Christmas in Montauban and the Lot Valley Tour

Everything was perfect.

The old Capuchin monastery has two cloisters and the rooms are set overlooking them Very comfortable with large bathrooms. Christmas eve and Christmas day dinners were in the old chapel and 4 round tables of 9 accommodated the whole group.. The weather was warmer than anticipated and it only rained on the last day. The City of Montauban with its shops, bars and restaurants is only 400 metres from the hotel . Tours were excellent and many local cafes were open over Christmas. Gerard worked tirelessly and had to deal with a train strike in France resulting in the group travelling 600 kilometres in a coach booked for the station transfer in Paris.

The stay at the Abbaye des Capucins included a cold plate on arrival, Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day dinner. I found these meals very disappointing especially the Christmas Day dinner which I found unappetising in constituents, presentation and taste. A very poor meal indeed. The room for the group meals had no decorations at all and some of the waiting staff seemed quite miserable. Fortunately the breakfast was excellent. Our room (146) was comfortable but had no storage space other than a hanging unit with 7 hangers. This unit had one shelf above, housing the safe, and a higher shelf for stowing the hotel's bath robes and slippers. There was a small very narrow shelf against another wall used for the room's kettle, cups, glasses and a small number of tea bags and coffee sachets etc. This lack of storage was inadequate for a stay of 7 nights as I was unable to unpack our cases. Access to the hotel entrance was impeded by the adjacent building work. Building materials and rubble encroached on to the drive to the entrance which was uneven and unpleasant. The building site fencing encroached on to the footpath along the road leading to the the hotel driveway. This meant walking to the hotel from the coach was dangerous especially for those in the group who had the slightest mobility problem. Potentially this is a good hotel for a tour group and is well located for the excellent trips. However, some extensive negotiations are needed with the hotel management to address the points I've raised. Travel and transport have been marked accordingly because of the Eurostar problem on 30th December which caused disruption and delays. Gerard Venet dealt with the situation admirably and we were most grateful to him.

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.

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

1. Your deft re-arranging of our jinxed return journey was impressive and appreciated. Thank you. 2. The hotel was excellent but the group meals on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were poor and unimaginative, despite the local wine. 3. Our guide, Gerard Venet, was affable, genial and knowledgeable but a bit too vague for me on forward arrangements eg where to meet particularly after the train rides and sometimes on the tour days. 4. The tour took us to some charming and unusual villages , pretty, but often shut because it was Christmas week presumably. There’s nothing more dangerous that a group of older people who haven’t been able to find somewhere for lunch. 5. In my view after the Christmas weekend, days1,3, and 4 of the tour were great. The one that needs a rethink is to Lauzerte, Moissac and Auvillar, charming places but largely closed which makes for a rather long day (see point 4). 6. Day 3 to Albi again in my view could be improved by dropping the visit to Cordes-sur-Ciel and just concentrating on Albi which is fabulous. 7. Hope that helps. I did enjoy it.

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

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.