Walking or cycling is a great way to see Europe.
France is my (our) favourite destination for an active holiday. The countryside is magnificent, the cycling and walking trails are exceptionally well marked and the villages are close enough together so that after a long hard day on the track, it's relatively easy to find a pension/refuge/gite or hotel (no, not a camping ground) to rest our weary feet and enjoy a good wine, French cuisine and a comfy bed with a roof over our head - and the French people are really friendly and helpful - particularly if you try even a few words in French. We have been many times to France since my first visit as a hitchhiker in 1971 and it has become My Mooloolaba - some people go year in year out to sit on the same beach, do the same thing and eat at the same restaurants. We prefer to go to the same country, eat the same food and walk the same walks.
This year it's Ian's turn to choose a cycling trip. His special requests were Cycling The Rhine, Visiting our exchange student Luca in Switzerland for his 30th birthday and seeing a few stages of the Tour de France. After adding my two bobs worth and suggesting that if I'm going to organise this cycling trip, as is my forte, we should add on a visit to the Somme Battlefields of World War 1 and a quick trip to the UK to meet the ancestors in Herefordshire England.