All downhill for friendship
luggage transfer and B&B, but not flights. See wheel2wheel holidays.com. It may sound like the beginning of an episode of Wallander, but the Scandinavian idea of paradise is a lonely cabin on a lake island, with a rowing boat bobbing at the dock. Perfect peace is the thing – and in Finland, the “land of the thousand lakes”, it comes dappled and dreamy. The heartland of this country is a blue labyrinth of lakes and islands, interspersed with forests and ridges. GO FOR IT: The Baltic Travel Company’s Land of a SINGLE skiers can spend Christmas on the pistes with new friends on a trip run byy Friendship Travel. L Leaving on December 23 sk skiers will stay in a single r room at the Chalet Refuge & Lodge, in Serre C Chevalier’s Villeneuve ski ThousandTh Lakes is a self-drive tour of Finland’s southwesternso Lakeland. The price of £1,135pp includesin eight days’ car rental and B&B accommodation,ac plus international flights. See baltictravelcompany.com.ba Upper and Lower Lough Erne sit at the heart of Ireland,Ir their waters dotted with islands whose names – Inishmore and Inishturk, Knockninny and Lusty Beg – sound like a poem waiting to be written. You can hire a boat in several locations on these shores for a meander south, stopping off at the likes of Devenish Island with its 12th century abbey ruins, and the aristocratic Crom Estate, once a yachting, shooting and fishing retreat and now run by the National Trust. Peaceful but not necessarily alone. As an extra treat, on some of these remote anchorages there’s a good chance you may hear village in France. The deals also includes flights, meals and lessons. Other trips are run through January and March with prices from £1,075. Call Friendship Travel on 0289 446 2211 or visit friendshiptravel.com. exploratory otters pitter-pattering around on the deck above your head at dawn. GO FOR IT: A 2-4 berth cabin cruiser from ABC Boats, who have bases at Belturbet and Aghinver, costs from £740 a week. See abcboats.com. The village of Pressac, between Brittany and the Loire Valley, has an eccentric, adorable Asterixlike floating settlement of 20 cabins on its fishing lake. In various sizes, they have composting loos and solar powered lights with a solar-heated swimming pool on site too. If that sounds a bit primitive you may prefer the elaborate floating spa cabin at Cabanes des Grands Reflets in the Franche-Comte – cabanesdesgrandsreflets.com. GO FOR IT: A twin cabin at Pressac costs from £96 a night. See village-flottant-pressac.com. IS it possible to have a break in Australia for seven days? My girlfriend and I want to go but only have a week off together. IT is possible but you’ll end up feeling like hell while you’re there – and worse when you get back. The time difference and the 22 hour plus flying time will take it out of you. And you won’t really have “done” Australia, which is best enjoyed in a laidback way. You will have time to see only a tiny part of it. If you still want to give it a go, have a look at the deal with TopCashback, which has six nights room only in a four star hotel in Melbourne at the end of August – during their winter – for £974.50 per person. Go to www. topcashback.co.uk for full details.