Catalan Classic Walk

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Everything was well arranged; hotels were good although rooms with balconies are useful for drying walking gear. The walking app was very good although one path on the first day's walk was very badly eroded requiring a detour -- Mark was informed. Our driver, Lex, was extremely helpful giving us advice on where we could get food on the first day's walk -- more information on shops/restaurants for each leg of the walk would be useful.

A Valued Customer, 4 Oct 2024

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The hotels were great. The route challenging but doable. Problems arose because of our poor understanding of the app but we are poor on these things - friends and family will probably be more savvy.

A Valued Customer, 28 Sep 2024

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Great walk, very friendly and helpful local staff

A Valued Customer, 16 Sep 2024

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Headwater provide a personal service by helpful and well informed staff. The self-guided walking holidays are well arranged and the accommodation offered is well chosen. The navigation app is brilliant.

A Valued Customer, 14 Sep 2024

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The areas chosen are usually in interesting locations. The staff are very helpful and the navigation app excellent.

Mr Cerny, 6 Sep 2024

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Great holiday, excellent local team, Headwater app is fabulous, hotels are great, varied walking - had a lovely week

Sarah Weston, 22 Oct 2023

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An excellent experience from first communication about the holiday right through to the end

Lynne Graham, 4 Oct 2023

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Overall an enjoyable holiday.

Good walking route and good accommodation

We would use Headwater again

David Vaughan, 28 Sep 2023

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Another excellent and really enjoyable self guided walking holiday with Headwater on the Classic Catalan Walk

Glen Macdonald, 24 Sep 2023

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Overall everything worked well, the App and local Rep probably the best features. The route could have been significantly better as there is no particular need for it to be circular. The farmland walking is pretty non-descript. The hotels felt tierd and/or in secondary locations. It was dissapointing that the feature hotel, Castella d'Emporda was not offered. Difficultly of the walking was fine and as described and the route notes were good. It should be noted that the main attraction from Encis is closed on a Monday. Value for money wasn't great given the price the hotels could have been booked directly at and transfers seemed very expensive although good.

Steven Lambert, 16 Sep 2023

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I am fan, as I have now done a number of trips with Headwater. On a few occasions I have not really liked some of the 3* hotels (too basic) and I guess it would be good to have the option of choosing better hotels. But overall, I love the concept and I have always enjoyed the trips. Will continue to consider future self-guided trips with Headwater.

Niall Hadden, 12 Sep 2023

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As before, Mark (local rep) was very good.

It's probably unfair of me as I was travelling alone and relying on Mark for safety back-up, but I do have an ambivalent view of the app, as in some ways I think it detracts from the fun of self-navigating. Also it's not 100% reliable when you are in a more remote area with little or no GPS signal.

Marion Sugars, 29 Aug 2023

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Great first trip with Headwater

Margaret Ardagh, 27 Aug 2023

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We loved our trip to the Catalan Coast. Such a beautiful area! The walks and suggested walks were well planned, with minimal time spent walking along busy roads. The hotels were very good and the staff at each had helpful suggestions for places to eat and things to do. This was our second Headwater trip and we have already planned a third!

James Russell, 21 Jul 2023

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A beautiful walking holiday taking in castles, hilltop villages and dramatic coastal walks.

HUGHES, 19 May 2023

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Headwater walking holiday provided a challenging adventure, exploring beautiful countryside in Catalonia. We have memories of Spanish castles, poppy filled valleys and turquoise rocky coves. What a wonderful holiday.

SINGODIA, 13 May 2023

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We loved the holiday. Each day seemed to get better and better and it was nice and varied with lots to see. The app makes navigation a cinch. We loved the hotels as well, all three quite different with different offerings. Headwater were brilliant in their flexibility re changing pick up times and adding days on. This was our first walking holiday so I can't compare to others but we had a very enjoyable time.

