Highlights May 2014
Welcome to High Point Holidays' May edition of Highlights. We focus on the unspoilt wilderness that is the Vanoise, a destination for those looking for an Alpine adventure. We also have a brand new competition for those that would like to understand Monty Don's love of France through his book " A French Garden Journey." For those that don't know the name, he is an English television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture, best known for presenting the BBC TV series Gardener's World.
We have had some beautiful weather here in the UK and hope you're enjoying the outdoors wherever you are.
Best Wishes
Mark Armstrong |
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Focus on the Vanoise
Our walking holidays in the Vanoise region of the French Alps are real alpine weeks with stunning walks, which, despite their moderate altitudes, provide a high mountain feel. Less frequented than the Mont Blanc range, this stunning alpine range offers a quieter but no less spectacular alternative. Designated a National Park, the Vanoise offers an ideal natural, unspoilt wilderness for walking where souring alpine peaks with pristine glaciers rise majestically above wild, remote valleys. The park is home to a great many alpine peaks over 3400m including a few that rise above the Vanoise glacier, the largest glacial plateau in western Europe. The Vanoise Park has the largest population of Alpine ibex in France and among the smaller mammals, there's the Alpine hare, with its white winter coat, and the marmot, living in alpine meadows. Among the birds, there are golden eagles, ptarmigans and black grouse.
We are able to offer a range of alpine walking and trekking holidays which explore this beautiful part of the Alps.
We have a Self Catering Single Centre Based Independent Walking Holiday, which allows walkers to explore the area via a number of day walks. This is a relatively cheap and flexible option.
We also offer a Self Guided Trekking Tour of the Glaciers of the Vanoise (£530 mid June - mid Sept). This is a 6 day trekking holiday which encircles the main glacial plateau at the centre of the Vanoise. Staying in mountain huts or refuges, this is a classic self-guided trek where you have to carry your own rucksack with all your own gear for the week. Your trek starts and finishes in Pralognan, where you have a night in a hotel. This exciting trekking tour is also run as a guided walking holiday during a week in July where you'll also have the security of being guided, as well as getting insights into the area. Our Guided Trekking Tour of the Vanoise (£645 16th - 23rd July 2014) starts and finishes in Pralognan.
See our Vanoise Slideshow or Guided Vanoise Photos
More on the Vanoise Wildlife |
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Walking Holiday Updates
Confirmed Guided Walking Holidays:
Secret Provence: Les Baronnies
21st-28th June - Fully Booked
Queyras: Best Kept Secret in the Alps
6th-13th July - Fully Booked
High Point Holidays' 2014 Walking & Cycling Holidays Brochures
If you would like one please e-mail us and let us know.
Please note the brochure is also available online on our website.
New Independent/Self Guided Walking Holidays for 2014:
Beaujolais Wine Trail: Chateaux & Medieval Villages
This walking holiday follows on from our Grand Crus wine trail & traverses a number of pretty valleys harbouring pretty chateaux and quaint villages.
Les Ecrins: Panoramic Alpine Trail
This spectacular trail takes you past high alpine lakes, through stunning valleys and along beautiful balcony paths following one of the best sections of the Tour of the Ecrins.
Tour of Ardeche: Rustic Trails
This walking tour is located in the heart of the Ardeche Regional Park & includes wonderful heather-clad moutains with great panoramic views; pretty chestnut forests; beautiful rivers and sun parched, vine covered slopes.
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any queries on any of our holidays.
Ever disappointed that we do not do walking holidays in a particular country or region, then why not send us your suggestions to contact@highpointholidays.co.uk
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Latest Competition
Win a copy of Monty Don's book "A French Garden Journey - The Road to Tholonet."
We have 3 copies to give away.
This is not a book about French Gardens, rather a story of a man travelling round France visiting a few selected French gardens on the way; a book filled with stories and information, some of it about French gardens and gardening, but most of it about what makes France unlike anywhere else.
Monty celebrates the French associations of food and wine and finds gardens dedicated to vegetables, herbs and fruit. It is a book that any visitor to France, whether gardeners or not, will want to read both as a guide and an inspiration. It is a portal to get under the French cultural skin and to understand the country, in all its huge variety and disparity, a little better.
For more information on how to enter visit our competition page.
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Pralognan-la-Vanoise
Pralognan is the gateway village to the Vanoise National Park, which despite its ski facilities has retained a small convivial atmosphere and a certain charm.
The oldest houses in the village date from the 12th century, when no doubt, the trees were cleared in this upland basin for the first time to create farmland for crops and grazing animals.
Little changed over the centuries, despite its location on the Salt route between Chambery and Turin, the two ancient capitals of Savoy, when trade reached its height between the 17th and 19th centuries. This route passed by the beautiful Col de la Vanoise, a day's walk from Pralognan.
During the 19th century, the early alpine climbers, such as Mathews who was the first man to climb the Grande Casse in 1860, would have still found only small hostelries in this tiny settlement.
The 1st large hotel was built in 1895 at a time before skiing, when tourism in the mountains was in its infancy.... MORE
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Walking Guidebooks
Our latest blog entry is a review of Trailblazer's Guidebook to the last 217 miles of the South West Coast Path - Britain's longest national trail - and completes the 630 miles of the route.
The Trailblazer's format is amazingly comprehensive, but with a guidebook as wide-ranging as this, there's obviously problems with the information over time. With so many places to eat, B&B's and opening and closing times etc, it's inevitable that some information will be out of date almost as soon as it's published.
Having said that, it's definitely a great guide to have if you make frequent trips to this part of the coast or are planning a long distance trek.... MORE
High Point Holidays offers 4, 6 or 7 day's walking along Dorset's Jurassic Coast between Lyme Regis and Swanage with a possible extension to Corfe Castle. We also have a walking holiday along Cornwall's Dramatic Northern Coast which follows a beautiful section between Bude and Pastow.
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