England

Great trip especially if you want more challenges when you bike. Beautiful areas to bike through.

Even though the weather was not ideal, it rained a couple days, the scenery was beautiful with lakes, mountains, rivers, stones fences and lots of sheep. Our guides were fantastic, upbeat and encouraging. Our accommodations were mostly top notch, especially the country inn in Keswick. I especially enjoyed the Roman ruins.

This was our fifth VBT guided bike tour and it was another great experience. Our guides Jago, Lucy, and Dan were exceptional each in their own unique way. Despite and unusual heat and general lack of air conditioning in this part of England the accommodations, were all interesting and charming. The scenery was beautiful and the local pubs were great fun. We chose to ride road bikes and the tire size and gearing were appropriate. The tow path section would have been better suited for a hybrid or Ebike but we feel most comfortable on road bikes. In general I would rate the riding difficulty of this trip a notch up from our other easy/moderate trips due to the road conditions and climbs. Our training before the trip paid off. As has always been our experience the others in our group were incredibly nice and interesting folks.

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Nice combination of pedaling in pastoral settings and activities that included a day-and-a-half in Oxford, lovely Burford (the meat pies at The Royal Oak are a must!), Blenheim Palace, cream tea in Bourton-on-the-Water, the Hidcote Manor Gardens, and a tour of the Roman Baths. We stayed the extra day in Bath and explored - it was very nice! The undulating hills of the Cotswolds were a nice challenge on road bikes. Residents and (car) drivers were pleasant and courteous. The bonus is we had amazing weather - mid to high 60°s, sun, clouds, and no rain (okay, a very slight shower one afternoon for 20 mins.!) Our tour leaders - Conor and Mick - terrific guys that really made the tour so pleasant!

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.