Mr Sharp, 25 Apr 2023

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The classic Catalan walk offered a varied route from coastal scenery to well preserved villages in the interior. The standard of accommodation was good and well located.

Mrs Mcclymont, 19 Sep 2022

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All hotels excellent, but all slightly different. Had a little trouble with walking notes and ended up walking much farther than expected. Very nice part of Spain and area I didn’t know I enjoyed Girona on the way back again very good hotel and right in the centre

Ms Osborne, 11 Sep 2022

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Holiday was actually booked via Exodus so difficult to comment.

Mr Godfrey, 2 Sep 2022

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Headwater provide a stimulating itinerary, with walks that are fairly graded and staying at good boutique hotels. We really enjoyed the holiday.

Mr Watson, 8 Jun 2022

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An excellent week's walking with varied landscapes and beautiful scenery, flowers and birdsong. A good mixture of tough days and easy walking.

Mrs Brand, 21 May 2022

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Good for people who like an energetic walk

Mr Greenslade, 30 Sep 2019

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Very enjoyable experience, pleasant walks, nice hotels with friendly staff and excellent food. My favorite walk!

Mrs Nekrassova, 3 Aug 2019

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We had a good week though in very hot weather. Overall we thought the week was underated at 1+ boot. 2 would have been more appropriate. Greg, the rep was very conscientious. The walking notes were good. The Hotel Garbi and The Castle were extremely comfortable and helpful. The Hotel Rosa in Begur was extremely friendly and welcoming. However the room was very small and the air conditioning not able to cope with the ambient temperature. Not comfortable. But overall a good holiday.. very interesting hilltop villages.

Mrs Oliver, 2 Jul 2019

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Great route, interesting sites and beautiful sceneryi

Mr Mcnaughton, 4 Jun 2019

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A truly fantastic holiday. The distances walked were slightly longer than those documented but it was well worth the effort.

The food and wine for the whole week were excellent and the castle was the highlight from an accommodation perspective.

I would thoroughly recommend this trip. Greg, the local rep was very helpful and very helpful when one of our party was ill.

Miss Crocker, 19 May 2019

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Having undertaken guided walking holidays we wanted to try a self-guided trip which would enable us to set off, stop and finish when we wanted (later start, more and longer stops) and this was perfect. We did three days walking with a day of rest between each walk (altho' ample instructions for further walks were provided). Our luggage was transported seamlessly from one hotel to the next and the hotels were first class both in situation and service (the food was excellent). In addition we tacked several days onto our trip to make a short city break and all arrangements for travel and accommodation were dealt with seemingly effortlessly providing us with a superb holiday experience.

Mr West, 30 Sep 2018

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Great walking in a lovely area. Accommodation excellent; allowing us to relax in comfort after a long day's walking. The Headwater team are excellent; everything (all booking arrangements, support from local guide) ran perfectly smoothly.

Mr Spruce, 24 Jul 2018

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Another enjoyable holiday and we are keen to do more.

Mr Thompson Ashby, 2 Jun 2018

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For the money, the holiday could have been longer. 3 hotels of which only 2 provided evening meals. In previous years we have had 4 hotels and an additional days walking. Route notes very good and local information.

Mrs Strong, 7 May 2018

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Walking along the coast is lovely, interesting old towns inland. The standard of hotels was mixed.

Mr Broster, 12 Oct 2017

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Our holiday was good fun, route notes were excellent (we didn't need the area maps at all) and the food and wine in Catalan was fantastic and affordable. Our rep Greg was helpful, practical and caring. One of our group couldn't do the walking due to a hip injury and Greg went out of his way to ensure she was able to get from A to B on our hotel to hotel walking holiday. The hotel staff were super helpful and couldn't do enough. This is our fourth trip with Headwater and we'll be looking again for next year.

