If there’s one thing greener than a cycling holiday, it’s a cycling holiday you get to by train. Forget your carbon footprint – on a rail-and-ride, that’s just the skid mark you leave when you corner too fast. Finding good routes from stations with cycle hire, however, is no easy task. Here, with four superb two-day station-to-station rides, we round up the best that Britain can offer.

TARKA TRAIL AND GRANITE WAY, DEVON

DAY 1: Barnstaple to Hatherleigh (20 miles) Signposted from Barnstaple station, the Tarka Trail follows a disused railway line, striking west along the Taw estuary, then south through classic clotted-cream towns such as Bideford, Great Torrington and East Yarde, where the organic Yarde Cafe, right on the path, is a must-eat spot. At Petrockstowe, our route leaves the Tarka Trail and heads south on the Mid Torridge Cycle Link to Hatherleigh, where Pressland Country House Hotel (01837 810871, www.presslandhouse.co.uk) has Dartmoor-view doubles from £65, B&B.

DAY 2: Hatherleigh to Okehampton (21 miles) Following the Sticklepath Cycle Route, it’s six miles to Okehampton, where the 11-mile Granite Way is another excellent, mostly traffic-free route along a disused railway – with two spectacular stretches across Meldon and Lake Viaducts – south along the edge of Dartmoor to the pretty village of Lydford. Lunch at the Dartmoor Inn (01822 820221), before a 10-mile clockwise loop along country lanes, via Bridestowe, Boasley Cross and Thorndon Cross, brings you to Okehampton.

Map: NCN Devon Coast to Coast Cycle Route, from Sustrans (www.sustrans.org.uk). Cycle hire: Biketrail (01271 372586, www.biketrail.co.uk) has bikes at Barnstaple station; £9.50 per day, including route notes, panniers and helmets. The bikes can be dropped off at Okehampton station.

NEW FOREST LOOP, HAMPSHIRE

DAY 1: Brockenhurst to Lymington (19 miles) From Brockenhurst station, head west on forest tracks, through woodland so dense that it closes overhead in leafy tunnels of oak, ash and beech. Joining the Ornamental Drive, the route passes the 400-year-old Knightwood Oak, reckoned to be the oldest tree in the forest, then rejoins wooded tracks into Burley. Here, a pint and excellent pub grub in the beer garden of the White Buck Inn (01425 402264) will leave you with change from a tenner.

Now loop southeast, via Sway and Everton, to Lymington, where Britannia House (01590 672091, www.britannia-house.com) has five-star waterfront doubles – great value at £75, B&B.

DAY 2: Lymington to Brockenhurst (20 miles) Cycling east along the Solent Way, today’s route follows leafy lanes through South Baddesley and Bucklers Hard, a beautiful 18th-century village on the banks of the River Beaulieu, once a boat yard for Nelson’s fleet. Here, the Yachtsman’s Bar, at the Master Builder’s House (01590 616253), has £5 baguettes and £15 steaks. Continue north to Beaulieu – the palace, abbey and motor museum (01590 612345, www.beaulieu.co.uk) are open 10am-6pm; £15.25, or £8.40 without the museum – and then head back along the B3055 to Brockenhurst.

Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL22. Cycle hire: Cycle Experience (01590 624204, www.newforestcyclehire.co.uk), at Brockenhurst station, has bike rental from £11 per day, including route notes, rucksacks and helmets.

GREAT GLEN TRAVERSE, HIGHLANDS

DAY 1: Fort William to Invermoriston (42 miles) An epic route, mostly along canal paths and forest tracks. Fit cyclists can do it in two days, but with three climbs of 900ft, you’ll certainly feel some pain.

Leaving Fort William via Neptune’s Staircase, it’s canal path to Gairlochy, single-track road for a while to Loch Lochy, then bumpy dirt track to Laggan. From there, a zigzag climb above Invergarry leads to a wonderful long descent to Bridge of Oich. You then rejoin the Caledonian Canal to Fort Augustus, where the route heads along tracks above Loch Ness to Invermoriston. Here, Bracarina Guest House (01320 351279, www.maclellans.net; doubles £50, B&B) has an excellent new sauna (£5pp) – worth every penny. DAY 2: Invermoriston to Inverness (38 miles) More forest-track climbing, up above Loch Ness, until you reach Drumnadrochit and Urquhart Castle (9.30am-5.45pm; £6.50). After lunch at the Benleva Hotel (01456 450080), the Camra Highland pub of 2005, a mixture of tracks and Broads leads you into Inverness.

Map/guide: Great Glen Way & Great Glen Cycle Route (Footprint Books £4.95). Cycle hire: Off Beat Bikes (01397 704008, www.offbeatbikes.co.uk), two minutes’ walk from Fort William station, has two-day bike rentals for £28, including panniers and helmets. Cycles can be dropped off in Inverness for an extra £20.

HIGH PEAK TRAIL AND TISSINGTON TRAIL, DERBYSHIRE

DAY 1: Middleton Top to Parsley Hay (18 miles) Okay, there’s five minutes of carbon-emitting by taxi from Matlock Bath station to the rental point in Middleton Top, but this is two days of cycling so seductively scenic and traffic-free, it’d be a travesty to leave it out.

You pick up the bike 100 yards from the 1829 Middleton Top Engine House, near Cromford. The High Peak Trail follows the line of the disused High Peak Railway to Parsley Hay. From here, you could take the Pennine Bridleway right up to Edale, a mountain-biking mecca, but we advise pedalling to the end of the High Peak Trail at Hurdlow, eating at the excellent Royal Oak (01298 83288, www.royaloakpub.org), then cycling three miles back to Parsley Hay, where Upper Oldham’s Farm (01629 636337, www.arborlow.co.uk) – next to Arbor Low, the “Stonehenge of the North” – has doubles for £60, B&B. DAY 2: Parsley Hay to Middleton Top (21 miles) Now on the magnificent Tissington Trail, today starts with 13 mostly downhill miles along the disused railway to Ashbourne, stopping, perhaps, at the Dog and Partridge (01335 3502350), right on the trail in Thorpe, just north of Ashbourne. From Ashbourne, the B5035 takes you back to Middleton Top, with an optional back-lane loop of Carsington Water.

Map: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL24. Cycle hire: Middleton Top Cycle Hire (01629 823204) has bike rental for £13 per day, including helmets.

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