Bare your sole: the joys of shoeless hiking

Nicola Iseard sheds her walking boots, socks and inhibitions, and lets her feet go au naturel on a 10-mile ramble through the Yorkshire Dales national park

Virgin Active in talks with private equity firms over £1bn sale

Virgin Active, which was founded in 1999, is 76% owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group

Five new cycling adventures in Europe

The best new ideas, from cycling and cruising in the Ionian to cobblestones and beer in Belgium

Five great biking challenges

Test your skills in the saddle, from the Yorkshire dales to northern Italy

Fancy a go at the Tour de France?

Inspired by the Tour de France? Time to start training for next year's amateur Étape challenge, a section of cycling's toughest race. Or you could do it the Kevin Rushby way...

Roller coaster: a cycle trip across northern England

A new coast-to-coast cycle track, the 169-mile Way of the Roses from Lancashire into Yorkshire opens in September. Dixe Wills gets a preview

Watch this

Obesity: understanding the UK epidemic

Abdulrahman El-Sayed: Studies show society's poorest are most likely to be obese. Shaming and penalising those affected is not the right policy

Ten years younger in Turkey

Never mind Botox, a course at a boutique hotel in Turkey claims to take years off your looks with an exercise programme for your face. But would it work for Liz Boulter?

In hot water: Tuscany’s wild natural springs

Many of Tuscany's natural hot springs have been tapped by hotel spas and medical centres, but take a tip from a local and discover the wild, free options, writes Kamin Mohammadi

OurChemist

Our Chemist – Health