Mrs Grisley, 8 Oct 2017

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We really enjoyed our trip to northern Spain. All travel arrangements worked well and we were very impressed by Greg, our rep, who met us at the station and couldn't have been more helpful or welcoming. All our hotels were clean and comfortable but the Castell d'Emporda stood out. Beautifully situated on a hill overlooking a patchwork of fields, it's a modern hotel (our room had one glass picture wall with wonderful views) situated in an old castle. The restaurant is relaxed and breezy and the breakfast buffet was truly awe-inspiring. All the walks worked well, although we would have appreciated a bit more shade on the hottest days! We're looking forward to our next Headwater adventure!



Mr Spackman, 30 Jul 2017

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Perfect for a relaxed walking holiday. Routes took us through lovely and contrasting scenery in a part of Spain that we would probably never have thought to visit. So glad to have discovered it.

Mrs Morrison, 4 Jun 2017

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Very good, well signposted walking routes in a beautiful area of Spain.

Mrs Mcsweeney, 4 Jun 2017

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Very nice and interesting to discover this part of Spain - nature, history, quiet beaches.

Mr Van Beuningen, 19 May 2017

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A magnificent holiday, well organised and all Headwater staff were extremely helpful. The hotels were very comfortable and the food (my God the food!) was astonishingly good. A holiday where we ate as much as we liked and still lost weight! Even though our holiday was rated as easy the walks are challenging and we very very glad of our equipment and a walking pole each although my wife was not keen on the way I whirled around near her head at times. The trees, flowers and bird life were at their very best in May. Nightingales, Cuckoos, Cirl Buntings, Bee Eaters, Hoopoes, Serins, Crested Larks... bring your binoculars. If I were to be picky then on the day 2 walk to La Bisbal we took the longer route (our default decision) which added an extra mile or two through similar countrisde and could have been omitted giving longer at the very pretty last 2-3 miles through villages and farmland. The circular walk (a) on day 3 was lovely, Monells a good place for a coffee and very cheap (coffee, tea and ham baguette for under €5). Day four's walk was great to Pals, villages en route very attractive. We then trekked up the rock path to the observation point at Quermany Gros which turned out to be rather lower in elevation than the castle at Begur and possibly my wife would have said ' I hate you' a bit less often if we'd taken the low road. The kilometre climb up soft sand dunes after this meant we crawled into Begur slightly delerious. Fortunately the Hotel Rosa, though not as luxurious as the others has the most superb restaurant, the owner is the chef. We ate enough to compared with that Vicar of Dibley episode in which Geraldine has to eat 3 Christmas Dinners. Day five's walk was lovely. Day six we actually got lost twice (our fault) due to failure to follow instructions which were uniformly excellent. From Sa Tuna we rebelled and followed the coast path GR92 but I'm not convinced it was 'better'.

Our only slight grumble was that we would have missed the train connection from Barcelona Sants to Flaca even if our Ryan Air flight hadn't been delayed by 20 minutes. We sprinted through immigration and got the train from T2 but they only run every 30 minutes and we missed our connection by 15 minutes. The station ticket office man couldn't have been more helpful but intransigently refused to honour our pre-booked ticket meaning we had to fork out an extra €19 for 2 singles. Can we claim this back?

Mr Evans, 9 May 2017

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The walking tour was a great way to really explore the countryside. It was comforting to know there was someone there if we got terribly lost or hurt.

Mr Chandler, 11 Apr 2017

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The notes were very detailed,accurate and all the paths well-marked locally; that made for a very relaxing walking experience. The hotels, whether grand or more humble, exceded our expectations; The Castell d'Emporda was a stunning place to spend our rest day, the food and friendliness at Hotel Rosa was great.

Mr Till, 16 Oct 2016

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Excellent holiday with varied scenery. The 1+ rating is about right. The walks are too long for a 1, but the terrain is not difficult.The timing of the arrival of the plane into Barcelona gave insufficient time to make the scheduled train so we had to wait an hour for the next one.

