Choose from the best short cycling & walking breaks in the UK for this autumn
Blog home / Short Active Holidays for An Autumn In the UK
There’s an abundance of brilliant scenery awaiting in your own backyard. If you’re keen to go and
explore the UK on foot or by bicycle, but haven’t got too much time to spare, these destinations may exactly fit the bill. Go on a short walking or cycling break in autumn, and make use of the current travel opportunities just before the shorter and cooler days arrive.
Relatively easy to reach from anywhere in the UK and transporting you to some of the most stunning British scenery, they are five, six or seven days in duration and all have daily departures in September and well into October.
Enjoy autumn foliage, quieter tracks, and the warm local hospitality when arriving at your accommodation after a day in the outdoors.
Cotswolds' Patchwork of Gentle Rolling Hills
Walk through a patchwork of gentle rolling hills, dotted with picture-postcard villages and rustic old pubs.
The Cotswolds is one of the most quintessentially English parts of the country and Britain’s largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. With a wealth of castles, manor houses, abbeys and Roman villas, it is one of the very few places in the UK where you can encounter remnants from the Neolithic (Stone) Age to the Industrial Revolution history, all concentrated in such a small area – and sometimes all in one day of walking!
Exploring the Cotswolds | 5 days | departs daily until 15 October
Isle of Wight on 2 Wheels
The Isle of Wight is a place which in many ways exists in its own time warp: half of the island is designated as an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ and everything is on a manageable scale. There are no huge towns but long chalky downs, sandy beaches and enchanting woodlands. You will find plenty of seaside rock, ice cream and fish ’n’ chips, but also great traditional pubs, quiet paths, historical churches and gems of villages.
Easy (and cheap!) to reach and enjoying a milder-than-most-parts-of-the-UK climate,
pick up your hire bike at the traditional seaside resort of Ryde, the largest town on the island, and let your holiday begin!
The circular route is undulating and distances are kept fairly short, giving you time to stop and explore.
Isle of Wight Cycle | 5 days | departs daily until 24 October
Circular Walk in Yorkshire Dales
This is a
6-day version of the James Herriot Way, considered by many as ‘the best short long-distance walk in the UK’. Consider this walk as an introduction to long-distance walking in Britain through the Yorkshire Dales. There are easily followed paths, often along parts of the longer ‘Pennine Way’ and ‘Coast to Coast’ trails that make up a beautiful 50-mile circular walk. The Yorkshire Dales comprise a bountiful landscape, encompassing sleepy rivers punctuated by jolly cascades and limestone escarpments, fields stocked with sheep and cows, truly classic English countryside. Stop at the green edged village of Reeth, whose tea shops and pubs reflect the times when lead mining was the key economic drive to the area. Take in the scenery that was the backdrop for the books and TV series 'All Creatures Great and Small'.
James Herriot Way | 6 days | departs daily until 12 October
Lake District Day Walks
UK’s Classic Walk by Bike
Biking through hills and dales,
The Cyclist’s Coast to Coast stretches for 142 miles from the harbour at Whitehaven on the Irish Sea on to the shores of the North Sea. Following a different path from the Coast to Coast walking route – and through a landscape that can often change abruptly – the itinerary explores Cumbria’s lakes and fells, the bleak Pennines and the beautiful Dales, as well as towns and villages of all sizes, allowing for plenty of time to visit tea shops and local pubs.
The Cyclist’s Coast to Coast | 6 days | departs daily until 12 October
Looking for more active holidays to take in the UK this autumn?