Ship of Fools: Possible Vacation trip

Thread: Possible Vacation trip Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by HCH (# 14313) on :

It's that time of the year again. I need to figure out where to go next spring, roughly in the last two weeks or so of May/early June. My biggest limitation is that I do not have a car. Luckily, I like to hike.

One possibility is Nova Scotia: fly into Halifax, take a bus to somewhere in the Annapolis valley, go hiking, travel to Cape Breton island and go hiking there. (The Cabot trail sounds intriguing.) There are other interesting parts of Nova Scotia.

Another possibility is to visit southwest England: fly into Heathrow, take a train west, and stay at several spots for a few days each, probably Salisbury (tour of Stonehenge?), Devon and Cornwall. There are many interesting little towns and sights.

I know Britain has plenty of buses; I am less sure about Nova Scotia.

What do you think?

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

If you are into hiking and doing South West England then I would suggest you look at doing part of South West Costal Path. I have not done any of that, but have done parts of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path and the Northumbria Coastal Path. Both were enjoyable. There tends to be natural stops at regular intervals, not too steep hills and a lot of fresh air. You could also explore the Cornish Saints many of whose churches are close to the coast.

Oh the company Journeying might even have a holiday planned for that area next year. If so think easy walking, lots of sight seeing and Christianity light.

Jengie

Posted by Doone (# 18470) on :

The south west coastal path is great. Personally, although Stonehenge is iconic, I think Avebury is even better. Wells, Glastonbury, Bath and Salisbury are all worth a visit. Loads of other places depending on what you like to see or do? Historic, landscape, gardens, prehistoric, medieval, Victorian, cathedrals, little rural churches/villages, etc?

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
Another possibility is to visit southwest England: fly into Heathrow, take a train west, and stay at several spots for a few days each, probably Salisbury (tour of Stonehenge?), Devon and Cornwall. There are many interesting little towns and sights.

You may find Stonehenge a bit disappointing. It's gone very theme-parkish, and you aren't allowed close up to the stones. Also you now have to book in advance for a timed ticket, and get a shuttle bus from the visitor centre to the stones. In the summer quite a lot of tourists will be trying to do that. It is featured as a major attraction so getting there will not be a problem.

Salisbury is nice, and the cathedral is interesting. I've stayed in Salisbury a few times; it's a good base for the surrounding area and would enable you to explore Bath, Winchester or Portsmouth, and move on west if you wanted.

Posted by cornflower (# 13349) on :

I don't know about train and bus connections, but if you do go to Devon, I think Clovelly's well worth a visit...in fact I think there's a coastal path there. All round Hartland Point is nice too...there are so many lovely and interesting places in the South West.
The above poster is right...Stonehenge is interesting, but was better years ago when it wasn't such a kerfuffle to visit it. It might be more interesting if you were to go there at the summer solstice when loads of colouful characters go there and stay up all night (so I've been told)

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

Are you a cyclist? We cycled in Cape Breton last summer. In the Halifax greater municipality, busses go quite a ways out. As we have rellies in Halifax, we haven't used. But understand them to be good. I suspect there are busses to Mahone Bay and Lunenburg. Nice day trip from Halifax.

Trails that go along the coast in Cape Breton. Old railway right of ways. We started in Port Hood on the east coast of Cape Breton and cycled between bed and breakfasts on rented bikes. Returning to where we started. 60 km in a day on a bike was easy. Mostly flat.

In Halifax you can take ferries or hired boats to some islands and spend a happy day. I think it was McNabs Island we spent a day exploring.

Posted by lily pad (# 11456) on :

There are buses all over the Maritimes through, wait for it, Maritime Bus. You can also take the train from Halifax to Truro, Amherst, and Moncton, among other places.
If you think you might like to get onto cycle touring, I recommend Warm Showers. It is like couch surfing, but for cyclists.

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