Mr Ward, 26 Sep 2016

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A beautiful area of Spain particularly the coastline with some wonderful accessible walks . Longer walks can be challenging on the warmer days !

Mr Tait, 30 Aug 2016

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A very well considered walking route with accurate and detailed route notes which helped to make the holiday very enjoyable. We opted to stay an extra night in one of the suggested hotels which worked out very well. We liked the independence and choice of pace the holiday presented even though we had the full back up of Headwater representatives there if we had needed them. The rating of 1 boot + for the Catalan Classic tour was appropriate as was the 'at a glance' write up in the brochure. Overall this walk/holiday fulfilled our expectations and introduced us to a lovely part of Spain.

Mrs Chapman, 18 Jun 2016

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Outstanding food in lovely hotels. Top class local support, advice and guidance. Stunning walks through fascinating medieval villages, shady forests and patchwork quilts of colourful fields.

Mr Kaye, 8 May 2016

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A pretty perfect holiday. Headwater were very well organised and my reps, Brian and Olivia, were totally fantastic - helpful, very efficient and totally reliable. I was walking on my own and they texted me to ensure I had reached my destinations safely. The walks were wonderful and the instructions very clear. Everywhere I turned there was a picture postcard view. This is a wonderful area of Spain to visit - I did the Catalan Classic Walking holiday and walked every day, even though I didn't have to but there was so much I wanted to see. Wonderful that there was always hot water for a good soak in the bath when I got back to my hotel. I didn't want to come home although, to be honest I couldn't have kept up the walking for many more days.

Ms Burrluck, 1 May 2016

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An excellent walking holiday with a well chosen itinerary and beautiful scenery. Standards of food and accommodation were very high. We all had a great time.

Mrs Steen, 29 Apr 2016

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We enjoyed this holiday enormously although we spent quite a bit more than 5 hours on the walks between hotels so we didn't take the recommended walks on the days in between. The first walk is the hardest.

Mrs Ritchie, 9 Apr 2016

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The holiday was disappointing. Onward travel from Barcelona airport was so awful the thought of having to make the return journey hung over the rest of the period, such that I changed my flight and went home a day early, using bus rather than train. If you use Passeig de Graca station you need to supply the timetable - there is no way of identifying if you are catching the right train (and there's a train every 2 minutes) and it is an awful place to wait.

Pro Davies, 28 Sep 2015

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Great fun. Our reps were extremely helpful. We will definitely do another walking holiday.

Mrs Satterthwaite, 23 Sep 2015

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Really enjoyable week with everything thought of and attention to detail. Excellent route notes.

Mrs Johnson, 14 Sep 2015

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The representatives Katie and Jim made the holiday truly wonderful. They were extremely helpful with nothing too much trouble.

Mr Sadler, 10 Sep 2015

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This was our first Headwater walking holiday, and it has definitely lived up to our expectations. We thoroughly enjoyed the mixture of walks, as well as the cuisine and rest day activities. Jim and Katie are excellent reps, and definitely contributed to our memorable experience. Many thanks!

Mis Smith, 6 Sep 2015

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I joined this vacation basically to walk through some lovely countryside and to see a lot of historic buildings in Spain. That was pretty much what I got. But in addition very enjoyable stays at the hotels where the staff all spoke great English and were really helpful. The guides made some very useful suggestions that saw me undertake day 2 hikes on day 1 and 2 . Good advice for the middle of summer and it enabled me to get back in time about 3.30 to enjoy the wonderful situation of Castell de Emporda. The Coastal phase was beautiful and after the completion of the hike and I stayed a few more days at Begur.

Mr Russell, 3 Aug 2015

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A good mix of scenic, coastal, country and historic town locations for both walking and overnight stays. Introduced us to a lesser known area of Spain. While most of the walking had excellent scenery and moderate challenges, some sections were slightly tedious on tracks/roads rather than paths. However these were marked walking routes on the published maps, and it is difficult to see what alternatives were viable to get you to the next place of interest. No gain without pain! Walking instructions were excellent throughout.

