The man who pays his way

What to do

Less than £200... Brockencote Hall, a lakeside manor in the Worcestershire village of Chaddesley Corbett, has a two-night escape from now until 31 May for £155pp, based on two sharing for Sunday to Thursday stays. Cream tea is included on arrival, with one three-course dinner and breakfast. Brockencotehall.com

Olympic teams plus millions of holidaymakers flocking to London by Eurostar for last summer’s Games saw the Channel Tunnel train service’s operating profit more than double to £52.3 million in 2012.

Hidden Europe

Q I'm having real trouble trying to find any useful websites for train travel in Europe! I only want to know how much, roughly the individual tickets will cost me compared to buying a rail pass. but I just can't find any websites that will help me. Can you recommend anything?

Alice Robeson

Still glowing from their plaudits and New Year's honours, the marketing and communications executives behind the London 2012 Olympics are starting to find new jobs.

The man who pays his way

36 lorry drivers on board were evacuated after train was driven out of the tunnel

Austria's highest gondola opens

The new highest lift in Austria, which ascends to 3,440m, has just opened at Pitztal (00 43 5414 86999; pitztaler-gletscher.at). The Wildspitze gondola (above) takes skiers and boarders more than two kilometres in under six minutes up to the Hinterer Brunnenkogel, where Austria's highest café is located. From here there are also breathtaking views of the Wildspitze (at 3774m, Austria's second-highest mountain) and more than 50 other 3,000m-plus peaks. Pitztal itself has already been open for nearly two months for autumn glacier skiing, with more than 27km of piste available. Around 60cm of fresh snow arrived at the start of the month.

Horses competing in dressage events at the Olympics plus teams of athletes from Uzbekistan, France and Sweden all travelled to London by Eurotunnel in the third quarter, seeing revenues on the under-the-sea train line rise 13 per cent to €275m (£225m).

They came, they saw and many of them conquered. But all good things must come to an end. Yesterday Britain began bidding farewell to the 10,000 athletes who had called Stratford their home as organisers began the herculean task of readying the Olympic Park in time for the Paralympics.

The French have embraced the London 2012 Olympics by starting their traditional summer closedown early and heading off on holiday, according to Eurostar.

Taxpayers could be left with a huge bill for the planned high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham unless lessons are learnt from costly mistakes over the Channel Tunnel link, MPs warned today.