England

The scenery and landscapes of the lake District are stunning. But it is a hilly ride and everyone in the group was very grateful to have E bikes. The accommodations were exemplary, the food was delicious and the guides did a wonderful job. I would recommend this trip in a heartbeat.

England/Scotland in early June was our 22nd VBT Tour. We had five days of riding in some rain. The tour before us and the one after had much better weather. When the skies cleared the scenery was quite nice and the small villages charming. All the hotels were in good locations. Due to the long hill climbs, this tour deserves the Moderate rating. If you are not a strong rider, get an e-bike. This is a new tour and there are some minor kinks that need to be worked out. The pre and post trips are very good.

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.

Really enjoyed our cycling trip through the Cotswolds. Our guides and cycling companions were fabulous. A better description of the road conditions and elevations would have been helpful. Roads were narrow and quite pocked with loose gravel in many places. Scenery was simply amazing!

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.

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.