Mr Collins, 16 Jun 2015

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First time and we loved it.

Mr Jackson, 9 May 2015

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On our holiday we found the attention to detail and the help from the reps was outstanding. The detailed route notes in particular were very helpful and made the walking a pleasure. We will definitely travel with Headwater again.

Mr Beal, 8 Apr 2015

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We had a wonderful holiday. The walking was a dream and took us to so many beautiful places we had never heard of. Two of the hotels were a bit basic for accommodation and we would have liked to have the option at Hotel Rosa to upgrade to a suite if we had known. Garbi first day the room was basic but on the last night we had a great room, much larger and with a view. Will be back....



Ms Morgan, 20 Sep 2014

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An interestingly varied holiday with wooded hills, inland country and scenic coastal walking, giving a good taste of the area. We particularly enjoyed walking via some of the beautiful mediaeval villages included in the route of the second walk. Also, we really appreciated having route notes for some suggested 'rest-day' walks, especially as this holiday is relatively short. The three hotels were also quite different and all had a charm of their own - we thoroughly enjoyed each one. This holiday would suit those looking for variety and a balance between activity and rest. The walks were well constructed, with some challenging sections, but not too exhausting, so there is a sense of achievement at the end of the day and tired legs are soon revived by a gentle swim and a good dinner! Thank you, Headwater, for a great holiday and we hope to be back for another one.

Mrs Holmes, 16 Sep 2014

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Interesting and varied walking through delightful countryside with visits to and refreshment stops in beautifully preserved historic villages. Each day culminated in a stay in excellent accommodation, the highlight of which was the 3 nights we spent at Castell d`Emporda.

Mr Banham, 8 Sep 2014

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See comments on rail travel, and specifically Headwater's absence of advice. Naturally people from the UK expect a similar experience to using the rail at home, and while this assumption would be valid for rail travel in France, Germany, NL etc, Spain was very different.

Mr Bird, 12 Jul 2014

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We really enjoyed this holiday. Moving from hotel to hotel provides much variety. There was a real problem getting drinks especially at the castle hotel. A welcome drink immediately on arrival at the hotel should be offered especially as people are very tired and thirsty after a long walk in the heat.

Also the communication at the Castle Hotel needs to be improved, e.g. no one told us where to go for dinner when it was not outside as on the first evening.

However, we really enjoyed the holiday in spite of these little things.

Mrs Wakefield, 2 Jul 2014

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Enjoyable. In the inland parts the villages were lovely with less interesting walking, but the coastal walking was great.

Mr Mcleod, 12 Jun 2014

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Great walks. Plenty to see and do. Vegetarians beware.

Mr Gower, 1 Jun 2014

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We really enjoyed our Headwater walking in the Catalan region. The walking was a great combination of inland and coastal routes. The mediaeval villages were lovely and at this time of the year not overcrowded.

One or two of the walks had some challenging sections, particularly the suggested more interesting route to Begur on Day 4. We are older walkers and although experienced and fit we thought that the long relentless climb should come with a little more warning of the steepness. The weather was perfect for us but on very hot days this section of the route would be very demanding.

Otherwise the descriptions of the walks and the routes themselves were helpfully detailed and informative.

Mrs Price, 17 May 2014

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We enjoyed the holiday but did find some of the walks challenging. The accommodation was good but the quality of the food at the Hotel Rosa was outstanding.

Mr Thompson, 13 May 2014

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First try at a walking holiday and enjoyed it thoroughly. Would certainly recommend it.

Mr Robertson, 12 May 2014

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A wonderful mixture of healthy exercise,beautiful scenery, fantastic food and friendly people.

Mr Flanagan, 27 Apr 2014

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The holiday overall exceeded our expectations. The Hotel Castell d'Emporda in particular is in a stunning location with exceptional service and quality. The food at the Hotel Rosa was excellent. The walking instructions were exemplary and Alan and Linda could not have been more helpful.

