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8 Luxury Walking Trails in the UK for an Opulent Escape

ByAmi

When you are thinking of taking a break from your hectic schedule you can look out for holidays that allow you to do more outdoor adventures and activities.

Being out in the open surrounded by nature provides you with an opportunity to disconnect from the modern world.

If you are in the UK, luxury walking trails and holidays can provide you with a great experience without having to compromise on quality and luxury.

You can look out for luxury walking trails that allow you to enjoy the rugged and scenic landscape while staying in a boutique countryside hotel that ensures luxury and comfort.

Going on walking holidays can be a fun and adventurous experience whether you are doing it alone or with family and friends.

With Walk With Williams, you can focus on making the most of your walking holidays and creating memorable moments that add to your overall experience.

If you are looking for luxury walking trails in the UK you can choose from these options.

Coast to Coast

The Samling Hotel in the Lake District

While walking seems to be a great way to explore the outdoors you can add some challenge to it for sure.

Walking Coast to Coast walking trails in the UK can provide you with the right set of rugged landscapes and breathtaking scenery.

The path begins from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay and covers a distance of 192 miles (309 km).

This is one of the best ways to walk, climb and explore Britain’s natural wonders.

As you cover this walking trail you also get to walk across three national parks and stay at some of the best luxury hotels including The Samling Hotel in the Lake District, Yorebridge House in the Yorkshire Dales and The Grand York in North Yorkshire.

Cotswold Way

The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, Bath

One of the top paths that you can choose for luxury walking experiences is Cotswold Way.

This is among the popular walking trails that offer a unique blend of scenic countryside views and luxury retreats.

Stretching 102 miles (164 km) from Chipping Campden to Bath this is a moderately difficult trail that is ideal for first-time walkers as well.

While you are exploring this walking trail you can stay at historic manor houses and boutique hotels that ensure that you can have a great accommodation and dining experience.

You can stay at Ellenborough Park which is a country house hotel with a spa.

Similarly, you can also stay at The Lygon Arms or The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa when you conclude your trip in Bath.

Hadrian’s Wall Path

Hadrian’s Wall Path

If you are running out of time and prefer simple choices you can stick with walking trails like Hadrian’s Wall Path.

This is among the most popular walking trails in the UK which is well-maintained and marked.

This allows you to walk through Roman ruins, historic sites, rolling hills and beautiful moorlands.

Stretching 84 miles (135 km) from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway, the path runs parallel to the UNESCO-listed site combining history with stunning natural views.

You also get to enjoy various luxurious stays that would ensure that you can make the most of your walking holidays in the UK.

The Dales Way

The Dales Way

If you are looking for easy and relaxed walking trails in the UK that offer you a great holiday experience you may choose The Dales Way.

This is among the easiest and gentlest paths that you can choose especially if you have never tried walking holidays in the UK.

Stretching 81 miles (130 km) from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere this path is blessed with river views, lush greenery and plenty of wildlife.

Walking the Dales Way can be one of the best reasons to visit England’s Lake District and stay at some of the opulent accommodations.

While you are here you can stay at The Devonshire Arms Hotel & Spa and even Linthwaite House which offer panoramic views of Windermere.

The Ridgeway

There are plenty of historic sites that you can explore when you are in the UK.

However, if you are interested in walking one of the oldest paths in Britain you should choose The Ridgeway.

Lined with prehistoric sites and high-end country accommodations The Ridgeway can provide you with unique holiday experiences.

The path stretches 87 miles (139 km) from Overton Hill to Ivinghoe Beacon and can provide you with views of chalk ridges, open countryside and multiple prehistoric sites like Uffington Castle, Wayland’s Smithy, and Avebury Stone Circle.

You also get the opportunity to stay at lavish hotels and countryside manor houses that come with Michelin-star dining options.

Peddars Way

If you prefer to keep your walking expedition short and sweet, you can try the Peddars Way.

This is among the shortest walking routes in the UK that can offer you an opportunity to enjoy scenic views involving historic villages, heathlands and quiet countryside landscapes.

The path begins from Knettishall Heath and ends in Holme-next-the-Sea.

With just 46 miles (74 km) to cover on foot, this is one of the shortest and luxurious walks.

When you are done for the day you can stay at premium accommodations that offer you the best comfort and convenience.

These accommodations also come with spa treatment and gourmet cuisine options that add to the experience.

Norfolk Coast Path

Holkham Beach

While you are planning a walking holiday in the UK you can choose to stay close to the coast and enjoy some breathtaking coastal views.

The Norfolk Coast Path stretches 84 miles (135 km) from Hunstanton to Hopton-on-Sea and is probably one of the easiest trails.

This path allows you to enjoy some of the best beaches in England like Holkham Beach, Hunstanton Beach and Cromer Beach.

You also get to explore and walk through quaint coastal villages and salt marshes that ensure that you can enjoy some quiet and clean coastal views.

When you are done for the day you can rest at some of the luxurious stays and enjoy meals at award-winning restaurants that can make your trip worth the time.

Northumberland Coast Path

If you are exploring the northern England territory you can add Northumberland Coast Path to your list.

This 62-mile (100 km) coastal path starting from Cresswell to Berwick-upon-Tweed is moderately challenging and can provide you with stunning views of castles, dunes and rugged coastline.

