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DuVine Cycling Expands Chef on Wheels Trips in 2017

Luxury tour operator, Duvine Cycling + Adventure Co, just announced their 2017 line-up and it incudes their expansion of their popular Chefs on Wheels itineraries. Acclaimed New York chef and restaurateur, Seamus Mullen, will lead a trip to Sicily in late May, as well as a challenging weeklong ride through Tuscany from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean October 2017. Talented Boston chef, Jody Adams, will lead a more relaxed vacation to Spain’s Costa Brava in late June. DuVine is also offering trips to three new locales next year: a tantalizing Greek Island yacht and bike trip with stops in Rhodes and Kos, a loop around Corsica with layovers at Relais & Chateaux properties, and the rare chance to pedal through traditional Peruvian villages on the way to Machu Picchu. There’s also a women’s only trip to Sonoma in May with Skratch Labs resident chef Lentine Alexis. Bikers will be treated to delicious meals and experience some of Lentine’s favorite Sonoma spots along the way.

 

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Vermont Week, Climbing Mount Hunger

Judging from the three cars parked at the trailhead, all with Vermont license plates, the climb up Mount Hunger is a trail treasured by locals. Once you make it to the 3,538-foot summit (allow 4 hours round-trip), you’ll understand why. The backbone of the Green Mountains stand before you, including those famous ski areas, Killington and Stowe. Like most of Vermont’s trails, the climb starts from the first step, a steady uphill walk that became steep at some stretches. Eventually the beeches, yellow birches, and maples give way to spruces and balsam firs. The bare rocks atop Hunger offer commanding views of the entire state. Mount Mansfield’s chin, nose, and other facial features are visible to the east. Waterbury Reservoir sits in the valley below, fringed by White Rock, Hunger’s next door neighbor. Unlike Camel’s Hump, Mount Mansfield, and the other popular peaks in the Green Mountains, here atop Hunger, one can savor this view all by your lonesome.
 
From Waterbury, follow State Route 100 North to Waterbury Center. Turn right on Barnes Hill Road, left onto Maple Street, and right onto Loomis Hill Road. Bear left atop the hill as the road turns to dirt. Park 3.7 miles from the junction of Maple Street on the right-hand side of the road.
 
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VBT To Feature Culinary-Based Biking Trips in 2012

Call me nostalgic, but I’ve always been partial to VBT. In 1995, while researching my book, Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guide to New England, VBT took me on my first organized bike trip along the shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont. They have since expanded to all four corners of the Globe. Just ask my mother-in-law, who’s traveled with VBT to South Africa, Germany, and the Netherlands and raves about all those trips. This year, VBT will feature four culinary tours that sound very tasty. In April, they’ll travel to Puglia to bike along Italy’s Adriatic Coast and explore olive groves, sample local wines, and dive into dinners of fresh seafood and locally grown vegetables. In September and October, VBT will visit Provence to bike backcountry roads through the French countryside, enjoy a home-cooked meal, and stop at fromageries and wine bars. Last but certainly not least is their trip to Vietnam in November to bike past the verdant rice terraces and sample the indigenous fare at markets, family-run food shops, and your own Vietnamese cooking class. Also take a peek at their new destinations in 2012 like a sweet ride along Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. 

 
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New in New Hampshire Skiing

Like Vermont, New Hampshire has also received a good amount of early season snow, over 3 feet in some ski areas. Loon Mountain and Mount Sunapee is now under new ownership. Loon was purchased by Boyne Resorts while Mount Sunapee is now owned by Vail Resorts. Over at Bretton Woods, they’re busy building the first 8-person gondola in the state. Waterville Valley has added a 12,000 square foot expansion to the Base Lodge, which will allow for better views and more elbow room this season. Also at Waterville Valley, the expansion at Green Peak is now complete, with a total of 10 new trails, including Wayne Wong Way, which features the steepest pitch at the resort. Lastly, as reported here before, the new Glen House Hotel opened in the Fall of 2018 and now provides trailside lodging at Great Glen Trails. So get out there and carve that perfect turn! 
 
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Introducing Uganda’s Shaka Tours & Travels

Working as adventure travel contributing editor for Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel magazine, I once wrote a story on eliminating the middleman. How big-name American tour operators were jacking the price by adding another layer of cost to the traveler. Simply go to the same small tour operator they’ve hired to design their trip and you’ve eliminated the excess cost. Uganda’s Shaka Tours would certainly make the cut if I were writing that article in 2017. They join a growing list of small African operators I’ve worked with over the past five years that clients have loved, including African Scenic Safaris in Arusha, Tanzania, and Ghana Tour Consult. I work with Okongo Joshua Fredrick, managing directing at Shaka Tours, designing a wondrous 5-day gorilla trek tour to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. Longer trips included chimpanzee tracking at Kibale National Park, game drives at Muchison Falls National Park and Queen Elizabeth National Park, and cultural highlights of Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Price of the 5-day gorilla trek starts as low as $950 per person, not including visas. That’s what I call a bargain. 

 
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Luang Prabang: City of the Royal Buddha

The host of Tha Heua Me Guesthouse greets me with a smile on the porch and points to the simple meal prepared on the teak table beside her: sticky rice in a woven bamboo basket. I nod to her in ‘thanks’ – neither of us speaking the others’ language – take the rice, slip on my shoes, and begin my walk towards Sakkaline Road. The first rays of sunlight seep through the thick morning fog as I pass stately brick buildings adorned with plaited bamboo panels and balconies, the architectural vestiges of France’s colonial rule over Laos. Upon arriving at Luang Prabang’s main avenue, I am met by a long procession of barefoot monks in plain orange garb making their way through throngs of locals and tourists, all gathered at the crack of dawn to partake in a tradition that stretches back centuries. I kneel at the curbside with rice in hand waiting for an empty-handed monk to accept my offering. A few moments later, I am locking eyes with a young bareheaded man; his expression is at once one of gratitude and of poise. This will be the only meal he eats all day.
 
Later in the day, my college buddy and I, en route to one of Luang Prabang’s French bistros, stop by Wat Xieng Thong, a glittering monument honoring the twin pillars of ancient Lao society: the King and the Buddha. Upon wresting power from the French in 1945, the victorious communist party moved Laos’ political capitol to Vientiane. Nonetheless, Luang Prabang remains the spiritual beating heart of the nation. Though the princes of Laos languish in exile, the royal family may be consoled that the memory of their ancestors endures in the gilded funeral urns of the stupa inside this splendid monument. It is not just Wat Xieng Thong that dazzles. On each cobblestone corner of town, another enigmatic Wat awaits discovery. No sign of the communist regime. It’s as if this Buddhist kingdom never left its royal capital. 
 
Guest Post by Ted Shabecoff 
 
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Run the Alps All of August

With a fantastic network of trail and huts, and a long history and appreciation of running, Switzerland is a trail runner’s dream. Mountain runners have been weaving their way along alp paths for decades, and are practically exalted here. Few people know these trails better than Doug Mayer, founder of Run the Alps. Mayer wrote me last week, claiming he has designed his most epic trip yet, a month-long adventure in the Alps. The includes a guided run along Switzerland’s remarkable Hardergrat, a trail run along the route of the Tour du Mont-Blanc, and through the Swiss Berner Oberland. You’ll also go behind the scenes at two of the greatest trail races in the world, Sierre-Zinal and the UTMB, and, of course, spend necessary R&R time at classic mountain spas. No wonder Mayer is calling this the greatest trail running vacation ever. 

 

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