Away from the Crowds

Reviews

I would highly recommend this holiday

Every bit of the holiday was fantastic from the moment we arrived at the airport till the moment we departed!

I would highly recommend this holiday to anyone as it was truly amazing.

Tom Cain, UK.

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks Tom!

Jaime, AFTC.

We loved the varied landscape

The Carrilet and Catalonia in general, is wonderful! We REALLY enjoyed the scenery, the Carrilet is amazing - what an easy ride! The little railway stations that are now cafes are great, and the small towns picturesque. The hotels were all fantastic, very different from each other and very well located for the ride. All the people we met along the way were helpful and friendly and complimented our Spanish! We loved the varied landscape, from the volcanoes to the sea - what a great contrast! The poppies were in full bloom and I have some great photos to send in for the contest!

Veronica Allan, Canada.

Thanks for your feedback Veronica. We know you had some issues with the accuracy of the roadbook and we actually reviewed the entire route from top to bottom after you pointed these out to us. We really appreciate your comments. Help for helping us improve!

Jaime, AFTC.

a joy to ride

Ivan, who brought our bikes and transferred our luggage, was excellent. He took care to fit our bikes to our requirements and brought us a brand-new odometer the second day, and set it up for us. The bikes were good quality and new. As for tyre levers, we know now that we should always check a tool kit before setting off!

As for the ride in general it is a wonderful route, a joy to ride as it is mostly straightforward and the scenery was lovely - although we had some rain, we were very lucky with the time of year. Wait till you see my poppy photos! The hotels and guest houses we stayed in were well-chosen for their location, had excellent food, and the people in all four were friendly and helpful. We would highly recommend this ride!

John Ward, Canada.

We really enjoyed our Spanish adventure.

We really enjoyed our Spanish adventure. The trip was good fun and we really loved the scenery and hospitability of the Catalan people along the way. The route was easy to follow and the Hotels were all of good standard.

We especially enjoyed our first 2 nights in the Natural Park, very peaceful indeed and our cycle to the volcano's was very interesting, the hills broke us in nicely before our pretty easy route for the week.

The pannier on the third day ripped but as soon as we reported it another one was waiting at our next Hotel, we were impressed with the service.

The only negative was the bikes tyre treads was very bare and it made braking on some surfaces difficult, new tyres would have made a big difference. This however did not spoil our holiday and we would consider booking next year on another route.

We are sorry to hear about the bare tyres! That's not good enough! We do take your safety very seriously and we did have to pull the bike rental company up on their checks to make sure this will not happen again.

Jaime, AFTC.

Going down hill to the sea made it easier

What we like on the trip was the well sign posted routes, the converted old railway stations into cafes or tourist offices. The route is great with protection from the sun with vegetation.

Going down hill to the sea made it easier we were not as fit as usual so just right. Everyone we met was helpful and the drivers are amazing after London, giving way to a cyclist is a shock and unheard of. It is like a war cycling here, so that is delightful.

Having cycle paths in the towns amazing. This really is something to be sold as a unique offering on these trips as so many English would cycle if they thought it was safer than here.

Seeing the lovely mix of ages on the bikes and in the cafes and restaurants is something we love about your country. Sun shone all week so we had the gods in our favour again.

We would recommend the trip, well organised and bikes were just right. I would have preferred not to have such large panniers or a front basket as not really needed on this route. May be one bike with this.

We did practise our Spanish and start class again this Saturday. Everyone very patient as we massacred your language. All the hotels had some facilities for bikes and were good about locking them away.

Can Jepet – good accommodation, very helpful and welcoming, had two meals there which were good. I delightful host, lovely setting.Hostal del Sol Sant Feliu – well located, helpful.

Hotel Costabella – Bit bland may be use a smaller more Spanish bed and breakfast. We wondered why these hotels do not use the local produce, for example Spanish jams and preserves instead of the packets. Fresh orange juice may be. Ricard was friendly and very accommodating. Bernard was as well but probably worried we would speak English and confuse him and ourselves! Our Spanish has improved so that makes the trip much easier.

So overall great trip, been on the Boris hire bikes this morning and it all comes back and we were in the sun again, pretending to be like Miguel Indurain! Thank you so much great time looking at what to do for next year.

Jane Hatherall, UK.

Thanks Jane.

Jaime, AFTC.

fantastic trip

We had a fantastic trip!!! It was really well organised and we really appreciate the flexibility putting together something tailored for us.

Anita Mustac, Australia

The ride was beautiful

We had a great trip. The ride was beautiful, the hotels were great and the logistics all went very smoothly. Gracias!

We chose this trip as we love biking and being outdoors and thought it was a great way to see more of the countryside up close and enjoy the towns along the way. I’ll certainly look at the Asturias trip and will send any good photos from the trip.Muchas gracias!

Jessica Cohen, USA

We look forward to hosting you back whenever it suits you!

Jaime, AFTC.

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