The first day of my hiking trip in the Valle Maira in Piedmont, north-west Italy, begins with a hot, lung-bursting, heart-pounding three-hour slog up a steep path. I should have expected as much. The tour operator classes its new circuit in this Alpine wonderland as “Grade 3: Challenging” – and my one-day training hike along the Devon coast hadn’t prepared me.

The rewards, though, were plentiful. Once I’d made it over the San Michele pass, the climbing was far gentler, and the pine forests that clung to the steep sides sculpted by ancient glaciers provided plentiful shade. Also, there was cold, clean water at springs and public taps in the many small hamlets I passed.