november-2010

PHOTOS © MATTHEW ANDREWS, AXIOM, CORBIS. GETTY, 4 CORNER, PLAIN PICTURE
BIARRITZ
Sir Rocco Forte is the British
hotelier behind the Rocco
Forte Collection, a luxury
European hotel chain currently
expanding with hotels in
Marrakech and Cairo
I suppose one should remember
one’s honeymoon fondly, but I
remember my golfi ng trips to
Biarritz with my whole family. As a
keen golfer, Biarritz is a wonderful
place with a huge number of
courses in close proximity, and the
humid weather keeps the courses
nice and green throughout the
year. The weather is not south of
France weather, and it was never
particularly fi ne when I was
there, but I had friends who had
a house there, and a great
number of us would all stay in the
château together.
I found it to be such a civilised
place, with a turn-of-the-19thcentury
elegance about it. The
French coastal resorts seem to have
maintained a real sense of high
society, which the English seaside
has unfortunately lost – the food
there is fantastic and it’s always a
pleasure to go.
When my three children were
younger we went for quite a few
summers in succession, and they
were more than happy to be left
playing in the large gardens of the
house while I was out golfi ng. It’s
a very attractive destination, and I
haven’t been back there for a while,
but I would very much like to.
TRAVELLER TALES | 15 BEST
STOCKHOLM
Ben Fogle is a British TV presenter
and adventurer who has explored
much of the world, from the
Mountains of the Moon in Uganda
to the fabled tepuis of Venezuela
I did this extraordinary event called
the Viking Run in 2007, which isn’t
a run at all. It’s an 80km ice-skating
marathon across the frozen fjords from
Uppsala to Stockholm in Sweden. It was
extraordinary and the landscape was
really beautiful.
It can’t happen every year because
even in Sweden it doesn’t always get cold
enough. The rivers and canals have to
freeze solid for all the thousands of ice
skaters that take part. You skate along and
you have a little ice axe with you in case the
ice breaks and you fall in, so that you can
use it to clamber out of the water.
My wife and I had done little bits of
ice-skating as children, but not for many
years. You only fi nd out at the last minute
whether the event will be held so our
preparation consisted of half an hour
going round an ice rink in central London.
It was quite frustrating having children
overtaking me during the race. Crosscountry
ice skates have really long blades
and I couldn’t balance on them – I spent
most of the time on my bum. My wife
totally beat me, and I turned into Gordon
Ramsay and swore my way around – I
think I was last.
15 TH BIRTHDAY ISSUE | TRAVELLER | 49