Away from the Crowds

Reviews

Altogether, great great journey

Altogether, great great journey, very well organized, no major problems, thank you very much.

Some specific comments:

-bikes were OK, we were a bit worried because of the hills but it turned out that the hills are not too steep for a trekking bike. No technical problems with the bikes.

-In general, all hotels were excellently located really close to the towns’ highlights.

Alison Coult, UK

a memorable experience

Firstly many thanks for organising our recent holiday on the Camino Frances.

We both had a memorable experience and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The organisation was fantastic, from the taxi pick up in Pamplona to the final days in Santiago and in between the hotels/accommodation were excellent, we were well looked after and enjoyed the friendships that we struct up along the Camino. The scenery along the way was quite outstanding and so diverse, it certainly gave us an insight into your culture and traditions. We will have no hesitation in recommending your company to friends who enquire about our experience.

Kind regards,

Trish and Dave Moffatt, Australia

The accommodation you booked for us, and the food offered was perfect for the type of holiday we were on

Hi Vanesa, I must say we all had a lovely Camino cycling experience. The accommodation you booked for us, and the food offered was perfect for the type of holiday we were on and I couldn’t fault the welcome we received from all your local partners. The baggage transfers all went according to plan too without a single hitch. Bearing in mind you had taken separate bookings for 14 of us your logistics worked perfectly and having our bags collected at 08.00 each morning was perfect as it got us all out of bed and out during the best part of the day when it wasn’t too hot (or too cold) for cycling.

I understand it was the 1st time you have supplied e-bikes for this tour and had it not been for the new white e-bikes having a few problems along the way and some brake issues they were fine. By the end of the trip at least 2 bikes had no rear brake pads left and one had to be changed along the way because they were worn out. The cantilever brakes on the manual bike I was riding were good all the way through the Camino. It may therefore be worth considering making it your policy to fit new disk brake pads on e-bikes that are intended for the whole Camino.

With regard to the route we found it delightful throughout other than for 2 days. The route chosen from Santo Domingo to Burgos had 2 bits in it that, in my opinion were only suitable for mountain bikes. There are sections where the bikes had to be pushed if not carried and as the e-bikes are particularly heavy more muscle than the average rider has was required. Had this day been wet I believe we would have had significant problems.

From Leon to Astorga the route follows a main road which is not pleasant to cycle along. We decided to come off the route half way to Astorga which gave us a real treat through the countryside on a mainly gravel road. One of the problems is that the motorway, which was designed to take all the heavy traffic, is a toll road and, as we all now know, the Spanish don’t like to use them.

All in all we loved cycling the Camino and thank you so much for your part in making it both possible and enjoyable.

We have many photos which I’m sure the takers would be happy for you to use on social media and many lovely memories getting our passport stamped and of course all picking up our Camino certificate at the end.

Thank you

Richard Mander, UK

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