I guess I`m going to give some other feedback right now.Catarina-you were terrific!! I did not realize that the previous thing was like a 1 to 5 reading. Anyway our group had a few concerns. We definitely made it very clear that we were senior citizens and that your rating of this tour of the Algarve was an" Easy "tour. We definitely disagree with that rating . We would have to say that it was moderate there were definitely a number of very substantial hills .There was sand on the trails that was a fall risk(one of our group took a fall thankfully not a bad one because of sand catching in the tires of the bike ) and quite frankly we didn`t get any specific instruction in terms of how to use our E bikes to minimize our fall risk.trails and we experiencied gravel trails that were really rutted Felt very unsafe as a fall risk especially the last day particularly. until we initiated questions in that regard about how to handle the sand and the gravel we didn`t get any specific instruction. Honestly I don`t think someone telling us to put the E bikes in the maximum power mode and gear down to the first gear I felt particularly safe..We felt very unsafe at times particular the women,in terms of fall risk. We are all experienced bikers. I have done four bike trips with the same group which included the Danube(with your organization), Puglia, the Gulf Islands in Canada and this was the most unsafe that our whole group ever felt. Specifically also the riding on the main traffic roads through Faro and also Albufiera were particularly harrowing and we felt were dangerous. I think our guide did his best to get us around all these roundabouts and the very busy traffic but I think somebody doing a self guided tour of this would really be at risk of being hit by a car. I know that we all felt terrified by these two particular places with major highway traffic and roundabouts. A lot of of us had concerns that our guide though he was quite delightful spent a huge amount of time on the phone while cycling. I think our guide was extremely competent but I think he was quite high up in the organization in terms of management and he had a lot of responsibilities that interfered with his experience with our group. He had a lot of information to share about his future bike trips that were booked with his company in the Algarve. We didn`t feel we got any particular history about any of the area and the places we visited and nor did we ever get a recap every morning of what was the expectation terms of the distance the degree of difficulty and what we were going to be seeing in terms of special highlights of the area.. We were in contact with you at the beginning of the tour about concerns of some of the group that the guide had the expectation that we were paying for lunches which was not our experience before. You had thankfully and your team clarified that and the whole focus shifted the following day. I would have to say that the scenery was spectacular once one got to the West Coast of the Algarve. The salt marshes were not particularly scenic to be honest. We got no extra explanation about scenic stuff or flamingoes etc. We had issues with the bathrooms or actually lack their off on the first stop when we got off the train and at one other place subsequent to that. I would have to say on behalf of all of the group that the hotel accommodations were all great except for the supposed upgraded one that we had in Portimao. That was actually a disaster. That was the NH Marina Portimao-that experience was absolutely terrible. We had been shunted off to the very furthest part from the main building where the restaurant was and pool and towels. We actually had to ask about getting towels and if I had not asked we would not have known we would`ve had to walk back seven minutes to the main building to get these towels. Also that`s how far we had to walk for dinner and breakfast . This supposed shuttle service at that resort was less than adequate. It was horrible to not have any kind of facilities over in the outbuilding that we were shunted to and it was upsetting that we all paid an upgrade for this supposed better facility. The other hotel which was really picture that we had in Luz that was way outside of the town and was difficult to get food from had an ant invasion in our room but we did think it was a lovely place and we understand that being in the country things like that can happen.
I am sure this is all something that you were not aware of unless you actually took the trip yourself.
The bikes were actually wonderful with great shocks and great tires.
We all think that the Algarve is a great destination particularly when you get to the western part. I would like to mention that the last hotel in Sagres was absolutely wonderful. The actual facility and the staff and their helpfulness at that place was the best of all of them that we stayed at.
Thank you for all of your help and assistance and I hope this honest feedback will help you to assist and inform your organization going forward in terms of suitability for difficulty of bike tour and accommodation. We do thank you very much Catarina for all your help. Not actually sure of any of the rest of the group have shared separately about their experiences but I think what I have presented here as a consensus of the group. Thank you again.