99 Days out for the family: Active adventures 1-12
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Your support makes all the difference.Why not take to two wheels to explore this summer?
The Brighton Sports Company is offering Beach Cruiser Cycle Hire by the hour throughout the holidays – the single-gear bikes are the perfect way for visitors of all ages to take in the city's seafront sights (brightonsports.co.uk). Tapping into the trend for doing sports by night, intermediate cyclists (over-16s only) can join the No Fear MTB Night Rides in Kielder Water and Forest Park in Northumberland on 30 July and 27 August, when a guide will introduce you to the skills and thrills of night-riding (purplemountain.co.uk). However, everyone can join the leisurely 15-mile circular Family Cycle Ride at Lee Valley Leisure Park in London on 10 August (jtolland@leevalleypark.co.uk). Or, if you'd rather watch than put in the work, catch the new BMX Stunt Spectacular, from 1-28 August at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, where the UK's top pro-riders will perform several shows a day – as well as being on hand to talk to the public (altontowers.com).
Every day until 4 September, the Eden Project, in Cornwall, will be holding a Festival of Play to get kids to burn off excess energy – sessions include den-building and circus skills, as well as the opportunity to rise to the challenge on the Rock Wall (edenproject.com). Daily throughout August, you can cool off at the nearby Swadlincote Ski and Snowboard Centre, which is running Kids' Fun Activity Days, including lessons in skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing and sno-tubing (visitnationalforest.co.uk). Daily action is also on offer at Betws-y-Coed in Conwy, where a high-ropes course and gorge-walking offer energetic challenges (visitllandudno.org.uk). Meanwhile, Visit Scotland has put together a selection of 10 Appetite for Adventure routes across the country, where families can take part in active pursuits, from a few hours' walking to a sea-kayaking trip, making gastronomic stops along the way (visitscotland.com/surprise).
Winner of the Best Tourism Experience in this year's Cumbria Tourism Awards, the Via Ferrata at Honister Slate Mine offers thrills of another kind for those happy to make their way along the cliff-face "iron way" on the 2,126ft-high Fleetwith Pike – under the supervision of experienced mountaineers (honister-slate-mine.co.uk). From tomorrow until Sunday, National Parks Week is being celebrated on Exmoor with some slightly more sedate physical activity, such as an evening search for Red Deer and a Seaside Safari in Lynmouth (visit-exmoor.co.uk). The Rochdale Canal in Manchester will be alive with fun-packed activities when its annual festival takes place from 13-28 August. Expect canoeing taster sessions, wild-food foraging and more (thewaterwaystrust .org.uk). And take a dip in a 1 million-litre tank by climbing aboard the new Atlantis Submarine Voyage at Legoland Windsor. Take a trip through the underwater world, which is inhabited by more than 50 species of sea creatures, swimming amid 100 bespoke Lego models and features (legoland.co.uk).
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