You can also enjoy the coastal wildlife and birds when you are exploring this route either solo or with your family.

While you are walking this path you would also want to soak in the views of Bamburg Castle and Holy Island and indulge in luxury stays.

This path also has seafront accommodations that ensure that you can make the most of your stay along multiple locations.

For more on the latest in luxury lifestyle and travel reads, click here.

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    In other words, wherever you find yourself, whether it is a wanted or unwanted situation, whether it makes sense immediately or takes time to explore to understand the deeper meaning, our lives are leading us and welcoming us, asking us to pay attention. One more quote from David Whyte . . .

    The key to our true contentment, our calling, our purpose, whatever you want to call it “is always right under our noses. It is so much under our noses, in fact, that in the end we are always told we are the key, we each of us, as a foundational dynamic of life, have to find all the ways to fit in the lock. We are the ones who turn in the door and open it. We have to look for the key by looking at the way we are made to open the great conversations of life. What am I naturally drawn to? How am I made for the world? What is my essential nature?”

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    ~Explore more about the benefits of self-awareness here in episode #143.

    Let’s take a look at more wisdom from David Whyte. This time about not knowing . . .

    “Not knowing what to do, we start to pay real attention. Just as people lost in the wilderness, on a cliff face or in a blizzard pay attention with a kind of acuity that they would not have if they thought they knew where they were. Why? Because for those who are really lost, their life depends on paying real attention. If you think you know where you are, you stop looking.”

    I think it is important to differentiate between searching & learning and constant self-improvement. We provide no more peace to ourselves if we are constantly living in the future, imagining ourselves as better and never appreciating where we are.

    The hamster wheel of self-improvement ironically takes us away from ourselves by taking us nowhere because it doesn’t require that we find peace within. I am guilty of stepping on this wheel as well, so I speak from my own experience of constantly not allowing myself to find peace in who I am today, savoring the moment and enjoying my everydays.

    I am grateful that I am no longer on that hamster wheel, and TSLL blog over the past ten years since its inception holds at its core the truth that it is our everydays, when viewing and observing and savoring the goodness and beauty that is all around us, we elevate our days and thereby deepen our contentment. The deepening occurs because we are present.

    If you are a long-time reader/listener of the blog/podcast, you know being present, elevating our everydays does not mean we can’t grow. In fact, it is because we are more present in our daily lives that we know growth is possible. Both ideas can share the same space but it must be intentional and consciously done.

    The fault of the hamster wheel approach, of endlessly pulling off the shelves the next self-improvement book is that we are unconsciously not acknowledging the good that already exists. When we actively and regularly in our everyday lives live in acknowledgement that goodness already exists within us and the world, that is when calm can find us. This takes us back to the progression shared earlier. We must first find calm before we can gain clarity, and it is with these two arrivals that contentment, true contentment, can be experienced.

    However if you are still not convinced in this paradox that discontent is the path to true contentment, consider this simple, yet true axiom, “If you fight for your limitations you get to keep them …”. Yes, from a movie (The Internship), and from the character played by Vince Vaughn, but think about it for a moment: What we focus on receives our energy. If we focus all of our determined thought (which is energy, which is finite), we narrow our focus to proving ourselves right, unconsciously or consciously. We cannot expend energy we do not have, so why not focus on the life you want, rather than the life you feel stuck in?

    The truth is, you’re not stuck. I don’t want to ignore that the world is full of strife, loss, pain, injustice, inequality, because we know that it is, but a wound, a pain, discontent reveals itself seeking to be healed, not ignored. Not accepted as how it has to be.

    The journey to and experiencing fully each day true contentment asks each of us to be open-minded, fully present and willing to trust our curiosity. One more time to David Whyte . . .

    “Being smitten by a path, a direction, an intuited possibility, no matter the territory it crosses, we can feel in youth at any threshold, as if life has found us at last. Beginning a courtship with a work, like beginning a courtship with a love, demands a fierce attention to understand what it is we belong to in the world. But to start the difficult path to what we want, we also have to be serious about what we want.”

    Pursuing our curiosity is a practice is faith. Not necessarily faith in the religious sense (although whether you believe in a particular religion, the universe, or whatever you might call the higher, wiser power in your life, each can certainly play a helpful role), but an understanding that tomorrow is unknown, and the outcome of your pursuit toward true contentment is not something you can predict, and especially not in detail. However, it is the trusting in your curiosity that will bring you the peace you seek, the calm you need to acquire the clarity and lead you to true contentment. Because rather than needing a certain outcome to find true contentment, what we each need is fulfillment, a feeling of contributing positively to the larger world in a way only we can, and when we find this truth, our everydays are flooded in the best sense with true contentment.

    Let me leave you with this final thought . . .

    Petit Plaisir

    —The Queen’s Gambit, Netflix (limited series, 7 episodes)

    ~based on the novel published in 1983 by Walter Tevis, The Queen’s Gambit

    Starring Anya Taylor-Joy

    https://youtu.be/CDrieqwSdgI

    ~The Simple Sophisticate, episode #295

    ~Subscribe to The Simple Sophisticate:  iTunes | Stitcher | iHeartRadio | YouTube | Spotify

    ~Note: Some links shared today are affiliates in which upon purchase TSLL receives a small commission. Everything shared on TSLL blog is shared because I recommend it wholeheartedly.