If you like tough cycling challenges, but have a partner who prefers poolside lounging and gazing at views, our selection provides stylish stays and cosy retreats
There are three of us in my marriage: me, Dave and a Canyon Ultimate CF SLX. As bikes go, it’s a fine specimen, but it has been monopolising my husband’s downtime for years. And joining him – or them – is not an option. I might manage a cycling trip to the Netherlands or the Somerset Levels, but Dave is drawn to pro-cycling terrain: insanely steep climbs and buttock-clenching descents. He does Geneva-to-Nice-in-a-week kind of cycling, followed by long conversations about gradients, power outputs and lactate thresholds. I love a good mountain myself, but I prefer to look at them – as part of a more sybaritic holiday, with sightseeing and occasional walks. So, we have arrived at a compromise: he packs inner tubes, heart-rate monitors and a ton of Lycra bib shorts; I take walking boots, sun cream and a pile of good books. The Canyon Ultimate comes along for the ride. And we head for hillside hotels that somehow manage to suit us all.
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