A breath-taking week in the Tuscan mountains I attended a 'challenging week' this September, along with 13 other like-minded, energetic walkers! The walks, arguably the most important part of a walking trip, were very varied with some woodland, some high ridge ways, some scrambles etc, all of which were breath-taking. The days were fairly long - we were generally walking for 6-7 hours daily - but the variety and beauty of the scenery meant I was sad to end each day! The accommodation is fairly simple but the owners are extremely friendly (and very good cooks!). The company was also great; our group got on really well and I couldn't have asked for a more caring, knowledgeable, experienced guide.
The tour was enjoyable but it did feel rushed at times. I guess that is to be expected with how many countries we visited in a short time frame. I was very excited to re-visit Barcelona after 20 years and still absolutely love the city. I also thoroughly enjoyed Andorra and fell in love with that beautiful country and was so at peace when driving through the Pyrenees mountains. The hotels were much better than I had anticipated and I absolutely loved our coach and coach driver. My group was amazing and they made the trip even more magical. I did feel that there was an exorbitant amount of walking at times that makes experiencing these amazing places less enjoyable because nobody enjoys anything when they are exhausted especially during hot Summer months. I feel that Hop-on/Hop-off buses would have been a great excursion option because I feel they give you a great view of the city in a short period of time and give the opportunity to hop-off the bus when you want to explore a particular area more closely. Not everybody is interested in the same things. Some people hate being subjected to hearing about churches which are abundant in Europe. This is why I feel Hop-on/Hop-off buses would be a better option to add to the Expat experiences and they are relatively inexpensive in the majority of countries where they are offered...I took 3 of them in: London and Amsterdam (before the tour) and Rome (during the tour). All around, a very wonderful experience as a whole and I am looking into my next Expat adventure in the near future.
Overall, we had a great trip. It was our first trip with UTracks and I found the pre-trip support adequate to be very good. The instructions were good for the most part, but we were glad to have GPS backup for the times we went off course. The hotels were satisfactory to excellent. Prior to the trip I was walking 6+ miles a day or spending 45+ minutes @ gym on rower/biking and had no problems with the hikes but determined that I would not want them to be much more difficult. My husband had no need of hiking poles, but I did when going over rocky/uneven surfaces. We had no need for support in Italy.