GO THRILLS:From sea-kayaking in Mexico to ranching in the Wild West, CATHERINE MACKhas 10 great activity holidays for women who want to try something different
HAVING AN adventure on holiday is such a subjective notion. The skydivers who made the first parachute jump over Mount Everest spent 15 years planning – and almost €17,000 each to get their kicks. I am a bit less extreme. My first big travel adventure was in my early 20s, when I went backpacking alone to Australia and had the time of my life. Just discovering the joys of solitude was an adventure in itself. And I didn’t even go near a bungee rope. Rainforests yes, shark-cage diving, no thanks.
But that’s just me, for whom, now pushing middle age, just getting away from the children for a weekend is an adventure.
Here are some of my favourites for all those non-skydiving adventurous women out there.
1Coasteering is not some sort of pub game you play with beer mats on a girls' night out. But it does involve wearing a lot of rubber – and is about as daring as I get these days. You'll be decked from head to toe in the thickest wetsuits possible, plus helmets and buoyancy aids. Coasteering is, basically, all about chucking yourself into deep water from rocky heights. No ropes, just scrambling up rock faces, with the supervision of qualified adventure instructors, and then jumping. And swimming. Then you climb up somewhere else, jump in again and swim. Or, as one instructor put it, "all those things your mother wouldn't let you do in the sea when you were a child". This has to be one of the best ways to get to know the UK's only coastal national park, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, in south Wales. Warm up in an ecolodge at the end of the day, lap up home-made food and plenty of local ale, then head out the next day for a bit of cave swimming. It all happens so close to Ireland that you could almost coasteer your way there: it's about 10km from Fishguard ferry port (www.stenaline.ie), or just under 40km from Pembroke (www.irishferries.com), with daily sailings to both from Rosslare.
- Preseli Venture, Parcynole Fach, Mathry, Pembrokeshire, Wales, 00-44-1348-837709, www.preseliventure.co.uk. Coasteering weekends from £189 (€225), including two nights' accommodation at Preseli Venture Eco Adventure Lodge, all meals, two half-day coasteers, a half-day hike, equipment and qualified instruction.
2Back on much drier land, weaving rugs with women from the Berber tribes in Morocco is one of my most adventurous trips. It is a women-only holiday, because of the cultural sensitivities of working closely with Muslim women. But there is nothing of the knitting circle about this break. You start your trip shopping with a local guide in Marrakesh. Then you head to the foothills of the Atlas Mountains for weaving, eating fine local food and chatting about different lifestyles and life experiences. At night you go to the fishing port of Essaouira. Unlike other girlie – to, say New York – the only sea breezes you'll get on this one are real ones off the Atlantic. But you are guaranteed to laugh just as much, learn so much more and take the adventure of a lifetime (and a small rug) away with you. This company also offers cooking and painting holidays in Morocco.
- Ingrid Wagner Real World Journeys, the Stone Barn, Kirkharle Courtyard, Kirkharle, Northumberland, England, 00-44-1830-540047, www. ingridwagner.com. Eight-day weaving holiday costs from £925 (€1,090), including flights from the UK.
3The multitaskers among us will love Delphi Mountain Resort, in Connemara. It has so many activities on offer that you might need a spreadsheet to prepare your trip. Get down and dirty during the day, as instructors guide you up mountains, teach you to take on the Atlantic surf, have you jumping off the pier to swim to your kayak (all wetsuits provided) or simply send you off on a quiet bike ride across the Delphi Valley. Perfect for a hen party, as you can then chill out at the resort's natural spa, with seaweed baths and hydrotherapy pool, and eat for Ireland in its excellent restaurant afterwards. Choose from luxury four-star accommodation or budget bunk rooms. If you make the most of every activity, all you will want to do is fall into bed at the end of the day anyway. Delphi is simply divine, rain or shine.
- Delphi Mountain Resort, Leenane, Connemara, Co Galway, 095-42208, www.delphi mountainresort.com. Rooms from €40 to €300 per night, including breakfast. Midweek spa breaks from €99 per person per night for a luxury room and breakfast, with use of thermal suite and free seaweed bath. Activities from €25.
4Jim Kennedy of Atlantic Sea Kayaking takes people on to the Atlantic off west Co Cork in summer and to Mexico's Baja Peninsula in winter. You still have time to sample west Cork, where Kennedy works closely with Whale Watch West Cork well into winter. Swap Atlantic for Pacific for a January boost, and not only learn all the kayaking skills you need but also snorkel, hike, fish, visit local fishing villages, go whale-watching and discover mangroves by kayak. Just to add to the adventure, you camp on Espiritu Santo, an uninhabited volcanic island about eight kilometres from the mainland, the perfect base for paddling from one white sandy beach to another.
- Atlantic Sea Kayaking, the Abbey, Skibbereen, West Cork, 028-21058, www.atlanticsea kayaking.com. Half-day trips in west Cork from €50 per person. Twelve-day Mexico kayaking trip (for beginners and more advanced) from €1,450 per person sharing, excluding flights.
5If you associate Crete with drunken hen nights and all-night clubbing, think again. Crete is also famous among geologists and conservationists for its superb gorges, which lead to empty beaches and aquamarine waters. (Especially if you travel out of hen season.) In April and May it is a flower fest, as botanists and nature lovers flock from around the world to see Crete burst to life with abundant wild and rare flowers. You can travel with Pure Crete, which has been bringing walkers and flower lovers here for more than 20 years. Staying in locally-owned villas, you will be guided across the high plains to the snowcapped peaks of the White Mountains, down through the Imbros Gorge and past orchid meadows at Spili to one of many sandy coves. Dr Stephen Waters and Dr Clive Daws tell you all you need to know about the 150 endemic species of flowers and orchids, as you walk from one side of Crete to another, watching it come alive with colour.
