Christmas in Montauban and the Lot Valley Tour

My ranking for train is based on the coach ride from Paris to Montauban which was difficult for many passengers and also meant a long period without a real meal. I appreciate that this was due to a French rail strike. No real issue with the hotel other than the lack of porterage on arrival and departure plus the main lift seemed to be out of order for most of our stay. The brochure for this trip should really explain the nature of the visits more clearly as the villages and Cordes required some steep climbs which were beyond some of the group. Ramblers Holidays have a difficulty guide as a pre warning.

Striking French Trains resulted in very long coach journey, but hey, we arrived! Tour manager Gerard coped very well with this and an accident to one of the group. The Local guide in Toulouse was very wordy, and we walked a lot for not much to see; it would have been very useful to have been given a little map of the free bus that circles the town. Almost all the museums were shut, the one open one was on the other side of the river, but the city bus went near it. We were not there long enough to master the Metro..The hotel was very quiet and near the centre of town as well, a perfect combination. It also offered the best buffet breakfast I've ever had. I loved the hill villages but did wonder how we would have managed if it had been wet or icy (the weather was very good for us) All in all a wonderful trip.

I congratulate Travel Editions for dealing with the debacle/delay due to the flooding of the Eurostar tunnel so well. Yes, we were held up 24 hours but your representative handled our return and made so many arrangements without fuss. Well done!

Overall the Christmas trip to Montauban and the Lot Valley was a success, the only let down being the included evening celebration Christmas Dinners in the Hotel which were of a poor standard . Beside the inconvenience caused by the adjacent building works and restoration of the Historic town bridge The Hotel Abbaye des Capucins otherwise was pleasant and the rooms were clean spacious and comfortable. The excursions were generally enjoyable made all the better by favourable December weather. The coaches were in most cases comfortable, the driver safe and friendly. The downside to the trips was that many of the villages although picturesque were closed up for the festive period and even the simplest of amenities such as a coffee/tea shop (notably Lauzerte) were not always available. The tours of Albi and Toulouse were splendid. It was unfortunate that flooding caused the cancellation of the Eurostar portion of our return trip, but we were most impressed by how Travel Editions efficiently and professionally handled the problem, arranging overnight accommodation and revised travel arrangements back to St. Pancras.

Tour Manager Gerard was very good. Very knowledgeable and helpful.

There were a couple of problems with the electricity at the Hotel which I did report, but not taken seriously...the end result was a power cut on one evening. I think more experienced reception staff could have solved the problem immediately.

I only list the train as satisfactory because our train from Gare Montparnasse to Montauban was cancelled and replaced with a coach. The journey was fine, very good driver and we arrived safely at 1 am. The tour manager was excellent, very knowledgeable and very helpful.

The rating for flight/train/ferry is affected by the cancellation of the TGV on the final leg of the outward journey on 23 December. The ratings for accommodation and tours will be explained in detail in further comments to follow by email in the next few days.

As ever we enjoyed our Christmas break, the long coach trip due to the train strike was not something we would have chosen, but it happened, we cannot be the only people inconvenienced by strikes. The hotel was lovely, as art lovers it was nice to find the public areas decorated with photography, sculpture and paintings and the monastery had some of the most quirky and, stylish furniture. Our room was very nice with an extremely comfortable bed and a modern bathroom. The only shortcoming was a rather small wardrobe, that was not really spacious enough to accommodate two people's clothes and we do not travel with vast suites of luggage. Gerard is an excellent guide, always keeping the group informed, sharing his love of history and art. He was our guide in Delft a few years ago, so it was very nice to discover that he would be taking care of us again. I think the fact that you have categorised the Montauban holiday as requiring good mobility if that is the right word is a good thing. Some of the hilltop villages required not only a good pair of legs, but a good pair of lungs. We panted our way onwards and upwards, stopping here and there to wonder how we were managing it, but it was great when we got down again to realise that we two 81 year olds had done it. Another very enjoyable Christmas holiday with you. Thank you