England

Another great VBT trip through the beautiful rolling countryside of Northumberland, Cumbria, and the Borderlands of Scotland. Although we have always used road bikes on prior VBT trips, we were very happy we chose e-bikes for this one, allowing us to enjoy the scenic vistas without struggling up the (many) hills. We enjoyed the historic sites like Hadrian's Wall and Vindolanda, the towns and little villages, our always friendly guides and companions, and of course the (many) sheep. The post trip in Edinburgh is a great contrast to the ride itself. As a new VBT trip, this one still needs a couple of little tweaks, but if the weather cooperates (which it did for us), you will have a wonderful experience. (Here's a tip. Don't try to climb Hadrian's Wall in bike shoes. (: )

The leaders were exceptional and the riding and scenery were great. I loved every day, even when it was raining. My only complaint --and this is ongoing with VBT--is the hotels. I understand hotel rooms in Europe are not uniform but the variability on this trip was extrememe. Although Borrowdale Gates was charming the room we had was tiny, though with a lovely view. Hexham was a neat town, but again our room was tiny with the tiniest bathroom. In both of the above there wasn't enough room for both of us to open our suitcases at the same time. I understand others on the trip had great rooms at both locations so either you may want to secure more rooms that are similar in size and quality or stay somewhere else. The last hotel in Peeples was fine, but a bit old and tired. We did have a nicer room but the place could use an update.

The Cotswolds are incredibly beautiful! Small villages with golden stone buildings almost don't look real. All of our hotels were top notch and the food was excellent. Biking on the left hand side of the road was a bit scary at first, but the drivers were courteous and gave us a wide margin; and most of the roads we biked had minimal traffic.

Beautiful countryside, charming hotels and restaurants. The bicycling was more difficult than I expected, and the traffic was terrible.

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.