Which of England’s big cities is most likely to get the cyclist huffing and puffing? In other words, which of them is the hilliest? Central London is almost entirely flat. You have to head north to Hampstead and Highgate, or south-east to the Streatham/ Dulwich area before you find terrain that will start to test you. Manchester? Flat. Liverpool? Flat. Birmingham? Flat. Leeds has its moments, Sheffield more even more so, and Bristol is definitely hilly. But after cycling there last week, I think the honour must go to Newcastle.

This superb desert biking adventure focuses on the deep south of Morocco, a land of big skies and stark mountain ranges where mud-brick kasbahs appear to rise up out of the desert, sitting in tranquil palm oases and framed by dramatic backdrops of snowcapped mountains. We ride along Morocco’s dirt roads, taking us from Marrakech to the Tichka Pass, the highest in the High Atlas, and then southward, descending along the Draa Valley to the fringes of the Sahara Desert.