it. It's it's a hard, hard walk. And we stopped at some point we booked a place in mid you know mid-walk and got to and from the walk again with public transport. And then we've done some bits of it in Cornwall as well. But there we circularised the walks or came back on ourselves just back to the car. The coastline, of course, opens up massive opportunities for very interesting walks in the UK. We've got coastline, you know, to die for. Most countries are desperate for the sort of thing we've got, and the views are different, but it's very weather dependent, then isn't it? It can be horrible.

SPEAKER_03 17:36

Yeah, uh I'm gonna because you've opened up coastline, Cornwall is the obvious, it's absolutely beautiful walking down there. It's just it's very busy in the middle of summer. It takes such a long time to get there, unless you live in Dorset. So I'm gonna throw out an alternative that I think is as beautiful, has as good walks, and I don't think is as well known, but you will know it from our geography lessons, and it's Pembrokeshire.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

Well, I was gonna I I'll I'll see your Pembrokeshire and raise you a Gower Peninsula because that's even closer. So there you go. Go on, you do Pembrokeshire and I'll do Gower Peninsula.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

And you do Gower, okay. So in Pembrokeshire, when I run it as a holiday, I stay in Tenby. I'm sure there's plenty of other good places. Well, actually, I stay near Tenby, but I if you were going there, I'd probably look at Tenby. Again, lots of great restaurants there. There's um an island that you can get to from Tembe that's it's got a monastery on it. Uh you can walk around the island, very pretty. Uh, and the advantage of that particular island is that it's quite sheltered to get there. So if the weather's bad, you don't necessarily have to miss out. Whereas, unlike some of the other stuff, so I also went to Skomer Island, those boats can and do get cancelled on a regular basis. But the reason to go to Skoma is for the puffins, and it's just an amazing experience. You get so close, sort of within a meter. And the puffins actually wait for you to move so they can walk across the path and then get into their burrow. So you're supposed to give them as much room as possible, but they sometimes sort of fly in and suddenly they're there, and you're sort of like, Yeah, I need to get out of your way so you can get in your little home and feed your pufflings. But yeah, I loved Skoma. I think St. David's, I've not stayed there or eaten there, but every time I do a walk, trying to remember, I think it's Porth Clay. St. David's is on the way or on the way back. It's just a lovely little place to stop off, have an ice cream, chill, go and see the cathedral. Very, very pretty little place, uh, even though it's a city. Smallest city in England and Wales. Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah. So yeah, that that's Pembrokeshire, other places, Bathundle Bay. I think it was that one. It was certainly one of the bays that we went to last year on one of my holidays that was just been voted fifth best beach in Europe, which is not a huge surprise having been there, but more of a surprise that whoever was voting for it knew about it because it's not particularly well known. Uh, and then the last place that I love the walks, Stackpole. Very, very pretty. And all of these walks, you've got the coastline bit of it that I think it definitely rivals Cornwall and nowhere near as many people on it. Easy parking, National Trust parking. So if you're a National Trust member, remember to take your badge because then you'll get free parking.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

We did the Gower Peninsula because it was the closest interesting part of Wales to where we live. Uh and and it's not particularly far, you know, it's right next to Swansea. That's not singing its praises particularly, but it it's it's very close to showing how close very close to a major city, yeah. And the coastline is spectacular. We went walked round Rossilly and down to Worms Head and all the way out to the end, which is tidal dependent, but it's a stunning walk, absolutely fantastic, and because it goes all the way out into the sea, you're getting a view back at the land, which is very interesting in several directions, which you don't normally get. Yeah, I highly recommend that. And like I say, it's not very far away, it's very easy to get to. There was a but where did you stay? Was it a little place or we we stayed just outside Swansea because we then we had a day in the Gower and then we had a day heading up in the other direction, and then we we walked in the Brecon Beacons on the way back. Uh and I've walked there, and that is beautiful as well. So these places are not particularly far away, you know, they're just across the the Seven Estuary, and in particular getting to Swansea, you can get a train to Swansea, and I was gonna say there's a bus that goes all the way around the Gower Peninsula, visits all those points close enough for a for a long weekend or a weekend visit or a bit further. Oh no, definitely. I mean uh Swansea is obviously a little bit further than Cardiff, isn't it? But the M4 goes all the way to the edge of Swansea. So I mean I would say it's quite quick. Oh yeah, I mean, not particularly particularly far at all. I I don't I'm not gonna guess it, but I would say well I am gonna guess it I would say it's probably about three hours from two and a half, three hours from Oxford, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 21:43

