I've been hanging out on UKC mostly (I'm more of a climber than a walker) but for this I figured UKH was better.
Together with a few friends I’m visiting the UK again in early April after living in Cranfield (near MK) a couple of years ago. None of us really explored the UK countryside much so we want to change that this time. Plenty of things to choose from, but there is so much to choose from I’m a bit lost on where to start, and I hope you guys can help get me started.
We’re 3-4 people (30 years old, all reasonably fit) with some hill-walking experience (1 day trips to huts in the Alps or 13mi day hike in NZ), but by no means experienced enough for difficult navigation or proper scrambling. We’re looking for some fairly easy hikes (but not something that grandma would be able to do), say 3 (half day) to 5/6 hours (full day) that gets us out there, offers nice views, a nice bit of exercise but doesn’t half kill us. Since we’re from the Netherlands and the flat part of Germany the view from the top of hills is a big bonus, as is a nice pub at the end
.
Time wise we have almost a full day on Friday (leaving Milton Keynes in the morning and need to be at Birmingham Airport at 18:00 to pick someone up), a full day on Saturday and half a day on Sunday (back at Birmingham Airport at 16:00). We have a car so are flexible.
The Peak District is an obvious choice especially for Friday, but we are open for other suggestions. For the weekend we’ve obviously heard about the Lake District and Snowdonia which obviously are a bit further away. Do they offer something significantly better than the Peak district? Are we overlooking any area’s that we shouldn’t?
For the Peak district I already found some walking routes (i.e.
http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/blog/10-peak-district-walking-routes) but I find it hard to really get an idea of what would be nice to do.
Can you guys help a clueless Dutchman with some hints?
of course any other ideas for activities (already looked at cycling) and/or rainy day alternatives are welcome too.
Cheers!
Jurgen