Sherpa Expeditions or Celtic Trails?

My friend and I walked the Cotswolds Way national trail Sept 2014. When we started making plans I looked into Sherpa. They charge around £600.00 per person to give you a map, book B&Bs, etc. we decided that it was a little ridiculous to pay that much when we could book the B&Bs ourselves. I got a couple books with maps of the trail and lists of B&Bs. I booked all the B&Bs myself, via email. All of the B&Bs were lovely. We did use a transfer company for our luggage, which was fabulous . There is a luggage transfer in Cornwall, which charge about £7.00 per bag per day. I just hate seeing you pay so much when you can do it. I was 65 and my friend was 70, our husbands thought we were crazy. Our walk turned out fabulous, we used one of the maps in a book, and the trail is well marked. I'm going to send you a private message.

We used Celtic Trails for some short walks in Shropshire and Wales. They were very organized and professional, and provided good advice, plus maps and walking guides. The B and B's they booked for us were very friendly and nice, and the bookings included transfer from the railway station to the lodge in Wales, plus daily drives from the lodge to and from the trail locations ( this was an inn-based walk rather than from one inn to another). There were four of us---my sister and I, and our husbands.

I looked up the cost of the places we stayed and yes, it cost a bit more to book through Celtic trails, but we felt it was well worth it. We would not have chosen these walks and found the lodging had we not relied on their advice, but we were very pleased with the results. In Wales we did the "Three castles" walk which involves crossing through fields, one after another---no recognizable trail. Our hostess dropped us off by a gate on a quiet road, we climbed over a stile and followed the instructions in the guide from there: "cross the field! keeping the dingle to your left. Find a stile by a gate and continue on to a gap in the hedge on the left. Go through there and cross the next field diagonally uphill, toward the solitary oak tree. . . ." It was like a scavenger hunt and quite fun. In Shropshire we did have actual footpaths but still ended the guide to help us find the right ones.

Cornwall offers beautiful walking on the coastal path. We went there after Wales to sample a bit ( and also to visit Port Isaac). We booked this part on our own as my sister and I are strong hikers but we both have "issues" with cliff edges and we did not want to commit to a walk that might scare the heck out of us. As it turned out, it was fine. We did day hikes from Port Isaac in both directions on the path. It did parallel the Cliff edge, but not so closely as to make me nervous, and there was usually vegetation or even a fence to visually set one back from the scary edge. And the views were glorious.

I would love to return to Cornwall and do a multi-day walk there, and I would most likely use Celtic Trails again to organize and book it for me. Some sections of the coast path are reputedly better/more scenic/more interesting than others, and I feel I could rely on their advice to pick a good section for us.

But it is certainly quite manageable to organize it on your own as well.