Walking tours in Britain

Do you have any particular area in mind?

As a native of the U.K. I've done several of the National Trails with my wife and friends. However because we live in the north we've organised many of these ourselves being familiar with the territory. However the exceptions to this are when we did the Great Glen Way in Scotland we booked through Caledonian Cruising, walking the trail while our B&B, a barge named Fingal, met us at the end of the day. I've waxed lyrical about this trip elsewhere on this site and cannot recommend it enough.

This year we are going to attempt the Two Moors Way which goes coast to coast through Devon. Not being familiar with the area and the best places to stop accommodation-wise we've booked this through Encounter Walking Holidays. They've been most helpful so far, but we don't start the walk until beginning of September, so I can't comment with certainty yet on the trip, but the company have been very efficient, the accommodation looks super and, in a break with tradition which surprised my co-walkers, we're having our main luggage shipped daily to each overnight stop. Encounter have tailored the route to suit our needs, not least in the fact we are doing it in reverse direction to the usual way! Encounter do lots of other walks in the south west, you are not restricted to the Two Moors Way.

Of course you could choose a route and book accommodation yourselves - most long distance trails will have an accommodation guide and there are several companies who will be happy to ship your luggage to each overnight accommodation. However I realise that you might not be familiar with the routes and the country enough to be confident about booking yourselves. There are several companies that will organise a walk on a British trail, a quick Google check will list many of them, and I guess it's pot luck as to whether they suit your needs or not. If there are reviews, they might give you a guide.

Hope you manage to get something organised and that you enjoy a splendid walk through the British countryside. Hope the weather is kind to you too!

Ian

We used Celtic Trails Walking Holidays when we walked the Offa's Dyke path in 2013 and the Cumbria Way in 2016. They did a good job. You can choose standard or deluxe lodging, which is nice.

We also walked Hadrian's Wall in 2006, and used a local company, which I can find for you if you're interested. They were excellent.

I tend to think that a company based locally would do the best job, because they'd know the B&B proprietors personally. For example, Mickeldore Tours is based in the Lake District, and next time I think I would try them for the Cumbria Way, which is also the Lake District.

If a company looks interesting to you, Google them with "reviews" and/or check TripAdvisor for reviews. You should be able to find someone good. Have fun!!

Friends of mine who are keen walkers have done walking tours with Contours for a number of years. Last two were a coast to coast walk from the northwest coast of England to the northeast coast which included part of Hadrian's Wall, and the Offa's Dyke trail along the border country of Wales and England. Great reviews from all participants. Accommodations in B & Bs or pubs were excellent and the transportation worked smoothly. They offer a wide variety of walks in the UK.

We used Celtic Trails in 2015 for the Three Castles Walk in Wales Nd a village-based stay in Church Stretton. Everything went as promised---transport, hiking guide, etc. I would recommend them.

We have also used HF Holidays, but their approach is different. They own country houses all over the U.K. In scenic walking areas. You stay in the house ( room and full board provided) and do guided or unguided dayhikes from there ( your choice). They also do a few multi-day walks on the most famous long-distance paths. We really enjoyed our stay and walks in the Lake District with this group and plan to do more with them.

We walked the Cotswold Way Trail in 2014. I got a book about the trail, I planned the walk myself. Used the book to decided how far we wanted to walk each day, to find the B&Bs we wanted to stay in.. We save around $1600 by doing it ourself.

I used Contours Walking Holidays for three walking tours:
https://www.contours.co.uk/index.php

Our first Contours walk was the Coast to Coast. We did the tour booking the 14 walking day/15 night tour but added one layover day. Contours can generally structure the tour with different walking daily distance options. For example, Contours offers the Coast to Coast in as few as 12 waking days to 18 walking days and layover days can be added by request.

Contours pricing typically includes B&B accommodations, maps, guidebooks/travel descriptions and luggage transport services. Contours was also responsive in terms of travel questions.

We were very satisfied with accommodations. Depending on walking routes, accommodations can be interesting from small country inns to farm houses out in the bush. On our C2C walk, the end of the day departing the Lake District finished at Burn Banks, several miles from the nearest lodging. Contours instructed us to find the red phone booth at the end of the trail, gave us a number to call and a prepaid taxi drove us to Bampton Grange, 2 miles away, and returned us to the trailhead the next morning.