England

Challenging and invigorating rides, wonderful guides, scenery par excellence, wonders everywhere added to a great trip. VBT does it again!

Being my first trip with VBT, I was apprehensive about traveling with 19 strangers and biking the terrain. Needless to say, my trip was awesome. The guides (Mick, Hattie, Paul) were very attentive, organized, and supportive. They also were knowledgeable about the history, geology and culture of the areas we toured through. As we covered a lot of miles over very steep terrain, it was necessary to use e-Bikes (thankfully). The bikes were in excellent condition, and any issues were addressed quickly by the guides. Using Ride with GPS for directions was easy to use, and the added benefit of both visual and audial directions helped when a turn was missed. The most surprising thing of the trip was how many other riders were repeat customers, many logging between 10-22 previous trips with VBT. Now, having been on my first one, I can understand why and will certainly schedule more. My only concern was the disparity in hotels--most were excellent with fabulous food/services, but a few were not up to standard mostly due to age and/or lack of ventilation. Otherwise, it was among the best overseas adventures I've experienced.

This trip was not only fun but we learned so much history with each day of bicycle riding

We enjoyed a wonderful week of cycling through the Cotswolds across rolling countryside, past beautiful farmlands and pastures filled with grazing sheep, through charming villages and past stately manor houses. This was my first ebike experience and the hills warranted the pedal assist. I would rate this route as moderate as many on the climbs were quite challenging for those on a road bike. Queen Elizabeth had just passed, and our excellent and resourceful guides, Kate Edmond and Conor Murphy, rearranged our itinerary for the Queen’s national day of mourning, providing a delicious picnic on the banks of Bourton-on-the-Water. For afternoon tea break, we enjoyed the Queen’s favorite, Victoria sponge! Stops included Blenheim Palace, Hidcote Gardens, Bath Roman Baths, and sites of the filming of Downton Abbey and Harry Potter. Bookending the cycling trip with the pre-and post-trip option of Oxford and Bath is recommended.

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.