Day 40 - 48

Day 40 - Menton -> Diano Marino (ITALY!!!) (62km)
We enjoyed our final french pastries before heading to the border crossing. We were kind of disapointed that there was no ceremony whatsoever involved in entering Italy. So as it stands, neither of us have any passport stamps indicating that we have even left the UK. As soon as we crossed the border things were definately different! Busy, hilly, bumpy roads, crazy traffic, scooters a-plenty. Hello Italy.

Day 41 - Diano Marino -> Verezzi (42km)
Busy traffic all around us again today, as the roaads in this part of the country are forced into a compact area. The coast is covered in 'paying beaches' where they are all fenced off. We found a free beach and enjoyed a swim. Stopped at Verezzi - where we had our own terraced pitch under some olive trees with a wonderful view.

Day 42 - Verezzi -> Verezzi (8km)
Our little terraced spot away from it all in the hills of Verezzi was so good we decided to stay another day. Did some much needed bike maintenance and enjoyed our wonderful view (will try and post a photo soon).

Day 43 - Verezzi -> Sestri Levante (63km)
Beautiful riding this morning - hilly and along a rocky coast. First stop was at Noli - a lovely little walled town with delicious aromas wafting out of every doorway. After rounding the next cape we saw the vista of Genova, and decided to catch a train right through it as traffic was intensifying again and doing our heads in!

Day 44 - Sestri Levante -> Levanto (48km)
Rainy riding this morning. Enjoyed some market shopping in Sestri Levante before heading over our first 'pass'. 3 hours of uphill riding and we were up in the clouds and over the top. Mainly downhill to Levanto, to be our base while we explored the Cinque Terre.

Day 45 - Levanto -> Cinque Terra -> Levanto (0km)

Met Ethyl and Laurie - 2 cycle tourers who put us to shame - in Levanto, and enjoyed swapping stories for an evening. They had done over 7000kms since June, and their daily average distances were probably at least twice ours... Headed off in the morning to the Eastern end of the Cinque Terre and walked our way back. Some day off - we were exhausted by the end of it! It was very beautiful though.

Day 46 - Levanto -> Casola in Lunigiana (76km)
Hardest stretch of riding so far getting over the mountains after Levanto. Although not officially a pass we climbed 800m in 10km. Cold weather coincided with our turn inland and we chilled right off up in the mountains.

Day 47 - Casola -> Castelnuovo (43km)
More uphill today - stunning riding past little mountain towns with lots of church bells. Huge sheer faced peaks and another 800m pass. Followed 'El Serchio' river down to Castelnuovo where we made 2 more friends at the campsite. Bob and Barbara invited us to their cozy campervan, and we chatted and drank scotch for the evening. Nice and warm now!

Day 48 - Castelnuovo -> Lucca (60km)
Past Devil's bridge and on to Lucca. Was fun and fast riding further down the Serchio valley. Pitched up in a campervan stop and went to investigate town. Charlie fell off his bike on arrival home tonight after too much wine! Drunkeness broke his fall!

Day 22 - 39

Hello again! Apologies for the month long delay. The net situation hasn't improved though so it may be a while until the next post. Anyhow, here we go...

Day 22 - Montricoux -> Laguepie (58km)
Lots of rain overnight and into morning. Stopped in farmers market in Montricoux and bought fruit and veg from the crustiest old dude we could find! Cycled through spectacular Aveyron gorges and over steepest climbs so far. Stopped in St. Antonin - full of English!

Day 23 - Laguepie -> Laguepie (0km)
We met up with Nurul (Jody's colleague) today! Laguepie is cool, small town relatively untouched by tourism. Just a boulodrome (for petanque) a couple of bars and a campsite really. Oh and a cool chataux.

Day 24 - Laguepie -> Realmont (62km)
Met Nurul again today, this time in Courdes Sur Ciel - possibly the most beautiful french town so far. Google it for pics now!!! Headed south through Albi (very cool cathedral here) but we were a bit too tired to fully appreciate it as it was quite late in the day. Very tough last 20kms to Realmont. Hilly riding today and we thought we could see the Pyranees in the distance.

Day 25 - Realmont -> Mazamet (49km)
Very hilly again today. Got to see Lautrec and have our most picturesque lunch to date, looking south at the Montaigne Noir - these are the mountains we thought were the Pyranees. They are not and we will have to go over them to get to Carcasonne. Bugger.

Day 26 - Mazamet -> Castres -> Mazamet (0km)
Met with Nurul for the last time today. Had a look around Mazamet but there wasn't much to see. Hopped on a train to Castres and had a lovely lunch by the river. Jody's pudding was cruely robbed by fate as the restaurant Madame cut her hand badly and had to close to go to hospital. Spent rest of the day easting pastries and chocolates.

