Adventures high and low

A tranquil trek in Italy; the joys of train travel in Britain and beyond; exotic underwater treats in Mozambique

one of the longest train journeys, from Penzance to the north of Scotland.

We live in a fantastic country with wonderful rail journeys, many of which have been portrayed in recent years on television. I would recommend Exeter to Newton Abbot, the Cumbrian Coast and Inverness to Kyle of Localsh. ANDREW FAIRBANK

Going off the rails

I read with interest your article on budget rail travel (“Diary of a veteran interrailer”, August 6), bringing back vivid memories of my own somewhat haphazard adventures in the Seventies.

In what can perhaps be viewed as the golden age of interrailing, this wonderful ticket opened up a complete new world to this, up ’til then, rather naive smalltown boy.

Of course there were hardships: if I felt flush, a berth in a six-bed couchette compartment was purchased, but if money was tight (the more common scenario), a long night was spent sitting up in a crowded compartment with a thick haze of tobacco, smoke usually with one’s head nestled on the obliging fellow passenger sitting next to you.

But it did not matter, because for the most part we were all in the same boat… the youth of Europe in search of adventure, knowledge and, of course,

Durness daredevil

Like your correspondent, I have made quite a few long bus journeys along scenic routes, especially since getting my bus pass (“The ultimate busman’s holiday”, August 27).

The best so far by miles is one I took this summer in Scotland. On an unpromising rainy Monday morning, I alighted a mini bus with bicycle trailer a little romance along the way. I once took a new girlfriend on an interrailing adventure, covering 17 countries in 25 nights, somehow contriving to spend only five of those nights in “non moving” beds.

I have a feeling (deduced by her lack of contact afterwards), that I may have enjoyed the at Inverness and headed off with fellow passengers (all German as it happens) on a four-hour journey to Durness on the coast in the far north-west of Sutherland (above).

The scenery was breathtaking, past rocks, bogs, mountains and almost unbelievable isolation. The bus driver hurtled along narrow winding roads but myself and my companions only experience rather more than she did. STEVE GREEN

Mozambique magic

Further to Michelle Jana Chan’s cover story (“Take a deep breath”, August 27), the Mozambique channel lying between the mainland and the islands of Bazaruto and Paradise is indeed a paradise laughed as it made the journey even more thrilling. Arriving in Durness, I felt reluctant to get off; those four hours had gone by in a flash and I really wanted to relive the experience of driving through such magical scenery.

And this I did, as after one hour in Durness this one daily bus makes a return to Inverness. LIZ VERWOERD WINS A £250 RAILBOOKERS VOUCHER for any lover of fishing, freediving or snorkelling.

Apart from watching a multitude of small coloured fish in the beautiful coral gardens just off the tip of Bazaruto, there is the chance of seeing such exotic creatures as dugongs, dolphins and sea turtles as well as a more than 200 different species of birds. MARK MILBANK