It was surely with the intention of bridging a familiar divide that Butterfield & Robinson, doyens of the high-end guided bicycle tour, devised their new Rhine Cruise Biking trip, a week-long luxury sail up the mighty river from Basel to Amsterdam, with daily disembarkations for a few gentle hours of in-saddle sightseeing up pan-flat bike ...

A mountain range called the Sierra de Cantabria runs along the northern border of the Rioja Valley, and I had spent a good part of my morning riding up it. Behind and below me, the vineyards of Spain's most famous wine-making region spread out like a crazy quilt, a long skein of morning mist hanging above ...