50 ............... Saturday, October 8, 2016 1SM

THE Post Office TravelMoney ski report is in – and ithas come to its traditionalconclusion: Bulgaria’sBansko and Kranjska Gora inSlovenia rate as best-valueresorts for skiers.

More surprising news isthat prices in certain Italianresorts have either fallen orstayed on a par with lastseason, making them bettervalue than Austria or France.

The report, prepared withtour operator Crystal,surveys prices for extras: liftpass, kit hire, lessons andliving costs. You getmore for yourcash in easternEurope. Butamong thetraditional bigfour – Austria,France, Italy andSwitzerland – look toItaly. Sestriere and Livignoare the third and fourthcheapest.lMAKE the most of festivedeals. Peak Retreats hasTuesday-to-Tuesday breaksfor New Year which includeEurotunnel crossings for £1.Have a week in La Rosiere, onthe French-Italian border,from £464. That’s for the4H Les Cimes Blanches self-catering apartments forDecember 27 arrivals. Seepeakretreats.co.uk.l CHECK out this 31-year-oldclip online – bit.ly/2dvv089. Itshows skiers who are furiousat a weird new sport calledsnowboarding.

BOOKUPAABRIDGETGETAWAY

skinews

LOW-COST airline Norwe-gian has a huge sale on itsflights to the US for next year— with fares from as little as£149 one-way.

They have 360,000 trans-atlantic seats available fornext summer from Gatwickto Boston from £149, NewYork from £179 and LosAngeles from £199pp. FromOctober 31. There will be win-ter-only flights from Gatwickto Las Vegas and Puerto Ricofrom November 2. See nor-wegian.com or call 03308280854.

lEasyJet has topped thetable of Europe’s most

preferred low-cost airlines ina poll by travelagenteDreams.co.uk

More thansix in ten UKtravellersbacked the air-line in a league ofEuropean carriers. SeeeDreams.co.uk. EasyJet putits spring schedule from Scot-land on sale with 12,200 flightsavailable to and from Scotlandbetween March 26 and June27, providing seats for morethan 2 million passengers.Fares includes Glasgow toPalma from £40.49pp one-way. See easyjet.com

lLatvian low-cost airlineAir Baltic will fly from

Aberdeen three times a weekto Riga from May to Septem-ber next year. See airbal-tic.com

lThere will be a new DeltaOne business cabin in

the airline’s upcoming AirbusA350 aircraft. The Delta Onesuite will offer each customera private space, headphonesand laptops, and an 18-inch,high resolution in-flight enter-tainment monitor. Seedelta.com.

FAREDEALTOU.S.WITHNORWEGIAN

airnews

Ruff guidetoScilly

COMFY bed, good foodand daily pamperingsessions – the perfectbreak, right?

Our Westie pup Ernie certainlythought so. He was spoilt rotten onthe Isles of Scilly, with all of theabove on offer at our luxury hotelKarma St Martin’s.

Morning walkies, off-lead, along apristine white-sand beach was justthe icing on the cake.

“So you’re going to Scotland?” saida friend when I told her about ourdog-friendly adventure. “Don’t beScilly,” I wanted to reply — but it’s acommon mistake people make aboutthe islands. They’ve all heard ofthem but don’t know quite wherethey are.

So let me clear that up: They’re 30miles off the coast of Cornwall.

Real Poldark country.Day trips are do-able but the best

way to connect to island life is tostay, for as long as possible.

After taking the train fromLondon and stopping overnight atthe Hotel Penzance, we gave Ernie ataste of the “jetpet” lifestyle andflew over to Scilly.

It’s just a 15-minute hop fromLand’s End — which has one of thenicest airports I’ve ever been to —but not many people know you cantake your pets on the plane.

Each 19-seater Skybus flight hasroom for one dog, stowed safely inthe travel crate provided — and youcan even sit next to it. I liked thefact Ernie could see my husbandNick and I throughout the journeyand it was a great, hassle-free expe-rience.

Check-in closes half an hourbefore your flight and, within tenminutes of being on board, you willbe pup, pup and away.

