You can't please 'em all

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Some nice feed-back from some recent tours:-

'Tour Manager's character, wit and knowledge added to the experience. I was very impressed with the food and service in the hotels' An Archaeologist's View of Ireland

'Both the Driver and Courier were very helpful and made the whole trip enjoyable' Thank you Mr and Mrs Bonner - Scenic Scottish Railways

'All went extremely well. Excellent tour guide and driver. Lucky with weather once we got there.' Isle of Barra

'Thoroughly enjoyable trip' 'Wonderful holiday, thank you!' Gardens of Devon - Emsworth Horticultural Society

'St Kilda - we made it! - Fantastic! Thank you so much'

'Thoroughly enjoyed this trip' Alnwick and the gardens of Northumberland - thank you Anne Chambers.

'From the moment she met us in Aberdeen Pauline Corrigan our Tour Manager radiated efficiency and cheerfulness'

'Very pleased with all aspects. Will certainly recommend to others as this was our first organised tour didn't know what to expect but very happy with it - will do it again' Welcome aboard Mr and Mrs Barclay - hope to see you again sometime soon.

And just to show that we are fair - some not so nice comments :-

'Driver got lost due to incorrect Sat-Nav codes!' (What ever happened to a map?)

'Worst Hotel I have stayed in in a long time, but staff were very friendly and helpful'

'A very enjoyable tour - but a little too much/many visits each day'

'Vegetables al dente - under-cooked'

'Vegetables too mushy - overcooked'

You can't please em all!

Wild Flowers of the Hebrides

Wednesday 22 June 2011

A really nice Questionnaire came in this morning relating to our recent tour to Barra called

'Wild Flowers of the Hebrides'.

"A delightful holiday which lived up to its promise in the brochure. Crinan Alexander is an excellent guide and extremely knowledgable, but not at all in a patronising way to those of us who are not so expert. His relaxed style and sense of humour put everyone at ease. I thoroughly recommend this holiday to all who have an interest in wild flowers".

Thank you very much Mrs McKenzie - hope to see you again sometime.

Ben Lomond inspiration

Tuesday 21 June 2011

I have had a fairly stressful week or so what with one thing or another - just the usual rough and tumble of high season in the Travel Business - Hotel problems, coach with flat tyre, passengers lost - that sort of thing. Anyway with a rather heavy burden on my shoulders I drove through to my parent's house near Stirling and as I looked across to the Trossachs from the little village of Kippen all my troubles seemed to disappear when I saw the view over to Ben Lomond.

Note to self - come up with a tour itinerary to include Loch Lomond and the Trossachs - it is a beautiful area.

Self - You've got one already Graeme its called the Classic Scottish Steam Break http://www.brightwaterholidays.com/tour.aspx?TID=B61B21C4-E00E-4360-A8E7-8616417F14F5

Scotland's Northern Edge

Tuesday 14th June 2011

I had a funny coincidence last week, when after walking some 80 miles across the north of Scotland I arrived at the lighthouse at Cape Wrath rather wind-swept and pretty exhausted only to be met by the arrival of a mini-bus there to pick up some day trippers. Had we been five minutes later we would have missed it, but one look at my friend Martin we immediately saw this as the 'gift-horse' it was and we scrapped our plan of another night in the wilderness - it was our ticket out to a comfy bed and a hot shower.

So literally with two minutes to snap a photo of the lighthouse and the cliffs we were heading for the ferry 11 miles down the tiny track.

Having nowhere booked for the night the ferryman was very helpful by driving us up to the village and offering some telephone numbers of accommodation to try and within a couple of calls we were in the comfortable Soo Cave Hotel (very nice too) http://www.smoocavehotel.co.uk/

In the evening after a marvelous meal we were entertained by some live accordion music played by none other than John the Ferryman. Chatting to him later he asked what we did for a living and I explained that I ran a Tour Operating business - and as my mind was switched off work mode I said as a throw-away remark that 'I think we give you some business' as one of our tours is based in the far north - 'Scotland's Northern Edge' http://www.brightwaterholidays.com/tour.aspx?TID=22F2A51C-11F3-4EA5-8170-ED35C3E4A0A9

'What's the name of your company?'

'Brightwater Holidays? - Hoch, we've got them on the ferry tomorrow!' http://www.capewrath.org.uk/05_Kyle.htm

And sure enough we had a small departure of passengers being taken over to Cape Wrath as part of their holiday in the north.

Good job they didn't bump into me - unshaven, windswept and rather smelly after four days in the wilds - they might never book again!

Jardin Majorelle Photos as promised

Jardin Majorelle

Friday 3rd June 2012

The whole country it seems is basking in sunshine - the gardens of Britian are at their best, and all is well with the world. That would be nice if it were just that. The Engine room of Brightwater Holidays' Operations Department is flat out keeping all the balls in the air as a lot of holidays are departing. I wish I could say the same about the Engine room of the Steam Ship Waverley as she is stuck in dry-dock on the Clyde when she should be steaming south to the Bristol Channel - sadly it looks like our group will not make it out to Lundy as planned - very frustrating for all concerned - but I guess we must accept that the Waverley is a fragile old lady, and safety concerns always must come first.

Earlier in the week I was lucky enough to be in Marrakech, Morocco and with a couple of free hours on Tuesday afternoon I braved the madness of the streets of the city and walked to see the Jardin Majorelle. We have included this garden several times on our Gardens of Marrakech holiday but I had never had the pleasure of visiting the garden. To walk through the streets of Marrakech is an experience in itself, the winding alleyways and lanes confuse and disorientate - one look at your tourist map and six young boys are hassling you to help you on your way, and hassling to to buy tat that you don't really want - so it was with a degree of pride that I managed to negotiate my way to the entrance of the Jardin Majorelle and the calm oasis therein. This garden has been open to the public since 1947 as a wonderful collection of exotic plants and stunning cacti. After the original owner's death in 1962 it was acquired by Yves Saint Laurent, the French designer, who restored the garden to its former glory and added the wonderful striking blue blocks of colour in the surrounding buildings within the garden. Since Laurent's death the garden has been left to a trust to ensure its continuing existence. A very nice garden - certainly much better than I had been expecting and would thoroughly recommend a visit. I would love to show you some of the lovely photos I took but I've lost the little lead for my camera to download my pics - so you'll have to wait for them - in the meantime have a look at http://www.jardinmajorelle.com/ and you'll get the idea.

Off to Cape Wrath next week - from the sublime to the...........