Kids can go whee’
TURN your kids into sporting heroes with top teen trips. Activity break specialist PGL, which sponsored Olympic gold-medal winning kayaker Joe Clarke, is marking its 60th year with a two-night starter adventure. Aimed at first-timers and costing from £129, it includes accommodation, meals, activities, equipment, evening entertainment and supervision. See pgl.co.uk/holidays. THE countryside railways may be long gone but many of their track beds are used for walking and cycle trails. They provide a great way to see nature burst into life this spring. HEATHFIELD TO EASTBOURNE PARK: If you are lucky you might hear the cuckoos calling on this green corridor of wildlife which leads from the heart of rural East Sussex to the south coast.
The 14-mile trail is lined with picnic tables and sculptures in wood and steel. And if you are travelling by bicycle, you will enjoy the fact it runs ever so slightly downhill to the seaside.
The trail passes beneath fine Victorian brickbuilt bridges as you progress through the market towns of Horam, Hailsham and Polegate.
It is part of the Avenue Verte – London to Paris via rural routes – so you could keep going on the other side of the Channel. If you have a boat, that is. See eastsussex.gov.uk/leisureand tourism/countryside/walks/cuckootrail. CANTERBURY TO WHITSTABLE: This was once the route of the world’s first passenger railway line. Today it is a rural 7.5-mile walk/cycle route between the cathedral city of Canterbury and the traditional seaside resort of Whitstable.
The route is mostly flat with stretches on the old track bed and through woodland and on Forestry Commission tracks.
It combines two very different destinations: one famous for pilgrimages and the other for oysters and ice cream. See sustrans.org.uk/ncn/ map/route/crab-winkle-way. BATH: This four-mile stretch of the disused Somerset and Dorset branch line links Regency Bath with the pretty village of Midford. It exits the city via cuttings and tunnels before emerging into a valley of country houses.
It is busy with families stretching their legs, whilst those with stamina can do a 13-mile loop, returning via the towpath of the Kennet and Avon canal. See www.twotunnels.org.uk. BODMIN TO PADSTOW: Sir John Betjeman described the route along the spectacular Camel Estuary as “the most beautiful train journey I know”. The trains are gone but the trail is one of the nation’s most popular multi-use leisure routes.
Along its 18 miles are moorland villages, the wooded Camel Valley and the estuary itself. You may see an azure kingfisher in this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. See cornwall.gov.uk/cameltrail. PLYMOUTH TO TAVISTOCK: This 21-mile route is both a linear trail and the hub of a network of shorter walking spurs. It starts on the Hoe, where Drake played bowls and ignored the Armada, before heading off up the Plym Estuary. From there it wheels through the parkland of Saltram House, a National Trust property, before entering Plymbridge Woods which are full of wildflowers in spring. It eventuallyev emerges into open country to skirt theth southern edge of Dartmoor National Park, thenth finally descends into the historic market townto of Tavistock. See drakestrail.co.uk. DOLGELLAUD TO BARMOUTH: Featured on the BB BBC show Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury, th this nine-mile route includes magnificent views ac across the beautiful Mawddach Estuary in the Sn Snowdonia National Park.
The estuary has been designated as a Site of Sp Special Scientific Interest because of its lowland pe peat and salt marsh habitats.
It has two RSPB reserves. An old signal box at Pe Penmaenpool has been converted into a bird hi hide. The trail’s end point at Barmouth is a hi historic seaside resort with a generous sandy be beach. See mawddachtrail.co.uk.