England

Itinerary needs some refinement. Sold start but needs to set what's physically possible and enjoyable at the same time.

This trip was so beautiful. As it was the first trip I have taken with VBT I did not know what to expect. It was above my expectations. Jago and Carolina were helpful and were always there for us. I would recommend VBT and the Northern England and Scotland trip.

We had great hotels and guides and interesting cities and towns to explore. The big negative is that the roads and country lanes had roads covered in potholes, loose gravel at the bottom of the hills and drivers who at high-speed drove by leaving not much room. We had 15 riders and eleven falls of the bikes. I had one when a person knocked me off my bike by putting his elbow out to hit my mirror when I rode by with no room to move over. All the other trips I have rode on had safer roads. The biggest complaint we had was when we landed at Heathrow, Terminal 2, we saw no driver to pick us up. We came out from baggage claim and no one with a VBT sign. We looked around for 15 minutes and then went to The Currency Exchange Kiosk as noted in our travel paperwork. After 10 minutes standing there, a man offered his help and called the Company on our paperwork. They said someone was on the way and to stay there. It took them a couple minutes to recognize our name and pickup information. After 30 more minutes waiting at the Kiosk, my wife walked around again and spotted a man holding a VBT sign and he told us that he had been there for 50 minutes. We knew that wasn't true and we both had searched for anyone with a VBT sign. The second incident with ground transportation came when we were scheduled to leave our hotel in Dublin. We were supposed to be picked up at 11:00am for a two-hour ride to Heathrow. At 11:10, our hotel desk person called APL Cars London and they said they would be there at 11:20am. At 11:30, the desk lady called again for up and they Company told her the driver was almost there and not to worry as our plane was taking off late. Our desk person to her that she checked, and our flight was on time, so we knew the ride person was lying. Our ride finally showed up at 11:50 am, 50 minutes late. We did get to the airport in time for our flight nut we were nervous with the rushed ride, worrying about checking in our bag, and finding our gate. We would have been more comfortable if we had started on time. VBT should reconsider using this ride company and they were late both coming and going on our trip.

The tour directors, Cotswolds, and Bath were all wonderful. So my “3” rating does not reflect THEM. I’m rating the activity level rating and the bikes: this trip is not “easy/moderate” even with an e-bike. I ride at least three times per week at home and found myself struggling with the hills and daily distance. VBT advertises this trip as one with quiet roads, when many of the roads were actually very narrow, commercial, and busy. The bike design made them hard to get on and off, leading to falls. It was more stressful than the relaxing trip I’d hoped for.

My husband and I did this self-guided tour in early September and absolutely loved it. Country Walkers did an impeccable job taking care of every detail--booking hotels, moving our suitcases between hotels, and, best of all, the "route notes" book was so detailed and had everything we needed from step-by-step directions and restaurant suggestions to history and ideas for things to do. It felt like a wonderful adventure following the famous paths through sheep pastures and little forest thickets, past gardens and ancient churches, and climbing over or around all the different gates. It was often overcast and misty in the mornings, but the mid-day sun burned it all away. Our highlights are choosing to stop for an hour to check out the Hailes Abbey Museum and rubbing elbows with some locals at the only pub in a tiny village. So many great memories! We liked the intimate experience of doing a self-guided trip and the independence (without the planning!) that it provided. We spent some extra days in London at the end of our trip...that was just icing on the cake.

What a fantastic trip this was. This was my 6th time going to England, but my first for the Cotswold region and what an extraordinary time it was. The food was fantastic, everywhere you looked the views were spectacular. It was fantastic trip which I would do again in a heart beat.