Chateaux Of The Loire Walk

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The Loire Valley is an historically fascinating place. As others have said, I think a two day stay in Blois is merited. One day for a leisurely visit to Chambord and another day for exploring Blois and its very interesting chateau/ castle. The Hotel Monarche is a disappointing start to the holiday. I think alternative accommodation should be chosen.

The rest of the accommodation was good particularly the Hotel au Charme in Amboise. However, it only does breakfast and the dinner at the adjoining Hotel . Le Clos was uninspiring. We did however come across a real gem of a restaurant by the name of Les Arpents. Incredible food. Apparently, it is full almost every night of the year so it is necessary to book.



We visited six chateaux and found them all really interesting especially Le Clos de Luce in Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. Some of his inventions are recreated.



All in all a very good holiday accompanied by undiluted sunshine except for one morning.

Janet Hewson, 27 Sep 2023

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This was our first "organised" holiday and so a new experience for us. The organisation was excellent, including travel bookings, taxis from hotels to start of walks, and luggage transfer. The hotels were superb, all with character and very "French" (family-owned, no chains). The walk directions were clear and accurate, as were the maps, and the availablity of GPX files was very helpful. The staff at Headwater were very helpful and efficient, and replied to emails and phone-calls very quickly. I would certainly book a walking holiday through Headwater again.

Mrs Weir, 12 Sep 2022

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It would have been useful to review the walking notes prior to booking as our first day fell on a Sunday when places were closed, it also meant other things on consecutive days were closed on the days that we were visiting so we could have altered our day of arrival to make the most of our time in the area. Would have requested an upgrade on the first hotel had we known how basic and small the room was, would also have liked the opportunity to explore Blois and its chateau but we were shipped out at 9am the day after arrival. If we'd read the notes we could have requested an extra night in Blois. There was nothing in Chitenay other than the hotel, the days we stayed it was a fixed dinner menu so the only choice was between dessert or cheese - no option on starter or main course. We didn't enjoy the dinners here, but our taxi driver had said it had a very good restaurant - it was a shame we couldn't choose from the main menu on the days we were there. Very helpful local staff at Rando

Ms Hutchings, 3 Sep 2022

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Great places and scenery, pleasant walks, very nice accommodation (except in Blois), delicious food and good fun altogether. Some fine tuning and adjustments in logistics would improve the overall exprience of otherwise great holiday!

Dr Kokai, 8 Aug 2022

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The holiday worked well and the routes well planned. However the area is very flat and there was a lot of road or cycle path walking. This region is well suited for cycling but would not recommend for walking. The first walk was particularly long and we had temperatures of above 35 degrees on roads that were reflecting up the heat and little shade. At one point we did not think we would be able to complete the walk because of heat exhaustion. We had run out of water and there was nowhere to get refreshments. I knocked on a door and fortunately a very kind French lady refilled our water bottles. The second and last hotels were exceptional.

Mrs HOSKINS, 16 Jun 2022

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Very good except for length of walks! But we managed this after first day by getting taxi to drop us into the route a few kilometres.

Mrs French, 5 May 2022