Our last day in France saw us hoping for an easy ride across the Col de Braus and into Italy through a small pass to the north of Nice. However after a roadside chat with local cyclist Patrick, we were a little more cautious. He said we would never make it on our heavy bikes to Italy on that day as we had 3 passes and at least 15km of climbing ahead. – Posted by Justin

In France we swapped chocolate filled mini croissants for regular ones and traded Spanish bread for baguettes and many types of cereales filled bread. Influenced by what we experienced when staying with Yves and Ingrid our cooking has become a little more French as well. This is what we ate in one day in France. – Posted by Emma

As we’ve travelled through the Rhone Valley and Provence, we’ve been passing through some of the vine-rich regions of France. The sun has been out, the hills have been small and sometimes the wind has been behind us, but it feels like we’ve caught these places at the wrong time of year. – Posted by Emma

After two weeks of rigorous testing I can confirm that spending your holiday-time with a car, firm mattress and washing machine is vastly more comfortable than cycle touring through the summer heat. We were lucky to spend two weeks in relative luxury with my parents Bruce and Judy who had flown over from New Zealand for a couple of weeks with us. – Posted by Emma