Mr Goodall, 4 Sep 2013

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The holiday was exactly as described. The route note were absolutely perfect, we did not go wrong on the wrong route once

Mr Archer, 6 Jul 2013

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I really enjoyed the holiday. The local rep was excellent as were his directions. He'd obviously put a lot of work into them. The walks were very enjoyable and varied. The Castle Emporda which was the highlight. The hotel in Begur was OK but the location in the town centre was great and the restaurant of higher quality.





Mrs McLaughlin, 30 Jun 2013

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good experience well supported both by headoffice and at the resort. hotels were well chosen for quality of room and food. walking varied and interesting and routes accurate. let down by one hotel on one night which we will take up with the customer service team.

Mr Lindley, 28 Jun 2013

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The holiday was excellent. We were fortunate with the weather and the walks were good. It is a simple task to calculate the costs of the basics in the holiday particully hotel prices. We are therefore paying a significant premium for the convenience and support of having a local guide & his imput into the walk instructions.. What you charge is of course up to you and many will no doubt be happy to pay this premium for the reassurance it provides but we would not regard it as value for money

Mr Bostock- Smith, 2 Jun 2013

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The holiday was a chance to explore a region in depth and to do walks into deep countryside, which we could never have done without your detailed route notes. Lovely scenery, flowers, butterflies and birds. Some of the walks seemed quite long! - but worth the effort.

Mrs Whybrow, 19 May 2013

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Whilst we have had the most brilliant holiday as it was an old school reunion, considering the time in advance it was booked it seemed that the cost did not really reflect our expectation. We paid well over £1000 for a four night trip that did not seem very well tailored to our needs mostly in terms of transfer arrangements. We felt that for a group our size there could have been better transfer arrangements. The walking was very well organised and well marked and our guide whilst he clearly was not used to such a large group of opinionated women (!) he ensured that our needs were met.

Mrs Hilditch, 16 May 2013

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My sister and I were looking for a walking holiday which neither of us had done before.

This was one of the best holidays I have ever had. The superb organisation from start to finish resulted in an almost totally stress free time.

The walks were very thoughtfully planned , varied and a total delight. The scenery and views were spectacular. The area is unspoilt and full of history. The hotels and food were a real pleasure.

The local knowledge meant that every aspect of the holiday was chosen carefully to maximise enjoyment.

You just couldn't do this yourself.

Grilled rep on way back about which holiday to do next.

I would highly recommend this trip

Marie Hand

Dr Hand, 13 May 2013

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A very relaxing holiday in superb locations with varied walks & interesting local historical interest. Away from the usual tourist spots. Manageable walking for those not used to walking great distances & very helpful & knowledgeable local rep.

Mrs Tromans, 5 May 2013

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A fantastic holiday. Alans notes made the self guiding really easy. There was a lovely mix of different types of walks i.e. woodland, coastal, villages. Alan did his very best to plan the walks away from any main roads en route so we had a lovely, safe views and vistas. The Castella D'Emporada was one of the nicest hotels that we have stayed in, in the world. The food in both hotels was excellent. The bags arrived before us, as if by magic at each hotel. This is a beautiful area.

Mrs Winward, 21 Apr 2013

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This was a most beautiful part of Spain and completely unexpected. As we were the first guests of the season our hotels and destinations were not at all crowded. People had time to stop and chat. The weather for walking was perfect at this time of year.

Although this was a 'soft' holiday, we found some of the walks quite challenging either in length (Castell d'Emporda to Begur) or difficulty (Cami de Ronda between Begur and Lafranc), but we took our time and shortened walks by taking the odd taxi (phone numbers thoughtfully provided by Alan). We have had many wonderful holidays over he years, both in Europe and elsewhere, but have never been so reluctant to leave an area.

Mrs Scott, 13 Apr 2013