Advice - solo walking holiday - somewhere warm

[Marmora Man]

I have time between projects coming up and want to go on a long walking holiday, where I can gradually walk to fitness, starting at 10 miles a day and gradually increasing to 20 / 25 a day.

Have done long distance before - Pennine Way, West Highland Way, Cornish Coastal etc but UK weather in November not enticing. Have considered Compostella de St ???? in North Spain but again weather prospects not great in Nov.

So can anyone advise or suggest where might be good? North Africa perhaps?

[felt-tip]

I'd recommend La Gomera. I went in March and it was lovely and warm and the hiking is spectacular. Its very un-touristy and you can walk and not see anyone for hours. A full circumnavigation of the island would be a great challenge.

[KidKruger]

MM increasing from 10 to 20-25 per day is some improvement, if you've had that kind of form before then you may well be able to recover it, but (and I don't want to do the egg teaching sucking thing) improvement does take time and is best done gradually...

My longer hikes are always with a pack due to the hassles of having to line-up accomodation and govern the walks around such, I find it easier to just stroll til i drop kind of thing then pitch for the night.

Other ways of increasing / equivalents to increasing are to carry a pack to elevate the effort you have to put in to the walk (I find 18 miles with a pack full of tent, cooking gear etc does the trick) or you could try hiking at altitude because that's a bugger even without a pack and you sure learn to use oxygen efficiently. I think this time of year if you wanted altitude you may have to go to NZ or somewhere where it's not so cold this time of year.

Atlas mountains maybe OK in Morrocco ?

If you ever get a few weeks in July/Aug I would recommend Ladakh.

[HAL9000]

I think you mean Santiago de Compostela, capital of Galicia. I love Galicia - been there several times. It's best visited during Easter for the world famous celebrations at the cathedral where the remains of the apostle St. James are said to be entombed. The surrounding mountains provide many interesting walking trails - the area experiences above average rainfall, though.

Alternatively, there are several specialist walking holiday tour operators based in the Pyrenees where every day one can join guided walks of various lengths and difficulties with groups of like-minded people. I haven't been on a walking tour but have visited some Neanderthal archaeological sites thereabouts - it's a beautiful area.

[louisiana]

The Lycian was in Turkey. Spectacular coastal route. Check out Kate Clow's website and book - she designed the route.