Hiking

The issue of accommodating handicapped or disabled persons on tours or cruises was raised in two readers’ letters (March ’06, pg. 35 & July ’05, pg. 27). The issue goes beyond handicapped or disabled persons to anyone who cannot meet the physical requirements of a trip. As I see it, there are various aspects to addressing the problem.

• Tour operators need to specify the physical requirements of a trip as clearly and realistically as possible. (Are there elevators? How much walking is involved? What kind of surface?)

by J. Norvill Jones, Alexandria, VA

by John Scheleur, Arnold, MD

We took a most memorable 8-day tour of Bhutan in September ’04, thanks to the efforts of Lingkor Tours & Treks (P.O. Box 202, Thimphu, Bhutan; phone 975-2-323417, fax 975-2-323402, e-mail trepatsang@aol.com or visit www.lingkor.com). A Buddhist monk referred us to Lingkor and through e-mail we set up a customized itinerary with Tenga at Lingkor before leaving the U.S.

United Kingdom Contours Walking Holidays (Gramyre, 3 Berrier Rd., Greystoke, CA11 0UB, United Kingdom; phone +44 [0] 17684 80451 or visit www. contours.co.uk) handled the arrangements when my husband and I hiked the new Hadrian’s Wall Path from Tynemouth (on the North Sea) to Bowness on Solway Firth, April 3-11, ’04. Officially it is 84 miles, but we went 110 miles as we walked to various museums and forts nearby.

It was raining when we left Amsterdam on our way to France in May 2003. I put the car on autopilot and drove south until the sun came out.

I want to respond to the news item “Fighting Rebels in Nepal” (Feb. ’04, pg. 18).

by Tyler Morse, New York, NY

Just as our July ’03 issue arrived with Randy Keck’s article on Transylvania (Romania), we were about to leave on a self-planned trip covering the same sites. These are our observations, to augment his.

Hotels were all quite good, with Casa Viorel (phone 40-268-262-431) in Poiana Brasov being outstanding. The largest hotel we stayed in was the only place we found that accepted credit cards, but ATMs were available in every town we visited.