European Autumn 2011

Dear Walkabout Walkers and Friends,

With Christmas and 2012 fast approaching it is definitely time to say hello again and update you all on what has been happening at Walkabout Gourmet Adventures lately.

We have just completed our Grampians and Great Ocean Road Walking Holiday in Victoria. As you may remember The Grampians National Park was devastated earlier in the year by massive floods and rock slides  and most of the walking tracks which we use had been closed until very recently.

Fortunately they were all reopened 1 week before our tour began and so we were able to enjoy all our favourite walks again. The Spring wildflowers through the Grampians and along the coast were superb this year.

Despite the uncertain World economic climate we had a good European season overall. Most of our tours were well booked and we enjoyed one of the most beautiful Autumns we could remember - mid 20’s in Provence right through until the end of October! Summer was quite mild too so we weren’t inconvenienced with sweltering hot days while walking.

Now it’s time to let our boots have an airing and catch up on all that office work which has been patiently waiting for us!

Every year we always have good intentions to try and send you all a newsletter - some snippets of the latest tours we have been on and what’s in the “pipeline”  with new tours and ideas - let’s hope that this can be a more regular occurrence next year!

We hope you all enjoyed reading our new 2012 brochure and you have highlighted some holidays which you would like to join us on.

Spain and Portugal in Spring continue to be very popular destinations - our Journey Back in Time Walk in April/May still has some vacancies. This is a beautiful time of the year to discover a dreamy sense of life often long since disappeared elsewhere in Europe.

The Magic of Ancient Italy  is another walk which deserves more attention. It is one of our longer walks, 19 days, and includes some of those lesser known “secret gems” like Mont Sibillini National Park, Gargano Peninsular and one of Italy’s most important nature reserves; the Abruzzo Mountains.

Similarly our Sea to the Summits Walk which travels through France and into Switzerland offers an in-depth insight into Dordogne, Burgundy, Chamonix/ Mont Blanc and the Swiss Alps. We begin beside the seaside in the old worldly resort of Biarritz on the Atlantic Ocean and finish “on top” of Switzerland at Grindelwald - a fascinating journey through some of the most beautiful regions of Europe.

Our new “slow walk”, On the Snail Trail, was a great success this year (see all the pictures in our new photo gallery) and it will operate again in early June - a perfect time to explore these three wonderful regions of France; Gascony, Cevennes and Provence - at a slower pace!

Don’t forget about our apartments in Provence - they are a lovely way to get a feel for the relaxed “Provençal Way of Life” and renting one of our apartments is a great thing to do before or after joining us on one of our  European Walking Holidays.

Well hopefully this has "whet your appetite" again!

If you need more information about any of our walking holidays, just send us an email and we can forward you our detailed pre departure notes.

Similarly we are happy to give you a call if you would like to have a chat about any of our walks or our apartments in Provence.

Hope to see you on a holiday soon.

Best wishes,

Graeme & Gabriela Clarke

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