Hike and bike, Mike

Guided or self-guided cycle and walking tours have seen big growth in recent years, and they make a natural partner with rail transfers from the

UK. In fact, in itineraries such as Arena Rail’s eight-day Little Trains and Walks of the Pyrenees escorted group tour, the train-ing is as much of a focus as the hiking ( from £1,275 including most meals, arenatravel.com).

If you prefer to go self-guided, Inntravel has a range of near-Europe holidays, for example its five-day Best of Roman Provence, which includes rail travel to and from Avignon, plus half board and luggage transfers, for from £1,115 (inntravel.co.uk).

Then there’s biking, along with the increasing popularity of e-biking, which allows less confident cyclists to cover the ground with far less anxiety.

As a rule cycle tour operators don’t include international travel in their packages, partly because many customers want to bring their own