- Pure Crete, Bolney Place, Cowfold Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England, 00-44-8450-701571, www.pure crete.com. Crete in Bloom package cost from £715 (€845), including accommodation, air fare from Britain, expert guides and excursions.
6I found that climbing to the top of a 20m oak tree was the best natural way to deal with an ever-growing fear of heights. Recreational tree climbing is big in the US but still pretty unheard of in this part of the world. I loved it; the solace at the top of an ancient oak is like nothing else, not to mention the childlike glee at having got yourself up there. Safely harnessed and helmeted, you are carefully guided up by arborist Paul McCathie, using the usual climbing techniques of ropes and carabiner clips. He is located on the Isle of Wight, one of the UK's most underrated beauty spots. The Mighty Oak Tree Climbing Company, in Cornwall, takes it one step further and lets you sleep up there, using tree boats – four-cornered hammocks safely suspended in the branches. An early-morning breakfast is sent up to you as you swing serenely to the sound of the Cornish dawn chorus.
- GoodLeaf Tree Climbing, PO Box 160, Seaview, Isle of Wight, England, 00-44-333-8001188, www.goodleaf.co.uk. A two and a half hour session costs £35 (€41) for adults and £25 (€30) for children (aged eight-16).
- The Mighty Oak tree Climbing Company, 00-44-7890-698651, www.mighty-oak.co.uk. Prices for tree camping start at £140 (€165) per person for groups of between two and five climbers, with instruction, climbing, equipment, dinner and breakfast.
7You won't get much more adventurous than some of the women who head off to volunteer for a holiday. Most volunteering organisations find that the majority of their clients are women. It feels like a safe way to travel alone, for example, as you plan your trip in advance with an agency, which then guides you and offers support while you are abroad. You can travel the world cheaply by volunteering through Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. Wwoofers stay with farming families, offering a maximum of five hours a day of labour, while your hosts provide you with clean, warm accommodation and all your food. If you want to make a more generous contribution to communities in need of help in the developing world, you could spend an extended trip volunteering abroad. One of the most highly-regarded ethical volunteering companies, People and Places – set up by, yes, two women – allocates you to one of its many life-changing projects, according to your skills and interests, in Africa, India or Indonesia. For more information on volunteering, see also www.comhlamh.org
- People and Places, 1 Naboth's Nursery, Canterbury Road, Favesham, Kent, England, 00- 44-8700-460479, www. travel-peopleandplaces.co uk.
- Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, www.wwoof.org.
8Riding out on the ranch is no longer the macho City Slickers-style holiday that it used to be. Celebrity ranchers such as Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts have turned the traditional huntin'-fishin'-shootin' image into something not only a bit sexier but also more sustainable. Take a break on a ranch in North America's Wild West and you can not only improve your riding skills, drive herds out to the prairies or do sunset cattle round-ups but also go hikin', bikin' and raftin', as well as swimmin' and hot tubbin'. You don't have to ride a horse like Kidman, either, as they welcome beginners, too.
- Ranch Rider, Devonshire House, Devonshire Lane, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, 00-44-1509-618811, www.ranchrider.com. Seven nights from £1,395 (€ 1,646), including flights from many UK airports, full board, accommodation and activities.
9If dancing in the church hall is the nearest you have got to learning salsa, then how about taking on the real thing in Havana, the Cuban capital, where salsa is the national dance and the cha-cha-cha still oozes from every brick of the city's famous pastel buildings. There is yoga in the morning, dancing in the afternoon and excursions to see the real thing in the evenings, as well as talks and outings to teach you more about this fascinating country's culture and history. Ideal for women travelling alone, as you are allocated a local dance partner during your afternoon dance sessions.
- Responsible Travel, Pavilion House, 6 Old Steine, Brighton, England, 00-44-1273-600030, www.responsibletravel.com. A 10-day trip costs from £895 (€1,055), excluding flights but including shared accommodation, breakfast, salsa classes with a local dance partner, history talks and excursions.
10Need a bit of cryo-therapy? Who doesn't from time to time? At the AquaCity resort in the Slovakian city of Poprad, it's the mad act of entering a room at minus 120 degrees in nothing but woollen shorts, mittens, socks, a headband (to protect your ears) and a paper mask (not really a romantic break, then). You walk around for two minutes, then escape to the warmth of a gym for a vigorous warm-up. Slovakians call this kick-starting the body into self-healing and regeneration. Or therapy to make you cry, more like it. If you survive this adventure, you can spend the rest of your stay enjoying the biggest geothermally heated waterpark you will ever see, heated by nature through all the seasons. Choose from three- and four-star onsite hotel accommodation or self-catering apartments.
- AquaCity, Sportova 1397/1, Poprad, Slovak Republic, 00-44-845-2720300, www.aquacityresort.com. Book directly or buy a package with Dream Slovakia (www.dreamslovakia.sk): four nights' accommodation at AquaCity's three-star hotel, with breakfast, dinner and full use of the water facilities, including a cryotherapy session, costs from €420pp, excluding flights.
- Catherine Mack is the author of Ecoescape Ireland(www.ecoescape.org)