ACTIVE & ADVENTURE CYCLING DESTINATIONS
planet, with active volcanoes, turquoise rivers, gigantic lakes and ancient native forests – perhaps with an Andean condor circling overhead. Cycling about 35 miles a day mainly on good roads, clients need to be relatively fit. Starting from £2,899, the 16-day trip includes flights, transfers, accommodation with breakfast and some other meals, bike hire and guiding.
w CHALLENGING Truly tough cyclists with lots of experience who want something to get their teeth into can sign up for KE Adventure Travel’s new Thailand – Hell of the North trip. They’ll cycle the Mae Hong Son Loop, southeast Asia’s toughest road circuit, over a fortnight, with just one rest day and a total of 15,000 metres of ascent and descent, finishing on a high at the summit of Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s highest mountain. Roads are good but climbs are long and sustained, and descents steep with technical hairpins. However, traffic is light and locals are encouraging, and there’s time to explore Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, the highlights of Thailand’s Golden Triangle. The trip starts at £2,495 including flights, guide, transfers, vehicle support with luggage transfers,
RIGHT AND BELOW:
Cycling for devotees in Thailand and Scotland
accommodation in hotels and guesthouses, and most meals. Excellent bike hire is available locally from $460. Clients needn’t fly to Asia
to really stretch their skills – they can do it much closer to home, in Scotland. Serious mountain bikers can take on the trails of the Isle of Skye, Outer Hebrides and Highlands with The Wilderness Collective’s week-long Skye, Harris & Torridon itinerary. This includes some of the best backcountry single-track cycling in the UK, finishing with the incredible scenery of the Torridon Giants. Tours depart in May and September, start from £1,095 and include guiding, six nights’ hotel accommodation
with breakfast and transport from Inverness. Bike hire isn’t included as most clients prefer to bring their own. For those who want to tie in their more challenging cycling with some classic sightseeing, G Adventures’ new 12-day Cycle China tour starts in Hong Kong and finishes in Beijing, stopping in Xi’an, home of the Terracotta Warriors, en route. In between, there are four days of relatively demanding cycling through the countryside and villages around Yangshuo. The trip starts from £1,649, and bike hire, luggage transfers and guiding is included. And clients needn’t sign up
for a full tour to get their fix of tricky riding. This year, Neilson
is upgrading the cycling at its Retreat Beachclub in Sivota on the Greek mainland and at the Messini Beachclub on the Peloponnese peninsula to include new expert tours in mountain biking and road cycling as well as a premium book-a-bike service. Expert road and mountain
bike tours are designed for those who crave challenging and technical terrain. In addition to the standard fleet of bikes available to all guests, premium full-suspension mountain bikes and carbon fibre road bikes are available to reserve for exclusive use. Each bike will come with custom set-up and a Garmin GPS loaded with carefully selected routes, for £95 per week.
4 February 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 75
TOP TIP Headwater offers
two new self-guided cycling trips in Italy this year, in Sicily and Puglia
PHOTOS: KE ADVENTURE TRAVEL; WILDERNESS COLLECTIVE
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