(http://tiny.cc/hnyzgy)
Wainwright’s Coast-to-Coast Walk across northern England and the new John Muir Way across Scotland are both options.
Sherpa Expeditions in the UK offers organised versions of both walks, where they would arrange your accommodation and transport your bags.
The idyllic Coast to Coast is widely considered the most classic of all UK hiking trails. It was described by Alfred Wainwright, who devised the walk, in 1973 as “one of the world’s great walks”. Wainwright was a guidebook author and illustrator.
The walk is 308km long and starts on the Irish Sea coast of Cumbria near the huge, red sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head. It crosses three national parks before reaching the North Sea at the fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay on the coast of the North York Moors.
The hike takes between 14 to 18 days and includes the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is a challenging hike especially in poor weather and there are no official trail markers. However, a number of signs can be found in many villages and lowlands.
You will use forest tracks, mountain trails and paths through fields and pastures. There is also coastal cliff and village walking.
Sherpa Expeditions’ Coast-to-Coast Guided Rambler (http://tiny.cc/qriahy) departs May 7 and July 30 and costs from £1 480 (about R24 000) per person. This is the longer, 18-day option, a more relaxed version of the 15-day hike. The prices are inclusive of accommodation, most meals, luggage transfers between hotels and maps.
The John Muir Way was named in 2014 after the Scotsman who encouraged the establishment of the US’s Yosemite National Park. It symbolically links his birthplace of Dunbar with Scotland’s first national park of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs with the seaside town of Helensburgh in the west.
You cover the 215km of easy to moderate walking in 12 days and walk the Firth of Clyde en route. The route is well marked, with tons of history along the way. You do also walk through the urban centres of Falkirk, Musselburgh and even Edinburgh. The new John Muir Way
launches in April with daily self-guided departures from £830 per person.
Obviously you would have to find your own way to the UK.
For more information and bookings, please visit sherpaexpeditions.com. Yes, normally South African passport holders do require a visa to visit Mexico if you go there direct, but if you already have a valid visa for the US (or a Schengen), you will not need a Mexican visa. There is no other visitor’s permit.
For more information, phone the Mexican Embassy in Pretoria on 012 460 1004.