Vineyards of Vaucluse Cycling

Mrs Everitt, 11/10/2018

The excellent weather ensured that our holiday was most enjoyable. The GPS routes were generally appropriate for the level of holiday and for our electric bikes but short stretches were very challenging gradients and one route in particular was impossible to negotiate on electric bikes due to gravel, stones and boulders. There were also a few inaccuracies. The accommodation was all generally good as were the dining arrangements. Overall we would recommend this holiday; the area is beautiful and interesting and the route is varied and well thought out.

Dr Brech, 09/10/2018

This was an excellent holiday through lovely countryside. The route was hillier than we had expected for a 1+ bike rating but the day mileages were short so it evened out. For those of us aged over 70 and with a temperature of 33C, the climb out of Caromb on Day 4 was indeed memorable! But there were some lovely long descents to compensate.

We had no problems finding coffee and lunch stops as there were lots of bars and cafes en route, even on Sundays and Mondays.

Accommodation was mixed, as always with Headwater, but every hotel had its excellent upsides.

We spent two extra days in Vaison and took the bus into Orange on one of them to see the splendid Roman theatre there. 10:03 from the top of the road beyond Tourist Info, the journey takes an hour and there are buses back at 16:15, 17:15 and 18:15.

Dr Atkinson, 02/10/2018

Wonderful holiday in a beautiful region with an excellent and charming rep. Marred by the anxiety for me (Jane) over the working of the new app, battery running out before reaching the destination and the lack of good and accurate back up directions. The apps need a bit of tweaking but will be good. Attachment to bikes need to be stronger and visible in strong sunlight.

Mrs Wilkie, 18/09/2018

French showers were hand held and in bath and not very good. The towels provided were all of very poor quality. This was the same in all our hotels, therefore it must not be high priority to French citizens. Otherwise hotel standards were excellent. Sadly age was against us in relation to the use of Ride with GPS. Of the four of us, one had a garmin which did not give him satisfactory results, one had nothing, I had a smart phone which seemed to have a will of it's own as far as working was concerned. Very occasionally it was excellent and made all the difference to the quality of my ride, Sometimes it started off OK and then became silent, usually it was hopeless and I finished by not using it at all. BUT, I am not good with modern technology and may have to take at least some of the blame for this. Our fourth member could usually, but not always, get the verbal instructions, so we mainly followed her. When she failed us we found the written text not entirely accurate. Our grandchildren would have managed without question, but at our age it was a challenge that at times threatened our enjoyment. Certainly when it worked it was wonderful, but that made it all the more annoying the rest of the time.

Mr Katesmark, 12/09/2018

An excellent and varied exploration of the Vaucluse region of Provence, with opportunites to visit ancient Roman ruins, mediaeval villages and legendary Cotes-du-Rhone vineyards.

Mrs Mackenzie, 19/08/2018

Really enjoyed the holiday and out rep Mark was extremely pleasant and helpful. As we were 4 ladies we had requested twin rooms and this was confirmed by Headwater. However this was not the case in three of the hotels which provided double beds with single duvets. This was a 1+ cycle and we had elected for electric bikes which proved to be the right choice.

Mr Hughes, 25/05/2018

A good concept for a cycling holiday and overall, a lovely and enjoyable time. Fabulous scenery and well selected routes to follow.

Mr Cross, 24/06/2017

Despite being of the same modest grading as our two previous HW cycling holidays, this was significantly harder, because of the heat (over 34 degrees) and some long uphill stretches, especially on the Lafare-Vaison day. However, it was worth it for the lovely scenery, the downhill bits, and the hotels, two of which had lovely pools, and some excellent food, especially at Hotel Montmirail (if only it had air-con as well!) and at La Dame d'Oie at Pernes. Plenty of opportunities to sample the Provence Rose, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise and Gigondas wines. The archaeological sites and mediaeval town at Vaison la Romaine are well worth the 'rest' day.

Dr Garton, 21/10/2016

Takes you on new journeys

Mrs Huddart, 28/09/2016

Hilltop villages of Provence

This was an excellent holiday, lovely scenery and good hotels and we had a lot of fun. Days 1 and 3 are quite challenging and justify the 2 bike plus rating but the other days are not overly taxing, and there is no shame in pushing your bike up the hill into Gordes! If you start the cycling bit of this holiday on a Sunday there is an excellent market in Isles sur la Sorgue where you can get picnic supplies...although pushing the bike through the packed town was a bit challenging.(I would give this holiday 5 stars)



Vineyards of the Vaucluse

Pleasant cycling through some enjoyable countryside, and lots of good wine! Le Grand Jardin is one of the loveliest places we have stayed. The food at Castel Mireio was delicious and the service (unlike a previous reviewer we didn't find it slow) and welcome very friendly. We are not quite sure it merits anything higher than a one bike rating - some of the distances for full days cycling were a bit short (but we had done 'Hilltop Villages of Provence' the week before so this may have coloured our view). It is not a very touristy area (apart from Vaison la Romain) so many places you visit are quite quiet.

(I would give this holiday 3 stars)

Mrs Little, 26/09/2016

A wonderful taste of Provencal scenery, wine and food!

Mr Cummings, 18/09/2016

This holiday is as described. Cycling more difficult at start but definitely got easier. The hotels tended to be on the edge of villages but this didn't matter too much as they had lovely swimming pools and the weather was very hot and sunny.

Mrs Ramsden, 10/06/2016

Superb cycling location with generally very quiet roads, beautiful countryside and pretty villages perched on hilltops. The reps were really helpful in every way and we enjoyed our time with them. Whilst staying at the Hermitage hotel we ate in the local town at the restaurant - Dame L'Oie which was superb. At Vaison la Romaine we ate at La Barantavelle which was a wonderful meal and far superior to the alternative restaurant in the Old Town. The most disappointing was Castel Mirei as although the owners were very helpful, both breakfasts and evening meals were very poor with extremely slow service and the room was very 'tired' with traffic noise from a side road interrupting any peace. There is however a decent sized pool and small cool sitting room with cold drinks to purchase which were very welcome.

The cycling instructions were generally easy to follow though we would welcome more distances being included between turning points and perhaps a small trip metre on the bike which we have had on other holidays with one of Headwater' s competitors.

Headwater response:
Dear Mrs Ramsden,
Thank you for taking the time to complete your post-holiday questionnaire. Please be assured, all of the feedback we receive is valued and used to help enhance our holidays for the future.
It sounds from your feedback that you had an enjoyable holiday and made the most of your time in this region. We were pleased to see you found the service provided by our reps useful and enjoyed spending your time with them.
We were however sorry to read of your disappointment with Castel Mirei, whilst we agree there are a number of great features to this accommodation, we have taken the decision to replace this hotel for the 2017 season.
We are also making some exciting changes to the way we produce our route notes.
Over the past couple of summers, we have received many requests to make the notes electronic and downloadable so customers can use them on their smart phone or tablet device. We are going to trial this in the cycling resorts that feature experienced Headwater reps, and for all of our new cycling holidays. Then once we gain feedback, we plan to roll this out to other resorts for future seasons.
We will, of course still provide hard copy notes for any customers that prefer this style and for our non-rep regions.
We hope you will agree, these changes will help to continue to enhance this holidays for the future.
In closing, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued loyalty, we look forward to welcoming you on another of our holidays in the future.
Kind regards,
Headwater Customer Service team

Mr Guthrie, 01/06/2016

Headwaters choice of hotels / restaurants resulted in us having some superb meals.