Easy Walking Holidays :: Walking For Beginners

Going on a Walkabout Walking Holiday is fantastic opportunity not only to see some spectacular sights and meet other like-minded people, but also to come away from your trip feeling refreshed, re-energised and more healthy than before. No matter what your current fitness level there will be a walking holiday to suit you. Here is some more information on the various walking grades which should help you to choose the right holiday for your fitness and ambition.

Fitness
All our walks will help you improve aerobic fitness; all round bodily strength and endurance while also helping you to tone up and lose some weight.

Ironically, the easier slower walks are most effective for losing weight while the moderate to hard walks are the best for improving aerobic fitness and powers of endurance. During the holiday if there is interest from the group we can organise informal discussions/workshops on topics of particular relevance to walkers. These could include environmental issues, fitness and diet, map reading, safety in the hills and what we mean by Adventure Walks, Challenge Walks, Power Walking and Nordic Walking.

WALKING GRADES
All our holidays are graded Easy & Moderate (EM) with an easy group and a moderate group - OR- Moderate & Hard (MH) with a moderate group and a hard group. In each case both groups will be operating from the same base at the same time. However each group will have their own separate programme of walks and their own leader.

Having two groups of different grades operating from the same base at the same time offers considerable advantages:

• Flexibility:
  Individuals can move between groups depending on how they are feeling on the day and on how appropriate they’ve found their chosen grade is for the. If you are a moderate walker choose an EM graded holiday if you think you might like to be able to opt for something easier. Choose an HM grade if you lean towards doing something harder.
• Friends:
  If you’ve come on the holiday with a friend who is not at the same level of fitness as yourself you can separately enjoy an appropriate walk during the day yet enjoy relaxing and socialising in the hotel together.
• Numbers:
  The two groups share the same hotel, socialise together and share any evening programmes or activities that we organise.

Easy Walking Holidays

Your profile
You don't do much regular walking or exercise. You are either a beginner and want to get started or you may be used to do some walking in the past and want to make a comeback

Our Easy walks are suitable for you.
They are comparatively short and are all taken at a comfortable pace (always able to chat) with as many rests as required by the party. They range from:

1. Easy gentle strolls for a distance of no more than about 6miles. These routes will be on easy woodland, country or coastal paths over gentle terrain that has no really rough or rugged sections and will not involve any really steep uphill walking. Time spent walking will be about 3hours. These walks are ideal for the people in the group to warm up and get to know one another.

To:

2. Easy Walks subject to the groups wishes these walks can be up to about 10 miles in distance with some gentle hills to climb. Time spent walking will be about 4 hours.

As the walking time on these easy walks only take up half the day there will be plenty of time to look at or visit points of interest along the way - or after the walk is completed. It will be the groups' decision whether they carry a packed lunch or stop off at a nice cafe or local pub for lunch. You will of course have the company of a guide who is well informed about most aspects of the landscape and culture of the area where you are walking. The guide will suggest places of interest to stop off at or to visit.

Moderate Walking Holidays

Your profile
You consider yourself to be of average fitness and undertake some form of activity a couple of times a week or on some weekends. You like to walk at a steady pace but aren't really interested in pushing along too hard and like to chat as you walk with the occasional rest stop.

Moderate walks.
Moderate walks range from a minimum of 8 miles to a maximum 12 miles over the hills, with some steady climbing involved, achieving one or two summits. Time spent walking between 4 and 6 hours. The option will be available for these groups to include an Adventure Walk in their programme.

Hard Walking Holidays

Your profile
You fit into one or more of the following categories:

1. You like to do some walking at weekends and on holidays. You also work out in the gym, jog or do other activities fairly regularly.
2. You may be or have been an active sports person and fancy taking on the mountains.
3. Alternatively, you may be an experienced mountain walker who fancies some company and appreciates having everything organised.

Hard Walks
Hard walks involve mountain days with a minimum of 10 miles to a maximum of 15 miles over steep, sometimes rough, terrain, to achieve a number of summits. Time spent walking will be between 5 and 7 hours. You will enjoy the exhilaration of walking at a good pace (maybe even a little jogging?) with not much breath left for talking and not many stops in the day. There will be the option to include some Adventure walk activity and/or Challenge walk as all or part of the days walks.

For further details click on the Fitness and Walking Grades page.