UKC

It's looking like my other half is off to Australia over Easter next year to visit family, as a result I have a week to ten days to myself.

My first thought was to try and find a few people to go on a Mediterranean sport trip  but then I starting thinking about other options for a trip by myself.

What would you do if you had a week to ten days to do anything you wanted?  We have a reasonable amount of disposable income (nothing crazy) but could comfortably spend a couple of grand on a trip if it were something really cool.  I like challenges and trips with a purpose.

I have been thinking about all sorts of options from hiking the coast to coast lakes to north Yorkshire, are there similar challenges in a fun location abroad?  Learning to sail/scuba/something like that?  Yomping up a really big mountain? 

Bearing in mind locations/seasons etc, what would you do over Easter next year if you were in a similar situation?

All options most welcome!

Go to Jordan. Explore the desert of Wadi Rum, doing whatever scrambly stuff you feel up to doing. Spend a few days learning your Scuba diving down at the Red Sea (only an hour or so away). Visit Petra on the way from or to the airport. Great time of year to go.

Learn to surf somewhere warm like the Canary Islands?  

Do the coast to coast, then come back on the Hadrian's wall path. Or if you want something less frequented, try the Southern Uplands way.

Or do the Irish Munros.

Or walk coast to coast through the Pyrenees, if things are passable.

T.

Do you ski?  a week of that would be on my list.  Davos is good late season, or perhaps the Arlberg

My skiing is average at best!  But I'm all for giving stuff a go 

I did think of the Pyrenees coast to coast but not sure it would really be doable in a week?  Happy to be proved wrong though!

I'd use my imagination.

Crawl around in some damp bushes 

What about something like climbing some big walls in Madagascar

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/destinations/climbing_in_madagascar_-_t...

April might not be ideal though, but I would go for something adventurous like this (if I had the climbing ability).

Sail up the coast of Croatia, stopping off to visit a different vineyard each evening. Bliss. 

Money no object, a 7-10 night liveaboard trip to Cocos or Socorro would be unbeatable. Giant manta rays, schooling sharks, whales, dolphins, turtles... It's like jumping into a blue planet episode.

If those trips are too spendy then check out options in the Red Sea or the Maldives, although April isn't the best month for sharks in the red sea. 

You'd need to learn to dive (and get some experience in) beforehand but it's definitely worth it.

Travel to Iceland, then Greenland, then over to Alaska I think. Many people go to South America, but that part of the would holds more appeal for me. I'd buy some wildlife books and take lots of pictures. 

Why not go to Australia with your other half ??

Stay-cation.

Learn to sail, dive, kayak.. somewhere on the West coast. Use left over cash to buy some kit of your own. 

The UKs west coast (sorry east) is even more amazing when viewed from offshore. Plus no air miles, jet lag or lost travel time. 

most folk on ukc “yeah global warming is terrible, we must do more to stop it, fly less, reduce our carbon footprint”

maybe_si “hi everyone, I’ve got some spare time and money, any suggestions for an adventure?”

’some’ folk on ukc “ooh, you should go here, fly there, fly here, short haul-long haul!”  

Don't you know there is a climate emergency. Best fly around the world umpteen times quickly while we are still allowed. Won't be long before people are flying to Iceland to visit that vanished glaciers memorial. 

Given the time of year I'd probably go skiing somewhere in Europe, possibly northern Norway as I've heard so much about the place over the last 20 years but never had the time & money together to make it possible.

Been living in Berlin for the last 36 years, so I'd take myself to maybe the Peacock at Rowsley and do alternate days of fly fishing on the Wye and getting back on the gritstone to attempt some classic E1's which I never got done back in the day, preferably with some of you entertaining and argumentative guys from the Forum ... in  the evenings darts and a few pints in the pub. Now that would be my idea of bliss!

Since you mention it in your list, learn scuba diving is a great option. it will open doors to a new world and, if you love nature, you will enjoy it a lot. Send me a mail if you are considering it and I can suggest some destinations.

Go with her?

A reasonably green trip would involve taking the TGV down to Marseille, Grenoble or perhaps just Paris. You could then enjoy yourself in Verdon, some nice big hills in the Alps or just go bouldering in font.

As most electricity in France is generated carbon free (nuclear), train travel is guilt free.

Try walking from Glasgow to Aviemore in 10 days.

Milngavie -> Drymen  - first stage of West Highland Way.  1 day

Drymen -> Pitlochry - Rob Roy Trail  5 days

Pitlochry -> Aviemore  - TBD, not done this bit yet    - 4 days

It's the opposite of a 'money no object'  holiday, total cost for my trip Glagow -> Pitlochry, not including food, was £48.

I think it would involve very fine wines  and a chauffeur, not sure which country yet but probably European.

Very good point! I guess cargo ferry would take too long to get to  Iceland, Greenland and Alaska in ten days.

Arctic Trail, Greenland.

On my list for next year

Ski-touring in the Lyngen alps Norway. Amazing!!!

Easter is the perfect time. 

My post was from the perspective of not having flown yet by my late 30's, I'm vaguely tempted to go 'f*ck it' and fly to Greenland or Iceland and enjoy it,. I guess the point of principles is that they're not always easy, which is why we value them in others. 