Yeah, that's that's very doable. Very doable. This episode of Unravel Travel is brought to you by Chiltern Walks, guided walks and holidays. Whether you're a seasoned rambler or just ready for A weekend reset. We'll take care of the roots, the stays, and the little details, so you can simply enjoy the journey. Chilton walks, walk further, breathe deeper, feel better. You can find a link to our website in the episode notes. So while we're on the subject of whales or walking, uh and we're talking whales, I thought makes sense to go for my next one, which is Snowdonia. When I go there, I always stay in Plasy Brennan, uh, which is the mountain UK mountain centre. And they have this lovely purpose-built accommodation that sleep 13 people, I think it is, down in the middle of the woods, quite close to the lake. So you can go swimming in the lake in the even after the walk, after the e in the evening, whatever, as long as the weather's warm enough. There are other places to stay. I would say Betsy Coed would be an excellent place. Got loads of restaurants there, and when we stay in Plasy Brenham, we actually usually eat in Betsy. Bedgalert, I've started doing more and more walks around there, and that is a lovely little place. So it's got nice restaurants, probably got some nice accommodation as well. Uh, and then the walks I tend to do, I obviously can and do go up Snowdon, and I use the the Rangers Path, which is one of the more accessible routes. The railway. No, although sometimes people have decided to go back down and we've met them at the top after they've used the railway. If you are going to take that option and it's a nice day, I would recommend booking it in advance, even on a terrible day which we were doing. It was they still had to wait sometime to get a ticket. Probably a little bit harder if you're planning on going back down, you're not necessarily guaranteed to get on the train. Uh so if you're going to do it, buy it both ways. And then if you do decide to walk back down, you can, but at least you've got the train if you don't need it. So I can and do do the Snowden itself, but recently I've decided I actually prefer walking on Snowdon, but not up Snowden. So it's still very hilly, but you don't see anybody. Uh it's ridiculous that you know, half a mile away, a mile away, there's probably a procession of people going up. And on the routes I'm doing, you'll maybe see three or four people in a day. And it's far more beautiful the routes. My favourite one starts in Crafwell and Hall and the Nature's Reserve around there. Absolutely beautiful. But yeah, I could I definitely recommend Snowdon, but I also recommend getting off the beat and path if you go up to Snowdon.

SPEAKER_04 24:20

Yeah, it's not an area I know particularly well, so uh we must go and check it out. We keep saying we should spend more time in Wales as it's quite close to us, really. Probably a weekend trip or actually more like a midweek trip because we normally have to be around for cleaning at the weekends. So uh and and I quite like that because you get away in the accommodation. It's a bit of a drive. Yeah, I know. Uh yeah, Monday.

SPEAKER_03 24:41

If you can go Monday to Friday, that's all I always do Monday to Friday. The the accommodation's cheaper, the travel's better because I come back Friday morning. And you know, it works.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

We don't have the same issue other people have with holiday times though, do we?

SPEAKER_03 24:54

Leave. No, exactly. But if you're gonna take the week off, if you want to do longer, obviously you can do the weekend as well, or you can do somewhere on the way, still quite nice, just sort of it might be a place you wouldn't go to if it's sort of like a three-hour journey, you're probably not gonna go there. But if it's a 20-minute, half an hour detour on the route to where your main destination is, then it's no big deal. Gives you a bit of a break from driving, and you get to see a place that you wouldn't normally see.

