Travel: Something To Declare
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THE TRAVEL WORLD
A good idea
Getting lost should become less of a problem for cyclists both in Britain and abroad. Ordnance Survey has finally begun to include portions of the National Cycle Network on its Landranger 1:50 000 maps. The first part of the bike network, created by the charity Sustrans, was the Bristol & Bath railway path. Appropriately, the first map to show these trails is sheet 172, covering the two cities. It costs pounds 4.95 from bookshops.
Further north, the Cheltenham-based publisher Goldeneye (01242 575943) has brought out a pack of 12 mountain bike routes in the Cotswolds. The idea is that you use each card within an armband map holder, supplied as part of the kit - total price pounds 9.99.
In Spain, the tourist board for the region of Valencia has produced a series of mountain biking and hiking maps to the area. They are free, but to obtain them you have to call the Spanish National Tourist Office's 24-hour brochure line on 0891 669920, which costs 50p per minute.
Not such a good idea?
Warnings from two new guidebooks out this week
Dominican Republic: "In Santo Domingo, on the beaches and at other tourist destinations, visitors will be approached by unofficial English-speaking guides, sellers of rum, women or drugs. The only value in taking an unofficial guide is to deter others from pestering you ... Unofficial guides often refuse to give prices in advance, saying `pay what you want' and then at the end, if they are not happy with the tip, they make a scene and threaten to tell the police that the customer had approached them to deal in drugs" - from Caribbean Islands Handbook 1999 by Sarah Cameron, Footprint, pounds 14.99
Tunisia: "The Worst:
1. High-season crowds.
2. Boring food at resort hotels.
3. Inadequate labelling at museums.
4. Matmata after 9am (the pit houses of this troglodyte settlement have proved irresistible fare for the tour buses).
5. Metlaoui (a drab, dusty town that exists almost entirely because of phosphate mining. The only other reason to come here is because it's the starting point for rides through the spectacular Seldja Gorge).
6. Polluted waterways in Gafsa.
7. The toilets at Ksar Ghilane.
8. The Tijani Zoo in Tozeur.
9. Carpet touts in Kairouan.
10. The cost of car hire."
- from Tunisia by David Willett, Lonely Planet, pounds 9.99
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