Wednesday, December 9, 2009. Summary of Our Tour of Portugal and Spain. Battlefield tour of Portugal and Spain had been very enjoyable, but this one convinced us that we could do even better on our own. We visited many of the same battlefields that we had been to with Holts. But this time we had time to spend as much time as we wanted on the field. Had been well worth a second visit. Then there were the new ones.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010. The battle of Leipzig was fought over the period 14-19 October 1813. It started with the largest cavalry battle in history, fought at Libertwolkwitz, followed by Wachau, Connewitz, Lindenau, Mockern and finally Leipzig itself. I have always found Leipzig to be one of the most difficult of all Napoleonic battles to grasp. The size of the battlefield, the armies involved, the number of combats within the battle all make it hard to understand. The monument dominates the city skyl.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011. When Bonaparte drove the Austrian army out of northern Italy in early 1796 they left a strong garrison in the fortress of Mantua. The French laid siege to the city from May 1796 to February 1797. Castiglione, Caldiero, Arcola and Rivoli. It was only after the decisive defeat of the Austrian army at Rivoli that the garrison finally surrendered. Mantua was then, and is now,.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010. Summary of our Tour of Northern Spain. This was our most ambitious tour so far. We had gained a lot of confidence from self drive holiday of the previous year to Portugal and Spain. Many of the battlefields we explored then were return visits to ones we had seen with Holts Tours. However this time it would all be new. Burgos was the only one which was really easy. The castle overlooks the city, and is easy to find. From the castle it is easy to walk the area of the siege.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011. The last morning of our visit was warm and sunny. We had to drive to Vienna to return the hire car and catch our flight back to UK, but we did not have to be there until 3pm. Not long enough for a proper walk, but long enough to pay a visit to Schlapanitz. The town has grown a lot since 1805, but the old town remains much as it was then.

Summary of Walking Napoleonic Battlefields. Jan and I have two main interests, Napoleonic history and hill walking. In 1971 we decided to spend our summer holiday visiting the battlefield of Waterloo. I remember it as one of those holidays when the sun is always shining and you enjoy every moment. It was to be the first of many enjoyable holidays spent walking and exploring Napoleonic battlefields. Particularly for anyone interested in visiting Napoleonic battlefields.

Friday, October 30, 2009. Summary of Holts tour of Portugal and Spain. Jan and I often thought about visiting the battlefields of. Holiday in 1971 had been so enjoyable. We had always been put off by the difficulty in researching how to explore the battlefields, and our complete lack of Spanish or Portuguese. We had visited quite a few battlefields. Had been easy to explore. It is also very well sign posted. Had proved difficult in the extreme. We lived quite close to.

Sunday, September 12, 2010. Summary of Walking the Pyrenees. This holiday would be different from our earlier battlefield visits. First it was longer than our previous battlefields. We left Portsmouth on 21 June 1996, and we would have 17 days to explore a relatively small area of the Pyrenees. We had paid a flying visit to the area the year before, but this time we would spend much more time on each battlefield, and walk the area in much more detail. We would spend three full days walking around the Rhu.

Thursday, October 29, 2009. Waterloo was not only the first of our Walking Napoleonic Battlefield holidays, it was also one of the first holidays after we got married. We drove from Osnabruck to Waterloo on 7 July 1971 and spent 10 days exploring Brussels and the battlefield. Sunday, May 24, 2009. The Left Flank at Waterloo.