SPEAKER_04 25:18

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I like to stop into Glass and be on my way down to the West Country.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Yeah, well, I don't blame you. I mean, that brings me on to I'm laughing because it sort of brings me off my next place was Mendips. It's almost like I was leading you into it, isn't it, David? Almost is. You got my notes, I think you might have. So when I do the Mendips trip, and I do still have places if people are interested, I'd stay in Wells or Cheddar. Are there not any houses available? Yeah, I just climb into a very large piece of cheese. And at least you don't have to go out for the it was the wells I was meeting.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

I I've been to Wells, and it's quite an interesting place actually. The cathedral's very nice, isn't it? Yeah, black appearance. I was looking for baby eating bishops, but I couldn't find any.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

Great places to uh to eat in both Cheddar and Wells. Very good Italian restaurants in both I've eaten at uh and then the cheese shops in Cheddar. Uh if you like your cheese, well worth a stop there. And then you've got the caves, and this is where I can't remember the name of the the place I stay because it's right next to the caves. But there's there's um Wookiee Hole in Cook Hall. Wookiee Hole, yeah. Uh so it'll stay in the Wookiee Hole Hotel, uh, which also Wookiee Hole is a nice Yeah, indeed. And then you've got the caves, both in Wookiee Hole, but also in Cheddar itself. We'll have to do an episode on something to do around. We'll have to do an episode cheese themed episode.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

Now we've moved off tea as a theme. Uh pretty certain, but yeah, I think we could do 'cause I'm gonna I'm gonna see your Wookiee Hole Cheddar and raise your Lincolnshire poacher.

SPEAKER_03 26:41

Wow, yeah. Won the the World Cheese Awards on more than well, one occasion at least.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

Yeah, because you know you've talked about all these places all over the country, but you're from Loworth, and uh you haven't mentioned the Viking Way or the Lincolnshire Wolds, which are you know, people would talk about the Cotswolds, and we might talk about the Cotswolds in a minute. Obviously I live in the Cotswolds, but there's something surpr well, it shouldn't be surprising because the the name's a bit of a giveaway that the Lincolnshire Wolds are quite like the Cotswolds. Very simple unlike the Yorkshire Wolds, both of which have a much better reputation than the Lincolnshire Wolds, but but the walking is lovely uh and it's not strikingly mountainous, but it's rolling and and pretty and you won't see very many people. I mean, whenever we go up to Louth, we go for a walk on the wolds on the way in or the way out, and you just don't see anyone. You don't see anyone at all, and there's some really nice walks. So I would highly recommend it. I've done the Viking way, I did it when I was in the cadets, I think. You know, that that's a quite a long walk along the wolds, and there's quite a lot of you know organized, reasonably long distance footpaths. So I I wouldn't I wouldn't miss that out. All the coastal walks, actually, they're very different to Cornwall because it's flat, but you know, that don't get caught out when the tides come rushing in. But those dunes uh are very interesting, and the bird life is fantastic, and the seal life, of course. And the seals, so um, it's you know, it's very different, but you know, very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Well, uh you know you had a confession about not having walked the Yorkshire three peaks being born in Yorkshire. You've never done the Viking life. I doubt I don't think so. I've done very, very little walking in Lincolnshire because I got into walking after I'd left. And I've gone back and I've done the odd one.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

Well, you walk up and down the golf course the other day when you go back, don't you?

SPEAKER_03 28:27

Well, yeah, it's not not full-size golf course, there's not a lot of walking. But yeah, I think the way you play golf is quite a lot of walking. Yeah, but it's only it's only uh seven holes. But yeah, you're right, there's a little bit of walking when I play golf. I feel a bit guilty because uh I know Norfolk probably better than I know Lincolnshire, and it's gonna be very, very similar. Well, I don't know, because it's it's it's helli, the wolds, isn't it, than than Norfolk. Um but Norfolk's lovely. I I have been there in winter to see the seals, and it's it's an amazing experience, which you can also do in Lincolnshire, uh, North Suburcoats. And the the best place to see the seals in Norfolk's it, I I think is around Horsy. But my favourite time to walk in Norfolk, don't my favourite time to walk in Norfolk is in June, in the summer. The the wild flowers are just stunning. Yeah, brother would love the seeing all sorts of birds, peregrine falcon, a hobby. You know, there's lots to go, and then there's the sea life on the the salt marsh sorry, the seabirds on the salt marshes and everything. Uh and then just to talk about food, fish and chips is well, it's brilliant in Lincolnshire as well, but it's great in Croma. And then just a shout out to a place that I like going to Burr uh Burr River Cottage, do great chroma crab and all sorts of other fish. Uh so yeah, I I know Norfolk uh probably better than I know Lincolnshire, which is probably a bit embarrassing from a walking perspective, which is probably a bit embarrassing.

