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Inntravel’s Travels

The start of the good weather traditionally sees lots of Inntravel members of staff travelling across Europe (and North America) to improve their knowledge of our featured hotels and regions, and to sample some of the walking. This spring was no exception, with trips to Norway, Madeira, the Azores and New England, among others.

Kylie Anderson travelled to Norway’s Lofoten Islands to update some of the route notes for our A Journey to Å walk. They say first impressions count, and that of the Lofoten Islands was certainly very striking. “Arriving by boat from the mainland really is the best way to reach the islands,” explains Kylie, “as you get to see the bare, jagged peaks looming above you. The impressive view was made all the more special by the quality of the light of the Midnight Sun, and it was truly amazing. To top it all off, our hosts, Monica and Siri from the Zackarias Brygga, were waiting at the harbour to welcome us to Skrova. This tiny island turned out to be a great introduction to the archipelago. I have to say that I’d expected the scenery to be quite stark, so it came as a big surprise to see silver beaches, rich pine forests, emerald-green meadows and glittering fjords as we walked round the edge of the island the next day.” Despite the variety of that first walk, the most memorable route for Kylie was the ascent of Munkebu on the island of Hamnøy. She recalls: “Our path rose steadily alongside a waterfall, and after that we followed cairns across open moorland, with views over several waterfalls and three mirror-like lakes. The best panorama was yet to come, however. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t at the highest point of the walk, which was special in another way: the smoothed stone of Munkebu’s summit is one of the oldest rocks in the world, yet the towering peaks that surround it are some of the newest. It was on our descent, as we crossed a pass, that we were suddenly rewarded with far-reaching views of the coastline and the turquoise sea. Had it been really clear, we would apparently have been able to make out Bodø on the mainland. It’s a view I’ll remember for a long time.”

While Kylie explored beyond the Arctic Circle, other members of staff travelled in the other direction, towards the Tropic of Cancer, to Madeira. They sampled some of the walks and hotels from both our Madeiran walking holidays. “Of the hotels we stayed in,” reflects Ellen Marshall, “my personal favourite was the Estalagem Serragolf, though the Jardim da Serra, with its large swimming pool, was a close second. The atmosphere at the Serragolf was wonderfully restful, making it the perfect spot to start the Waterways and Flowers walk. Everything has been tastefully decorated, reflecting the age of the building, and the food was delicious. For my main course I tried a local delicacy: scabbard fish wrapped in giant prawns. It was lovely.” The Waterways and Flowers walk explores the south of the island, but in fact it was the north of the island that Ellen preferred. She explains: “I love rugged scenery – the wilder the better. The north of the island, which is the part that our Madeira’s Wild North walk explores, is much more dramatic than the south, and consequently the views are staggering. It is very green – even greener than the south – and what really struck me was how every last scrap of available land is farmed. There are vineyards on the most impossible of slopes. In fact, they can’t be reached by tractor, so people have to do everything by hand, carrying the produce in baskets on their backs.”

For Gail Elliott, who accompanied Ellen on the trip, the best part was the time they spent on the neighbouring island of Porto Santo. “Porto Santo couldn’t be more different to Madeira. In fact, whereas Madeira is often referred to as the Atlantic’s ‘floating garden’ in reference to the lush scenery and the wealth of flowering plants, Porto Santo is called the ‘golden isle’, not only because of its gold-sand beaches that stretch so far that I can’t imagine them ever getting crowded, but also because the expanses of grassland that coat the hills turn yellow in the sun. Flying there in a small aircraft whets your appetite for a couple of days of relaxation – and brings home the differences between the two islands. We flew over the areas where we’d been walking a couple of days previously and then kept low over the water. So low, in fact, that it is common to see dolphins and whales. For me, that would be reason enough to add on a few nights in Porto Santo after a week in Madeira. The fact that the 4-star Quinta do Serrado is a complete haven of tranquillity is just the icing on the cake.”

Madeira and Porto Santo aren’t the only Portuguese islands to have been visited recently by Inntravel staff. Elisabeth Hayes spent a week in the Azores checking the walking notes for our holiday on the archipelago. The seven-night version explores the island of São Miguel, but the fortnight-long holiday also takes in the islands of São Jorge and Faial, and it was the latter that proved the most memorable for Elisabeth. “The Azores are volcanic islands, with an incredible topography. My favourite route,” she recalls, “was the so-called ‘badlands’ walk on Faial. At first the scenery was green and lush, with plenty of flowers, but then the vegetation disappeared, and we entered a very stark landscape of volcanic ash and large rocks. It was quite eerie, all the more so knowing that this is, relatively speaking, a very new landscape – it was created by a year-long eruption in 1957. So much volcanic matter spewed from the volcano that Faial increased in size by two kilometres to the west. The 19th-century lighthouse that once stood on the western cliffs is now inland. It’s a very strange sight. Almost fifty years on, signs of life are appearing in the form of occasional, very hardy flowers growing amid the expanses of lava, but it still felt like we were walking on the moon. Only the terns flying overhead from the protected colony nearby reminded us that we weren’t!”

Finally, Sarah Jane Clegg and Andrew McCall-Smith travelled the furthest of anyone to spend ten days touring New England by car. Andrew was pleasantly surprised by how straight the roads are, even in less-populated areas, meaning that, with no windy country lanes to negotiate, you can cover the distances between inns quite quickly. “One place I would have loved to have lingered,” muses Andrew, “was the Notchland Inn in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. It reminded me somewhat of a Scottish hunting lodge, and the attention to detail, not to mention the food, was fantastic. The scenery was great too – so green.” Both Sarah Jane and Andrew agree, however, that the best views were in Maine, famous for its lobster, as well as for its clam chowder. “We climbed on foot to the top of the Beehive, a mountain just half a mile or so inland shaped, as its name suggests, like a beehive,” continues Andrew. “From the top, we had a bird’s eye view of the outlying islands, and watched the waves buffeting the rocky, pine fringed promontories. That night, we stayed at the Ullikana Bed and Breakfast, where the hospitality was second to none. In fact, Inntravel’s New England inns are some of the most welcoming hotels I’ve ever stayed in and, judging by customer questionnaires, the accommodation is a key part of the experience.” Sarah Jane interrupts: “I agree that the inns were fantastic, but the real highlight for me was just how much we managed to see in ten days: we enjoyed some culture and history in Boston, saw the majestic mountains of New Hampshire and the more rounded, even greener mountains of Vermont, and spent some time on the coast of Maine, where, of course, the scenery is different again. I had an absolutely amazing time.”

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