Hi all, my girlfriend and I are preparing to spend the summer in the British Isle backpacking, walking, hiking all over. I just read that the slow travel philosophy does not coincide with what we plan but I find much useful information here regardless. We are from Maine in the states and are looking forward to this trip as we will have both just retired. Thank you all in advance for sharing your useful tips.
Congratulations on your retirement and the next chapter of your life. What a great way to celebrate with a summer in Great Britain.
Our family spent the summer of 2004 in England and Scotland as part of a 14 month trip all around Europe. Although most of the time we used vacation rentals, like most Slow Travelers we also took some different approaches... using hotels and also doing a lot of hiking.
We are big hikers and have done several long distance walks in England. In that summer of 2004, we finished our 11 weeks in Great Britain with a walk across England-- 190 miles. I considered that seeing England in slow motion. (You might enjoy my trip report here.)
You can post specific questions on the UK & Ireland message board. I do have one suggestion for you related to the summer. You might want to plan your general itinerary around the peak holiday season so that you are not at the most popular places when all the British vacationers are there. For example, we went to Cornwall early in our summer. This helped us avoid crowds and traffic and we also benefited with slightly lower costs.
I will look forward to hearing more about your plans.
You might find this website useful: Cotswold Way. We have been to the Cotswolds several times, though we haven't hiked because of orthopaedic problems (as well as hoof and mouth disease on one occasion).
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