Serious exercise in the British countryside

Three great sources for exercise freaks on the lookout for a weekend hit make up this week's post. Whether you prefer swimming, cycling or running, below are our favourite suppliers for a top weekend's activities - all include a little bit of coaching as well.

Cycling - Red Spokes

Red Spokes speciality is their big trips - they do some incredible sounding rides, including one that climbs to Everest Base Camp (have a look at some of our 'offset yourself' ideas that you could combine with those). But by way of a taster before you take on something like that, check out their weekend and day trips. The price of these covers accommodation and food, but they're assuming you'll bring your own bike.

Best ideas:

London to Brighton, 1 day, £15

Yorkshire Dales, 3 days, £175

Swimming - Swimtrek

Again a company that specialise in longer-range trips, Swimtrek have a couple of options for shorter adventures closer to home. So before you leap on a plane and head off to the (admittedly extremely tempting-sounding) Dalmatian coast, check out the options below. Price includes accommodation, food and transport between swims, and wetsuit hire.

Best idea:

Lake District, 3 days, £275

Running - Purple Patch

This is more of a coaching weekend, but a great thing to do if you're training for a marathon or something like that (a great thing to do in itself, and the subject of a forthcoming post). This time cost includes accommodation, food, a bit of coaching, and of course the guides on your runs.

Best idea:

Cotswolds running weekend, 3 days, £195

Isle of Wight: Green island tourism

As green tourism starts to get hold, it's good to see we Brits are leading the way. You may have heard that the New Forest won the top prize in the Responsible Tourism Awards - as the best eco destination in the world - but the nearby Isle of Wight will be a serious challenger next time round.

With a fully dedicated web resource at greenislandtourism, there are very few places that have done so much to make green travel so easy. The website is a little complicated (it is being updated), but you can just download the pdf leaflet which carries a map of the island with all the certified businesses and activities listed on there.

Just to simplify things completely, here's one good way to spend a Greenhiker weekend. A return trip from London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour will cost you about £30 - it takes about an hour and a half each way. From there, the ferry to Ryde will be about £20 return, taking about 40 minutes (book through Wightlink). So you could comfortably leave London at 6pm and be on the island by 9pm, and travel back Sunday night the same way at a total cost of £50. Not bad.

Once you're there, you'll probably want to stay the night in Ryde (there are several awarded places listed on greenislandtourism). Hire bikes the next day at Tav Cycles (£20 for two days) and hit the round island trail - it's 100km long in total, and beautifully scenic. Stop off overnight wherever takes your fancy... if you can, make it as far as beautiful secluded Ventnor (above). Then complete the trip the next day, and head for home. Genius.

January Green-hike 2: West Dorset coastline

Getting to know your home country better is green-hiking 101 - the United Kingdom is spectacularly varied, from the exotic climate of the Scilly Isles to the craggy headlands of Ben Nevis, and all of it accessible without the need for excessive travel, and certainly no need for flying.

As such, there will be a good share of British green-hikes, and Dorset will be a recurring theme. The likes of Bournemouth and Lyme Regis, the 2012 Olympic site at Weymouth, not to mention Shaftesbury... we love Dorset, and all the more so because, unlike more popular locales in Devon and Cornwall, it all begins within just a couple of hours drive or train of the capital.

It's also a perfect spot at this time of year, which might sound surprising! But less so when you hear that Weymouth was the sunniest spot in the country in 2007, totalling over 2000 hours of sunshine in the year - at an average of more than 6 hours a day. No wonder the Green-hiker team were able to get shots like this on a New Year's Day walk!

The Ultimate British Winter Sun Green-hike

Base yourself out of Weymouth, Lyme Regis, or Bridport. The best option is hire out one of the many cottages set up for the purpose - contact us at greenhiker@hotmail.co.uk for some specific ideas and a few discounts. Then get walking. The shot above was taken from the beach just in front of the wonderful Hive Beach Cafe, home of some of Dorset's best cakes and cappuccinos, not to mention some seriously posh fish n chips. Find out more at their website, http://www.hivebeachcafe.co.uk/. You can walk all the way along the coast to West Bay, and back along the clifftops - that's about a 4 hour stomp in total. If you've got some energy left, stop in pretty Abbotsbury for a hike up to the spectacular St Catherine's Chapel. Next day, get yourself on the range walks at Lulworth Cove. That's where the photo at the top of this blog was taken. You wouldn't believe it was England. Then head back to London. You'll be home in time for dinner. But you'll feel as good as new.