Expert traveller

What is... Hot dogging?

No, it's not as dodgy as it sounds, and there's not a car park in sight. Hot dogging is the latest adrenaline-pumping, water-based adventure activity to hit Wales - and it's all good, clean fun. Hot Dogs are self-bailing micro rafts that carry three people and can be paddled down the plentiful white water courses of the tumultuous Welsh rivers.

The thrill is in the speed you travel and the skill of negotiating rapids as you follow a river guide through Wales's most demanding white water (graded from two to four). With the rafters sitting in a row, surrounded by the raft's barrel-shaped sides, the resemblance to a hot dog is striking - hence the name. Because water levels need to be fairly high, you can only hot dog from October until March, however.

Adventure company Black Mountain Activities offers a day hot dogging on the upper reaches of the River Wye from £69 per person, including waterproofs, buoyancy aids and helmets. Details at

Where to... Find grass growing at sea

We've seen wave machines, bowling alleys and mega-casinos, but the latest attraction offered by the cruise market is something more earthy - real grass. Celebrity Cruises' four new Solstice ships will each have a 'Lawn Club' with half an acre of the green stuff - the first to be grown at sea - on which guests can play bowls or croquet, practise their putting skills, or simply have a picnic.

Bigger than eight tennis courts, the lawn took some planning - a team of landscape architects, irrigation specialists and turf and soil scientists worked with the ship's architects, Wilson Butlerto perfect the design. Grass varieties had to be selected to withstand winds, sun and temperature variations, while the weight of the grass and soil and the water its absorbs from the atmosphere and irrigation, adds about 150 tonnes to the ship's weight.

A nine-night holiday with Celebrity Cruises starts from £1,228 per person, including flights and seven nights' cruising around the Caribbean, departing from Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Departures from 14 December. See