Macs Adventure

Hiking stages 1 & 2 of the Camino Le Puy, St. James de Compostelle was a wonderful and meaningful experience in many ways. I highly recommend this trip for its beauty and the spirit the Compostelle conveys.

The scenery was unfailingly beautiful and sometimes stunningly so. The scenery changed day by day: from the panoramic views on the plateaus above Le Puy, to the deep river valleys around Monistrol, to the pastoral meadows, pastures and forests going south from Saugues, to the stark Scottish-like moors of the Aubrac, to the wide expanses and unlimted views above the River Lot, to the final day climbing out of the foggy valley surounding lovely Espeyrac into bright sunshine above and making my final descent into Conques. This truly is a gorgeous area of France.

Walking through this part of France was, in a sense, walking back in time. The economy is almost entirely agrarian, now supplemented with tourism, and this region of the old Languedoc is definitely off the beaten track and very rural. Villages, towns, and hamlets appeared to have changed very little since their origins, some of which date back to medieval times. A particular favorite of mine was tiny Lajo. After a delicious dinner of traditional cuisine around a roaring fire, my walk around the dark village, surrounded only by fields and forests, gave me the distinct impression that I had left the 21st century far behind. Le Puy-en-Velay, St. Privat, Saugues, Aumont Aubrac, St, Chely, Saint Comte-d'Olt, Estaing, and certainly Conques all deserve to be points of destination onto themselves. And the list can easily go on.

The weather held nicely. It was a predictable mix of autumnal weather - steel gray skies, a fair share of bright sunshine, shafts of sunlight peeking through moody clouds illuminating far off fields, and mist and clouds sometimes in the highest elevations. Even the one day of morning rain added nicely to the variation. Fall is a good time to go.

The St. James Way in France follows the route of the GR 65 and is very well marked and signposted. Its hard to get lost. At first I used a map in conjunction with the white and red trail markers, but soon came to rely just on the signposting which often indicates the wrong way at turnings with a white and red X.

The food ranged from good to excellent and all accommodations were fine with me. All I really need is a clean and dry room and I was never disappointed. I enjoyed the home stay in Lajo and spending the night at the Couvent De Malet within view of the twisted church tower in Saint Comte. The small Hotel La Flore in Sauges was quite nice and I appreciated that Florence and Regis, our hosts, ate and talked with us just as the delightful Madame Soulier did the next night in Lajo. It was like being invited over for dinner with the family. All proprietors and staff were never less than friendly and polite.

A special shout out to Peter James, a transplanted Englishman, and his helper (Monsier Robert (?) in Monistol d'Allier. The plan was that I would call from St. Privat for a pick-up. Finding that my phone did not work and all immediate stores/gas stations were closed, I decided to walk the additional 5 or so kilometers. Arriving somewhat later than expected, I was admonished by Peter who had been out looking for me. However, it was evident his advice to get a working phone in case of emergency, though strongly put, was said out of genuine concern and not anger. I was then treated royally and like an old friend.

I met some very special people on the Way. If I enjoyed the solitude of the hike, I also came to value its spirit of friendship and camaraderie. There is a definite aura on the Way; hard to explain but there nevertheless. One of the guidebooks I read before leaving sagely predicted that regardless of motivation, walking on the St. James Way, no matter the distance, can't help but effect you in some manner. The book is right. I am already making plans to continue next year.

Do make a point of attending the Pilgrims Mass at the Cathedral Notre Dame Le Puy. Whether religious or not and, despite its early hour, the mass is a special occasion and holds a very memorable surprise.

Special thanks to all at Mac's Adventure and La Pelerine Travel, especially Mike Davidson who put things together so quickly and efficiently. Everything ran without a hitch. Thank you!

I can 100% recommend Macs for their excellent customer service. Very prompt replies to any emails, even a phone call to touch base .
The paperwork arrived early, maps and directions very comprehensive. The app with its download map and itinerary facility is excellent.

We had a last minute request and, once again, they came through for us - we had great fun, admittedly with help from the weather! The ‘Best of Hadrian’s Wall’ is exactly that. We learned so much about the history, we liked the Macs app for its ‘track your route’ ability, the guidebook was great, and we happened to meet up with its co-writer, Henry Stedman, who also wrote the great C2C guide that we used when we did that with Macs in 2015! We’d visited Tuscany, Provence, and Brittany just before we did this walk - but this was the most fun of the trip - make sure you have the cheese scones at the Errington Coffee House, don’t miss the video at Housesteads, the beer at the Twice-Brewed is great, and the accommodation Macs arranged was great.

I could say so much more... but for now will say the Coast-to-Coast was just an absolutely wonderful, truly memorable experience. I loved the variety of terrain (even weather!), scenery, occupation, accommodation, food. Pubs! Tea rooms! I booked as a single but knew I'd meet interesting lively people to hike with - and I did! The B&B hosts were so welcoming, just so nice. And I enjoyed so many three and five minute conversations with lovely engaging (and helpful!) locals. I'm pleased I was fit enough for the challenge too. I'm still dreaming I'm on the trail. And I'm definitely planning another hike next year... now to choose which Mac's Adventure it'll be...??

