Bravo Anselm & Jeane! Great idea to close with that last photo. I salute your stamina and am glad that you were both able to follow through to the conclusion. We too were looking into both areas.
The Spanish and French Pyrenees also have some good hiking. 'Decreasing stamina' was also a factor in our recent trip there. My wife turns 74 next month and has forbid me to include anything resembling a hike in future travel.
Where to next? Any plans?
I am done. the hikerz

I also love that last celebratory photo!

thank you so much for the explanations and day to day postings.

Well done! Having done a few multiday walks (although shorter and of a bit different type), I know what a sense of accomplishment comes at the end. Thanks, again for sharing your experience.

Thanks for that interesting report. Well done the both of you! I particularly liked seeing what it looks like in the hills up above Camogli as that is a favourite little town of mine and I'm unlikely to hike those hills.

Thank you all for your kind words, and for walking with us the whole way.

zebec, to answer your question about where to next: we have booked flights to spend three weeks in France next April. We have not yet settled on an itinerary, other than to say that we'd like to spend time in Alsace. I don't think we will be booking any organized walking, although we will certainly want to walk in the Vosges.

raincitygirl, I will confess that I had never heard of Camogli until I looked at our itinerary on the On Foot website. It is lovely, and so close to Genoa and Milan.

Thank you for writing, AnselmAdorne, and sharing your experiences. It sounds like a brilliant holiday and I enjoyed reading and seeing your photos.

anselmadorne, Thanks very much for the great TR, and for including so many gorgeous photos and thoughtful reflections on a walking holiday (and on the company you worked with in comparison with others). I’ve never done this type of trip and it’s very appealing to me. I’m a mountain hiker (though always base in one location and do long day hikes from there). I’m going to give serious thought to this type of trip going forward, and am pleased to know about your experience and the company (which I’ve now bookmarked). Congrats to you both on this accomplishment. I admire your go with the flow spirit (including iffy weather).

dreamon, I am glad you enjoyed it.

studenttobe, thank you. There are certainly positive aspects to multi-day self-guided point-to-point walks such as what we did. For one thing, it is all organized for you, with support and problem solving within reach. This is all reflected in the price, of course, but it is immensely comforting to know that someone is within reach by phone or text if you get lost or, as in our case in Tuscany, you need the latest bus timetable or an update on the state of a river ford.

On the other hand, once you've booked it, you are on a fixed schedule. This means that you need to build in some wiggle room in your travel plans, just in case of flight cancellations or rail strikes. And once you do start, you have to walk each day to reach your next accommodation. That can create a not-so-subtle pressure to press on, even if the weather is bad or your body is telling you that you need a rest day.

There are workarounds, of course; all three companies we have worked with have suggested good locations to add a rest day into your walking schedule, and all of them made it clear that you could choose a shortening option or even skip a day entirely. (On Foot was particularly helpful in this regard; other companies can't always arrange for you to ride to your next destination with the luggage, so you would have to find your own taxi.) If you do skip a day, you can't simply say that you will walk it tomorrow, because everything is booked in advance, and it would be almost impossible for your walking company to alter the subsequent reservations.

Your approach of choosing a base and then undertaking daily hikes also has its appeal. We will be looking at that approach for Alsace next spring.

Anselm, maybe check out the routes near Eguisheim and Riquewihr? The latter especially comes in for some criticism as being too touristy but whatever, the views from the trails above that town are very attractive.
We once did bits of both and were glad to have done so.
Btw, I'm guessing that you will be receiving some PM messages here over the next half year from Fodorites contemplating your pair of hikes above!
I am done. the boots

Kudos to you both in achieving the fabulous mileage. I wish to have your stamina when I turn to your age, bravo!

zebec, we spent a week on the outskirts of Riquewihr earlier this year and completely agree re: the trails and scenery in that area. We walked through the vineyards between Riquewihr and various other towns around it. I never got around to a trip report, but we quite enjoyed it (and have tons of nice photos).

AnselmAdorne, that pressure to press on because of a fixed itinerary is a hard one, and something I will probably think extra carefully about after our week in the Dolomites this past September. We stayed in one town and did day hikes, but hut-to-hut trips are popular there - and we've looked at that in the past. During our stay, there was a tragic situation involving a Canadian couple on a hut-to-hut hike who got caught in a surprisingly intense snowstorm while trying to get to their next refugio. They were on a trail very close to where we had been just four days earlier. After that, I'd probably be inclined to stick to trips like yours that have work-arounds for weather and such.

Fabulous report, Anselm! Thanks for posting it.

Gorgeous scenery and some lovely buildings as well, but it looks like it was very hard work!

Do you think it would have been preferable to do the more difficult walk first?

Anselmadorne-thanks so much for the thoughtful reply. I very much appreciate your reflections on the pros and cons, and will keep all of this in mind if I get more serious about something along the lines you’ve done. It’s great to know that the most recent company you worked with did have shortening options. But, as you said, there are a number of things to consider. Thanks again for such useful food for thought.

Thanks, Holly_uncasdear and Cherthor.

ms_go, I just looked up a news report on that hiking accident in the Dolomites. They were only 2 km from a rifugio; tragic indeed.

zebec. we have been looking at Eguisheim and Riquewihr as possible bases. I have found a site that refers to all of the walking trails in the area, and I recollect that bilboburgler once made a reference to a cycling path that follows the wine route. Another highly intriguing possibility is to stay in a few of the farm-inns in the Vosges. Here's a BBC article about them:

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/2...ain-farm-stays

As we work on our itinerary, I will start a thread looking for further ideas, as there are probably several other Alsace experts who haven't looked at this thread.

nonconformist2, we discussed that notion of reversing the hikes while we were walking in Liguria. From a weather point of view, it would have been better to walk in Liguria first and Tuscany second, but one can never predict the weather that precisely. The reason we chose Tuscany first was that we regarded it in part of our final conditioning for Liguria. But we have no regrets; it was still a great holiday. The joy and pleasure far outweighed the physical discomfort.

