Roadtrippin’ Through South-West England This Summer
I’ve always wanted to go to Cornwall. Neolithic standing stones of various shapes and sizes, moody Cornish coastlines, super-sugary double-clotted cream fudge – what’s not to like?
It’s a land of myth and mystery, complete with Arthurian and Atlantean legend (and then some), and the scenery so vividly portrayed by Daphne du Maurier in her fabulous Cornish novels.
So when UK-based Roadtrip Tours offered me a place on their Southern Extreme Tour, a 5-day backpacker bus tour of south-west England, I leapt at the opportunity.
Roadtrip Tours offers a variety of backpacker-style bus tours around the UK, teaming up with similarly-minded companies to cover trips to Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Tours vary from simple sightseeing day tours to mammoth 19-day expeditions around the UK.
Right, so, early one Monday morning, not so long ago, I met the tour bus at a central London location (near Great Portland St) and off we scampered (perhaps not the best word, considering the deplorable state of London’s central city traffic, but it shall suffice) heading on out into the beautiful countryside that lies beyond the smog.
It was a jam-packed tour. During the course of the 5 jam-packed days we saw (and this is a very condensed list): the city of Bath and its steamy Roman Baths, the moody and mysterious Avebury Stone Circles, towering Glastonbury Tor and the ruined abbey below, the wind-whipped ruins of Tintagel, the impressive giant biodomes of the Eden Project, a series of atmospheric neolithic stone monuments in the middle of open fields and the unbelievably picturesque seaside town of St Ives.
We wandered along the blustery Cornish coast to Lands End (past a forlorn shipwreck), watched an evening performance of Carmen at the impressive cliffside-clinging Minack Theatre, had our fill of double-clotted cream ice cream at Wide-Combe-On-Moore, in the middle of misty Dartmoor, and joined the throngs of tourists gaping at Stonehenge.
Everywhere we went, Ed, our wonderfully enthusiastic (and well informed) local guide, gave us the scoop on what was what, shared his rather eclectic knowledge of the myths and legends that abound in that neck of the woods and, more practically, let us know the best place to find cheap food whenever we stopped for lunch.
We always had enough time to explore the places we visited, and got a good deal of healthy fresh air to keep us energised (nothing worse than being stuck in a bus all day).
Our hostels were pre-booked, so all we had to do at the end of each day was collect our roomcards, dump our luggage and head out to explore before we all ate dinner together.
I had so much fun! My fellow Roadtrippers were full of beans and responded well to our guide’s quirky sense of humour, and by the end of the 5 days, I have to say I was rather sad to say goodbye.
What I liked most about the tour:
- The informal nature of the trip, stopping off and having time to do our own thing (I like being able to wander randomly, and absorb the feel of a place, instead of being led everywhere by a guide).
- The small size of the group (that isn’t a given, though, seeing as that particular bus can hold 16 ‘trippers, and they do have larger buses)
- I made friends. Going on a tour like this one makes for an informal and fun setting for meeting new people, and making new friends. If you’re travelling alone, this is a great way to hook up with possible travel buddies.
There were a few things that bothered me, I’ll admit. One is the disparity between the various itineraries. On their website was one version, on the printed brochures another, and the one emailed after making the booking contained yet another version.
Similar, but not the same, and I think they should be standardised, to avoid unnecessary confusion (and possible disappointment).
Same applies to the kitty system. Right at the start of the tour, you hand over an amount to the driver, to cover sundries like dinners and hostels. Once paid, that should be it – I don’t think one should be asked to add to it half way through the tour, but that’s what happened.
It was a paltry sum, to be sure, in the scheme of things, but when you’re a backpacker, counting every possible penny (especially in pricey places like the UK), those few extra pounds dig into the budget and can tend to make you a little resentful.
But, those are rather minor niggles, really. Overall I would most definitely recommend the tour to backpackers looking to spend some time exploring England’s beautiful south-west corner.
Roadtrip’s Southern Extreme costs £119.00 + kitty (around £123). The kitty covers breakfasts, dinners, hostels and certain entrance fees. Tours depart from central London every second Monday.