Day 27 - Mazamet -> Villemoustaussou (53km)
Today we defeated the Montainge Noir! Much easier than we thought but the decent was clearly steeper so we were glad we were heading south. Stunning 5 degree temperature difference on the south side of the mountains. Like another country! We really can see the Pyranees now!!!

Day 28 - Villemoustaussou -> Lezignan (66km)
Feckin' hot today! Carcassone was cool but too busy to enjoy on our bikes. Attempted to follow Canal du Midi towards Mediterranean but path was unsealed so we ditched it. Saw a huge forest fire!

Day 29 - Lezignan -> Narbonne-Plage (56km)
Went through lots of cool little villages with groups of oldies sat in the squares chatting and waiting for food vans to arrive etc. Arrived at Med! Found campsite quickly as poss and spent PM on the beach. No sun burn this time!!!

Day 30 - Narbonne-Plage -> Portiragnes-Plage (46km)
Very hot again today (every day is round here though). Portiragnes-Plage is a very touristy place consisting mainly of campsites for Germans. We stayed out of necessity but the camp was a bit like disney land!

Day 31 - Portiragnes-Plage -> Frontignan-Plage (53km)
Oh my the tourists! Today was the end of the high season and we cycled through huge traffic jams of motorhomes and campervans heading home. Once clear we arrived in Sete (large fishing town) and had a seafood lunch by the harbour to celebrate 1000 miles! Saw water jousting (boats instead of horses) in the harbour. Very cool!

Day 32 - Frontignan-Plage -> Lunel (69km)
Saw first Flamingos today! Nearing the Carmargue now so hoping to see more. Mainly a travelling day today so kms passed quickly.

Day 33 - Lunel -> Arles (87km)
Made a dash across the Carmargue today to avoid plague of mosquitos that live there this time of year. Saw Black Bulls, Flamingos, rice fields and horses. Not so many Mosis though (thank god!). Finished the day in Arles which is a very nice place, compelte with Amphitheatre!.

Day 34 - Arles -> Giens (La Tour Fondue) (15km)
We decided to skip out of Arles although it meant missing the 'bull race' in the amphitheatre. Got a train from Arles to Hyeres so we could slip past the industrial nightmare that is Marseille. From here we cycled south down a peninsula to Giens and camped there. Thought about going to Porquerolle Island but decided to explore the peninsula instead.

Day 35 - Giens -> Giens (14km)
And so we had another rest day. Did all the washing and then headed off to find a nice beach for the afternoon. We ended up clambering down a jagged rock face to spend the afternoon in our own private cove. It was pretty sweet! Really beautiful stretch of coast with pine trees hugging onto the rocks.

Day 36 - Giens -> St. Clair (36km)
Headed off up the peninsula again and got to see some good flocks of flamingos. Enquiries found that a cycle path (or nar enough) existed most of the way to St Raphael. We abandoned plans for more roundabout route, and crossed along the cycle path heading east. It was a good choice, as we soon found St Clair - a beautiful little beach - not too busy with the south of france fever. Lunch break turned into a whole afternoon and we then camped at a farm camp in the village. Greated by the old farmer guy in his beret and underpants, we decided you couldn't get much more french than that!

Day 37 - St. Clair -> Ste. Maxime (73km)
The Cote d'Azur gets better and better! Perfect weather, the med sparkling on our right, a cooling breeze, nice. Got to St Tropez for lunch, and ogled the mega yachts, hoping that someone would invite us in for lunch. It was for the rich and famous and we stuck out a bit. St Maxime was more our style. We camped nearby.

Day 38 - Ste. Maxime -> Grasse (73km)
People reckoned we should check out Haute Provence so we headed for the hills. Spectacular views, but big hills killed most of our enthusiasm. We decided we had too far to travel each day to do it over punishing hills, so Grasse was our stop, and we planned on heading back to the coast.

Day 39 - Grasse -> Menton (41km)
Today we experienced the ridiculous wealth of Monaco and Monte Carlo. Apparantly we rode through the tunnel outside the casino that the Grand Prix passes. Cheese sandwhichs on the coast and then on advice we decided our final French stop should be Menton. A cute town on the border. Campground was on a massive hill and we were reluctant to head to town for dinner. Fortunately, we tried the campsite restaurant for our 2000kms and goodbye France celebration. Met 2 other cycle tourers and enjoyed fabulous views and great pizza. Thanks France - Bon voyage!!