SPEAKER_04 29:44

Um we need to um sort of start to wrap up, but I wanted to give a a shout out to a few of the other places that I quite like. I mean, we're not gonna get very much of the Cotswolds in. Uh we might do another episode on the Cotswolds just because we both know it so well. Obviously, I live here.

SPEAKER_03 29:59

Yeah, we could actually do a just and it's close close to where we are, but uh obviously it depends where people are listening from. But if you're in London, it's very, very accessible from London.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

Yeah, absolutely. But just to talk about a few other places, North Yorkshire Moors is very nice. I've done some walking up there, and if you're from the north, that's probably a bit more accessible.

SPEAKER_03 30:17

And we we've not talked about Scotland.

SPEAKER_04 30:19

And that's what I was just coming on to talk about in Scotland. So sorry, my uh youthful holidays um were then taken in Sutherland in the very north of Scotland, and we used to do lots of walks, me and my brothers. And you just I mean, really, you just don't see anybody, and the right to roam means that you can you don't just have to stick to footpaths, you can just hack across and do whatever you feel like. Yeah, so very interesting.

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Likewise I've can I just butt in. I I've not done Scotland recently, uh uh because it's it's too far logistically to take a group, and most of the stuff I've done in the UK has been group based. But Izzy and I plan when when she retires to sort of go up there and do three months or something touring around Scotland, and you know, there's so much to do that, it's such a beautiful place, and it's been 20 plus years since I blast was there, so I'd love to go back.

SPEAKER_04 31:09

And the Isle of Aaron, we went there one year, and walking is is fantastic, and that's not before you get out to the sort of you know Hebrides and the like. So Scotland is a untapped and undertapped resource, really, for the UK, and something I always recommend to people when they ask about coming to the UK. You know, if you've got the time, get up to Scotland. It's a long way to drive.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

Yeah, depends where you're from, obviously, but you know, you can fly up to Scotland.

SPEAKER_04 31:36

Well, I was gonna say it's a long way to drive, but you can you can fly up and hire a car or take the sleeper.

SPEAKER_03 31:41

I've done that, that was brilliant as well. Before I know we need to wrap up, one I'd forgot about, but shouldn't have done Dartmoor. Dartmoor's just absolutely beautiful and very dramatic scenery and weather. And I stay at Buckfast Abbey, which I can highly recommend. Amazing place to stay. Uh really good quality accommodation, and the abbey is just so beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 32:01

Yeah, I like Dartmoor as well. Fantastic bleak walks.

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Indeed. Although on a sunny day, I do do some walks through moss-covered um valleys that remind me very much of Yorkshire, actually.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

Yeah, well, a lot of these places have, you know, they they're they're quite similar, aren't they? Yeah. The geography is fairly similar. Good. Well, that was very interesting, and uh we could probably easily reprise that with several more in-depth looks at particular areas.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

It feels very, very whistle stop. We just uh it's just really this episode, I guess, is just to throw out ideas to people uh if you haven't thought about walking in a place, and again, apologies. We know we've missed loads of stuff, so please do put something in the comments if there's a an area that you particularly recommend for other people.

SPEAKER_04 32:46

Because we want to do unravel travel to help people come into the UK as well as you know, international travel. It's not all about international travel, but exploring the country you live in is very important. You know, it's easy to miss the things on your doorstep, like the three peaks for me and the linkager worlds for you.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

So indeed, yes very much. Anyway, uh I've enjoyed doing this episode. Uh I hope people will uh find something interesting there. But goodbye from me. And goodbye from me. Speak to you all soon.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

Bye-bye. You've been listening.