Traveller's Tales: In Van Gogh's Footsteps with Heather Zrini

Heather hails from Canada and has walked many UK and European trails, as well as completing the Camino Frances, with the hope of doing more in the future. Read on to find out how she and her friend found the In Van Gogh's Footsteps trip, challenges, surprises, Michelin stars and all.

What is your walking history?

Eight years ago, my friend that I walked this tour with returned from a walking trip to Italy and couldn't say enough great things about it. She wanted to do another walk in the Loire Valley and I said that I would join her. The Loire Valley trip was wonderful and I have done several other walks in the Cotswolds, the Dordogne Valley and Bavaria with friends and family since then. Last year I completed the Camino Frances, which was an amazing experience, and I hope to complete the Camino Portuguese next year with the people I met on my first Camino. My plan is to try and do a walk every year until my knees start to complain too much!

Why did you choose to walk where you did?

I've always wanted to go to Provence, and In the Footsteps of Van Gogh included many of the towns that I wanted to see. My friend and I walked in September, so we missed seeing the lavender in bloom, which is something on my bucket list, so I will just have to return another time! We learned while we were walking in Les Alpilles that we couldn't have walked during the summer months as the risk of forest fires is too great.

How did you prepare?

When I went on my first walk, I was very nervous. I wondered if I would be able to walk that far and for that many days. I surprised myself and didn't even develop any blisters! When you're walking in the beautiful countryside in Europe, the fact that you might be walking 25km doesn't seem to be a problem at all. It also amazes me how once I arrived at my destination for the day and changed my footwear, my feet felt like they could keep on walking!

Since the Van Gogh walk was really only four days and the maximum walking distance was 18km, I didn't do a whole lot of preparation, other than to walk 10km on the Saturday and Sunday of two weekends prior to departure. Walking a few more hills might have been useful, in retrospect.

What was your favourite destination?

This is a tough one as all four of our destinations were beautiful in different ways. Saint-Remy-de-Provence had a beautiful city centre and we really enjoyed following the path of Van Gogh paintings that led to the hospital where he stayed in 1889-90. We were thrilled to see some of the landmarks in his paintings as we followed the route. The best part was climbing up to Les Deux Trous (The Two Holes), seeing the holes at sunrise from our hotel room the next morning and then discovering a Van Gogh painting with the holes prominently displayed above the olive trees.

Best food and drink?

We started our trip in Lyon prior to travelling to the starting point of Avignon. The gastronomy capital of the world didn't disappoint. While we were there, we learned about Michelin starred and Michelin recommended restaurants. In Avignon, we ate at a Michelin recommended restaurant that was delicious. In Arles, we went to a tiny little restaurant suggested in our route notes, just down the street from our hotel. We got to eat outside and the dinner was amazing. I even went back for lunch the next day! We sampled various wines with our meals, tried an Aperol Spritz and the hostess at the hotel in Les Baux de Provence gave us a thyme flavoured liqueur after dinner to aid in our digestion.

Biggest surprise?

We had many lovely surprises during our trip. The things that stand out are the lovely terrace overlooking the hills that was attached to our room in Les Baux de Provence, as well as the amazing view of the amphitheatre from our hotel room window in Arles. We were also pleasantly surprised to be able to get into Palais des Papes and Le Pont d'Avignon for free, as we happened to be there on Journees du Patrimoine when all the monuments in France weren't charging an admission fee!

What aspect of the trip did you find most challenging?

This is an easy one! It was definitely the optional 8km walk in Les Alpilles on Day 3. The first part of the walk was lovely and not too challenging, so we decided to see what the optional walk would be like. We had climbed up to Les Deux Trous and loved the view, so we figured it would be similar terrain. It wasn't! There was a 1.5km section where you were walking along the ridge of the mountains. The views were spectacular, but it was quite windy, very rocky and there was nothing to prevent you from falling down on either side. We had been warned in the route notes that "a well-placed hand would come in handy" and they were right. We found it quite challenging but we just took it very