In the 1990s, Canadian biking enthusiast Cari Gray cut her teeth at Butterfield & Robinson (www.butterfield.com)) a formidable expert in any kind of “slow travel”, including tours by bike, boat and foot. In 2008, Gray launched her own biking and biking business, Gray & Co (www.grayandco.ca). All her bespoke trips feature carbon-fibre bikes, support vehicles, mechanics and high guide-to-guest ratios. And if there’s one thing Gray also always gets right, it’s the hotels: characterful, usually privately owned and rigorous when it comes to service. In June, Gray makes her first foray into Belgium, a country well disposed to biking, with its largely flat topography and abundance of trails. The route, which involves between 30km and 70km of cycling per day, takes in Bruges, Antwerp and Spa, with stays at the 16-room Manoir de Lébioles (pictured, www.manoirdelebioles.com; from €:199) in the Ardennes. The recommended six-night trip costs from $1,500 per person per day (based on six travellers), and is led by one of Gray’s star guides, Paola Sartori.