Oh my gosh, I saw my name but I've missed all the dialogue so not sure what the question is.

If you are looking for easy hiking and cycling then certainly the Mosel and Alsace fall beautifully into both. The Mosel offers an easy ride from Trier to Koblenz and there are loads of bike hire/luggage moving companies. Walking is a little harder but there is a high route, built right into the cliff (some wire ladders etc) which is easy as pie.

Alsace, the walking up on the Vosges, both along the top ridge and down through the west flank is superb. All the towns are below the tree line (sort of inverse tree line) and many are linked up to each other away from traffic. I've yet to find accomodation in the area that does not also have a local guide book on local hikes.

Alsace cycling (avoid MTB for a bunch of reasons, not least grape damage), starts along the Rhine, works its way east either on cycle lanes, quiet roads etc until you bit the main dual carriageway that goes north south. Further east you hit various versions of the route du vin (cycle, which is not the same as powered vehicle one) then you can ride further into the hills on back roads. Local farmers really don't like you riding through their vinyards (who can blame them).

Since I missed any question, if I can help please come back.

We enjoy hiking and struggle with whether to do a linear hike, moving on each day or hiking from a base. We did a little bit of each on recent trips to Greece. One that we did was about 10 days, where we had two nights in each place. On our 'day off' we'd do a local hike. Of course, that doesn't eliminate the need to move on but although we had booked our accommodation in advance we actually found that we needn't have done that (but you can never be sure in small villages). On another trail we hiked from where we were staying to a half way point on the trail and then return. From the next village we stayed at, we'd hike the rest of the trail and return. Of course that meant hiking twice as far but it worked for us as it meant we could have several nights in one place. We didn't mind as we were there to hike and you get a different perspective going in the other direction.

Thusfar we have not used a hiking company due to cost. It baffles me as to why they are so expensive. On one hike we did some years ago (6 days), five of us did the hike (including accommodation and transfers) for less than the cost of one person doing the cheapest available organised (and unguided) hike. Of course, they all vary significantly in cost but are always far more expensive than organising it ourselves.

AnselmAdorne, I notice that you were both hiking with a single hiking pole, which is also what I prefer (or none at all). I've heard that using two is better but seems a little cumbersome, especially on narrow trails. I don't know whether it's worth buying a pair.

I've always thought one stick would twist the spine and lead to longer term damage.

dreamon, I've never read anything that suggests two poles are better than one. I find two poles awkward, especially if I need a free hand to pull something out of my pocket or to hang on to a nearby branch. Instead, I like to use one pole ascending steep hills and descending any hill with a rugged, uneven, or slippery surface. Once I am back on even ground, I usually stow the pole, but there are occasions (such as in some of the photos) when I forget, and then later say "Why is this thing still in my hand?" Jeane is pretty much the same, although she tends to use her pole most of the time. Bilboburgler may have a point about long-term use of a single pole, but at our ages, we're not too worried about that.

As to costs, yes, I am sure one could self-manage the whole thing and save money. (We actually met a couple on our way to Montepulciano who were doing exactly that. They had left their luggage at a hotel in Buonconvento and had then traveled south to Montepulciano, where they started their walk back north to Buonconvento. They had booked their various overnights by themselves. I didn't ask them what kind of route guidance they were following, but I found trail signage inconsistent in Italy.) I think a good part of what one is paying the organizer for, beyond accommodation, some meals, and some transfers, is expertise and support. It's their choice of the walking route, their turn-by-turn walking instructions, and advice on hazards (even to the point of cautioning us not to be tempted by an obvious shortcut due to the presence of menacing dogs), and I perceive that it is labour intensive. And it all has to be kept up-to-date. Add in their GPS-enabled app, and you are in good hands. (On the subject of turn-by-turn guidance, we have used both Trailblazer and Cicerone guidebooks, and as good as they are, they are simply not as detailed as what we had in Italy.)

Having said all that, we plan to walk in Alsace next spring, making all our own arrangements, but our trails will be out-and-backs or loops, rather than multi-day point-to-points.

bilboburgler, thanks for the suggestions for Alsace. I'm going to start a separate thread at some point.

I completely understand what you mean about the value of having detailed instructions and on the ground support. That is definitely of great value.

I've heard one or two people say the same as bilboburgler about the lopsided nature of using one pole but I use my pole in a similar way to AnselmAdorne; that is mainly as an aide in steep or slippery sections rather than when I'm striding out. I too like to have a free hand. I'll think more about this before I next travel.

For Alsace, my daughter and I visited in mid-December a few years ago and hiked from Ribeauville via Riquewihr to Kayserberg on quiet back roads and tracks. We were able to enjoy the Christmas markets and found it a perfect way to access them, walking into town and then on our way afterwards. I know you won't be there at that time of year but it would always be a pleasant walk I think (except perhaps in hot weather as there was not a lot of shade). The only challenge was finding the starting point. We stayed in Colmar and took the bus to Ribeauville and back again from Kayserberg. It was a great day together, with easy walking and lots to see along the way. Coming from Australia, the villages are utterly different to what we're used to and very pretty.