For a townie like me, arriving on

Scilly is a bitlike steppingback in time —in a good way.

People sayhello to eachother in thestreet, everyoneleaves their bikesoutside unchainedand they buyhomemade jam, eggsand local producefrom neighbours by leav-ing cash in honesty boxes.

It’s all very safe, wholesome and,well, nice. Of course, nice can beboring — but not here. Whetheryou’re jumping on a boat to goisland-hopping, or just admiring theever-changing scenery, every day is

different. Like many of the othercanine explorers, Ernie was in hiselement, trotting along miles of well-maintained coastal paths andsecluded beaches and growling atwild seals from the clifftops.

Some days, we walked for hourswithout seeing another soul.

There are five inhabited islands tocheck out, each with its own charm,independent shops and idyllic stonehouses.

During our long weekend, wemanaged to pack in one a day — themain island of St Mary’s; Tresco,with its sub-tropical Abbey Gardenwhich was visited by Wills andKate; and St Martin’s, where ourhotel overlooked the jetty at LowerQuay.

We arrived laden with beds,towels, toys and food

bowls from CreatureComforts — an awe-

some service offeredby the Isles ofScilly Vet SupportGroup and pro-viding all thedoggy essentialsyou will needfor your breakin exchange fora small dona-tion.

Ernie soon set-tled in to the

pampered-poochlifestyle, lapping up

fuss from the Karmastaff, endless treats

and stunning sea viewsfrom our honeymoon suite.

He even had his own doggy menuto dine from — favouring the RoyalDog’s Dinner of steak, rice, vegeta-bles and gravy.

We humans certainly didn’t gowithout, though. We enjoyed a lovely

meal at the hotel’s Cloudesley Shovellrestaurant, tucking in to freshlycaught crab, Cornish steak and deli-cious Scilly ice cream.

Make time to visit the nearbySeven Stones Inn, too. The viewsfrom the pub garden are simplysublime and a few tots of rum and“shrub” — a traditional Cornishmixer — is a must.

It’s easy to bounce from island toisland, sampling the local produce.The Polreath Tea Rooms on StMartin’s does a mean cream tea,while Badcock’s Cornish pasties,with their thick, buttery crusts, arewell worth queuing for in HughTown, St Mary’s.

Look out for the little white vanparked by the harbour on the strokeof midday, four days a week.

We were lucky enough to visitScilly during one of the rare LowTide Experiences, where the waterrecedes so much you can walkbetween two of the islands — Trescoand Bryher.

Local farmers lead the way, usingtractors to clear seaweed from thesandbanks and putting down picnictables and flags for a two-hourparty before the tide comes back in.

Hundreds of locals and touriststurned out for the bash, where potsof seafood chowder, lobster paellaand Tresco beef rolls were on sale.

Our plan was to walk to Bryherbut when we discovered theProsecco bar, we didn’t make itmuch farther.

Hours later, we arrived back atKarma slightly sunburnt, our feetglittering from the ground-downgranite in the Scillys’ unique whitesand. “We call it our magical fairydust,” said hotel worker Fynn, smil-ing proudly.

I don’t know about the fairy bit,but the islands are magical.

JENNY GREEN

GO: SCILLY

FOUR-LEGGEDPALHEADSWESTIE ON ISLESADVENTURE

Hair of thedog

GETTING THERE: Great WesternRailway trains run between London Pad-dington and Penzance. Fares start at£23 each way. See gwr.com.Skybus flights to St Mary’s run year-round from Land’s End and Newquay,and between March and October fromExeter. Prices start at £140 return fromLand’s End. Dogs cost £40 each way.STAYING THERE: B&B at HotelPenzance is from£79per roompernight.See hotelpenzance.com. AB&B stay at Karma St Martin’s startsfrom £185 per room per night – seekarmagroup.com.MORE INFO: Travelling between theislands with Tresco Boat Servicescosts £5.50 per journey, £11return. See tresco.co.uk.For more about Scilly,see visitislesofscilly.com.

Sun-sit!

Ocean collar scene

4 pages of travel