Thanks to Alison Bagnall, who participated in Walk Alsace northern Summer 2004, for this letter and photo

I must let you know that I had the holiday of a lifetime. It wasn't just the great countryside, the vineyards, the pastureland, the wonderful scenery, the caring and generous people, it was the superb organization. Everything was taken care of. I was so impressed.

From the man on the station at Colmar with the small replica of an Aussie flag who drove me up to Niedermorschwir and fetched me on the last day from Orbey to the women who went out of their way to equip me with lavish lunches, even one of them finding a dessert/yogurt which wasn't cow's milk as I am allergic to that. They were so patient with my fragments of French.

The walking was great, the route so rich and varied and so well-planned. I was on the track on my own most of the time. Only on the last day did I come across other walkers on the high plateau of the Massif but it never worried me at all. I was overjoyed by the whole setting and the miracle of my bag arriving each day at the hostelry.

I was captivated by the little villages and by the places in which I stayed, especially Abbaye d'Alspach in Kientzheim. The weather was perfect, not too warm and mostly sunny and fine. I loved the opportunity to taste the wine and would have liked to have purchased more but had to limit myself to one bottle for friends in UK and some liqueur from Lapoutroie's Museum Eau de Vie.

I only got off the track 3 times and that was the symbols being a little wide-spaced, but I didn't go too far before I realized. The map was helpful and the little direction leaflets worked well once I had sorted out the sketches and the way they used vocabulary.

With sincere appreciation for all that you did to facilitate such a wonderful holiday for me.

Alison.