As previously mentioned we had a wonderful adventure celebrating our 50th year of friendship! We were 99% very happy and satisfied. As for the remaining 1%, there were just two issues.

First, when we arrived in Passau by rail and walked to our designated hotel, they had no record of our trip reservation. No vouchers, nothing! After an awkward 20 minutes, the manager finally called their sister hotel, the Hotel Passau Sud. That was where we were to go. So we took our luggage and hailed a taxi, which took us to the right place, much to our relief. Next, going to collect our bikes at the Globus Garage, we noted a lack of sufficient signage when we got near as we followed our included directions. We had to ask several people exactly where it was, and finally found it. My suggestion for the future would be to have all bikes already transported directly to the riders initial hotel, to save the hassle of trying to find out where the bikes are.

Secondly, the ferry on the south bank of the Danube in Inzell no longer runs, as was indicated in our provided map booklet! We looked all around, and rode a distance in each direction looking for the ferry. Finally, in Inzell itself, I found a man who spoke a little English, and he told me that the ferry had moved 3 km down river, so we took his advice and eventually found it opposite the north bank town of Grafenau. After that, all was well!

Lastly, I will be writing up an article (with photos) of our trip for my local newspaper, the Davis Enterprise. I will only stress the many good aspects of our adventure, and will naturally mention MacsAdventure as our excellent outfitter! If the article runs, I will send you a scanned copy for your company archives.

So thanks again, Andy, for a terrific vacation! Best wishes — John Karolewski

I loved every minute of the trip Macs planned for me. I will use Macs again for hiking trips, and highly recommend their service!????⛰????????????????????????????

AS a group we have used Macs Adventures man times in the last 16 years. We are always satisfied with the services that they offer us fro booking the trip to the information packets and the accommodations

Accommodations were great with the exception of our last night at the Flodigarry Hotel where we were put up in one of the cottages and not in the hotel. Transportation of luggage between sites was spot on, as well as transport to trailheads. We could have done without Day 4 hike which was mostly on the road. For future I would recommend finding an alternative hike on an actual trail vs on the road. Overall, very smooth operation. Would definitely use Mac's again!

We arranged our TMB hike with Jess Cohen of Macs Adventures more than 6 months before our September flight to France. All hotels exceeded our expectations and food was great. There was one snaffoo with forwarding our bags to our second hotel however the staff at both hotels coordinated their efforts and got us our bags just a few hours late. It was obvious that they did not want any unhappy Macs customers. Jess was always positive, helpful and professional. I plan to use Macs again and will recommend them to friends. Overall we had a spectacular trip and we thank Macs for helping us pull it off. PS. - We met other Macs customers along the way who were also pleased with your services.

Great holiday, super inns, one or two of the directions inaccurate but app really useful. Slightly pricey for the input.

We walked the West Highland Way in October 2019. Everything went extremely smoothly, all accommodation was excellent and luggage disappeared and reappeared as if by magic. They even arranged good weather!
I can highly recommend Macs Adventure's to anyone wanting a stress free adventure.

I will be be happy to use and recommend Macs Adventures in the future

Andy was slow or didn’t respond to his commitments. The auto rental companies requirements were extremely unfavorable. We ended up using Sixth got a much nicer car and a lesser price with better terms. The actual trip was good but your booking service was significantly below what we have experienced elsewhere.

Excellent reaction to any call or email and 42 days all went perfectly

We had an incredible experience and will be using Mac's Adventure to do a walk in Turkey next year. Our accommodations were well chosen and we had the support we felt like we needed. One issue we had was not getting enough calories at the refuge Bonatti in France and having to do a hard hike the next day.

Have used you twice previously and advised your staff not to use normal post to Australia. It was disappointing the two staff members did not listen and ignored emails. It was only when cara got involved that documents reached us. Also your route downloads did not include link for coastal walk to Loutro. Anke was very helpful and sent me a link the night before. This was fortunate as route more difficult than notes suggested.,she also contacted us to check progress.Hotel in Loutro was sub standard. Apart from this walk enjoyable,taxi drivers punctual accomodation good.

I wrote a two page letter to this effect, but to reiterate, 2 of the 7 accommodations were less than expected and the inability to receive a Compestela in the allotted time period in Santiago was disappointing. Clients need to be made aware of the difficulty of acquiring the certification upon completion of the Camino.

I have used Macs before for a trip in the UK and all went well. Unfortunately for this trip to Portugal the information on Macs webiste was incorrect. The ascent was described as 400m on the first walking day but was infact twice that. Everyone was very friendly when I contacted Macs but it took a lot of e-mails to sort out a resolution. It was all fine in the end but made the preparations a bit stressful.

Well organised trip however I found that once the booking had been secured, and I wanted to add a friend to join me, my questions remained unanswered, resulting in us both having 2 separate bookings, 2 extra solo traveller charges for baggage transfers and stays. I'm effect we could have saved the extra £300 this cost if they had been more flexible as we both ended up staying in the same hotels.

It was a perfect holiday - organisation was excellent; accommodation and food was very good; we met lots of wonderful people; visited Vienna, Passau, Bratislava and lots of beautiful villages and the cycling on the Danube was delightful.