I'd go gliding in the alps. What do you want to do? Do that

jk

Some great suggestions so far!  I have a few ideas of my own, just looking for other ideas as well in case anyone comes up with anything I hadn't thought of or don't know about yet  

I think (although I'm soon to be 70, have had a hip replacement, and have failing eyesight - can't see properly in 3D, so can't accurately judge distances to footholds) I'd probably want to climb the Matterhorn, preferably by the Italian route, and with a guide to give it the best chance.

Sky diving course in Spain?

Ten days and a big pot of money =

Two days of strippers, drugs and alcohol - followed by eight days of recovery (if done right) 

Go to land renowned for its hills and plot a path avoiding them all!

At least at Easter there may not be that many midges.

Putting a 200km distance walk over the top of the munros is a great idea right up to the point where you discover that climbing munros with a pack full of camping gear is f*cking hard.

No midges there last week.  They drowned.

Probably different folk with different strokes 

Ski.
. . Beer. 

Ski.
. . Beer.

Ski.
. . Beer.

Go to Dahab or Tenerife, do a basic freediving course, and spend the rest of the time freediving. 

Basic course is three days. 

Three days to errrrrr learn to swim under water

Its like the rise in "wild swimming" - other wise known as going for a dook in a river/loch etc.

I wanted to suggest Mt Kenya, but apparently April is bang in the rainy season.

I find it a bit strange, on a climbing website (this is not UKH), that only about 5 people out of a 100, would want to go for a final climb. All these people wanting to go long-distance walking, surfing, skiing, gliding, kayaking, diving, or even just 'travelling'. Anything but climbing a bit of a rock or mountain, it seems. I'm an absolute old fart when it comes to climbing now, but I'd still want to go out in style. That's why I suggested the Matterhorn. I've got a sneaky feeling I'd manage it, too, despite my ailments, because of my attitude, my huge residue of experience, and the fact that I've kept active, reasonably fit (lots of walking), and put on v little weight.

two of us have suggested Northern Norway for ski mountaineering which would almost certainly include a summit or two

I'd honestly suggest another peak if you do try.  The Hornli ridge is really not a very good climb IMO. - loose, poor line, crowded. (edit, I see you suggest the Italian ridge  - I don't know that).

That's why I said the Italian ridge. There are also lots of other very personal reasons why the Cervin is important to me, dating right back to when I first saw it when I was 16 years old, at the age of 16.

Ah, you pipped me to the post re the Italian ridge. From all accounts, and I've read many, it's a much better, slightly harder, more interesting route on generally better rock. The Zmutt of course is much better again, but a bit harder and a lot more serious ... and much longer. Stephen Venables told me back in the early 90s that he thought it was the very best route of its kind and standard that he'd ever done, particularly the final ridge to the Italian summit.

It's certainly a very fine summit, so if the Italian route is better, that would make an excellent climb.  Personally I found Dent d'Herens much more satisfying as it remains remote and unfrequented, and as a consequence less crowded (and cheaper!).  

Yeah, Dent d'Herens looks superb, but it's a bit eclipsed by the uniquely grand rock sculpture of the Matterhorn. It's a bit like saying the Zinal Rothorn is superb (which it is ... I did it at the age of 17) ...

It didn't say anything about 'final' the criteria were you had 10 days to yourself and money was no object.

I love long distance walks, the best thing is you can chuck your stuff in your rucksack, get on a train for a couple of hours and be on holiday in great countryside with no plans or schedules at all beyond taking out your tent when you get tired.

Why not ask UKC to remove all its sub forums such as Culture Bunker, Cycling, Running, Photography, Off Belay, The Pub etc etc, so it can be sterile and purist. Then you can start on the boulderers and sport climbers and anything to do with an indoor wall....etc. 

Or perhaps read the OP properly

“My first thought was to try and find a few people to go on a Mediterranean sport trip  but then I starting thinking about other options for a trip by myself”

See that “other options” bit? Some people had the imagination to see that as “options beyond climbing” rather than simply “options beyond Mediterranean sport climbing”. 

How old you were you at that time? 

Oops. That's what comes of an afternoon drink. 16 in 1966.

I don't know where I got the 'final' criterion from. Unless the original post has been reworded. Probably because I simply assumed it couldn't be something so mundane. 

Answer to that question is that I don't think I'd do anything different - I'd just think, wow, a completely free 10 days, without complications, just to get on with what I'm working on creatively. I don't need to go anywhere. If I were 'between projects', which I'm not, I'd probably want to go to some cultural places I've never visited in Europe, like Rome (Sistine Chapel, etc) and Chartres Cathedral ... but I'm not that burnt up by the need to do so. Or I'd go up to the far north-west of Scotland and climb a few of those weird and wonderful summits that got missed out. But, again, not a huge ambition. Or, maybe go across to Cambridge Massachusetts for a week or so, and experience an amazing intellectual hub that I've never been to.

Actually, if it meant that you'd be allowed to do something wildly challenging (as well as expensive), with the best experts to help you ... one huge fantasy I have is conducting a symphony orchestra in the Albert Hall ... I even know what piece I'd want to do (not very long at all, I think about 5-7 minutes), but it might take longer than 10 days to be trained up enough and rehearse it properly. And I'm not sure that anyone would let you do it, however much money you had.

That's a good one.  I'm not even into music but the idea of conducting a huge orchestra for a few minutes in the Albert Hall is still awesome.   They could make a ton of money selling that 'experience' to rich people

Hire a nice camper van and go and bag as many sea stacks as possible!