RAYOL-CANADEL, COTE D'AZUR

A bed five nights in a row. Some how I think that will be a rarity. Having spent a couple of days couch surfing at Simon and Marion's we are now at our friend's (Mike's) place on the French coast just west of St Tropez. It may have been better if we could have spread the luxury a little further but beggars can't be choosers and I am certainly not complaining about spending a few days here. We are staying in a stunning villa high up on the hill side overlooking the med. Superb location, unbelievable views and the weather to match. (As a friend just commented you wouldn't think anyone was lying if they said it used to be owned by Elton John). We should be well rested by the time we leave but may struggle to force ourselves out of the door and on our way.

Having spent our second night in a hotel in Tolosa, the following day was all up hill and brief. We managed only 20 or 30 kms before stopping for lunch and camping for the rest of the afternoon and night because of a big thunder storm. We found a great location off the road in a farmer's field which considering the terrain was relatively flat and near a stream. What we didn't know at the time was that the field also contained sheep and that the track to the side was regularly used by what we think were kids on mountain bikes. We spent the afternoon tucked up in our sleeping bags reading but always keeping half an ear on what was going on outside. Later in the afternoon a farmer came to move the sheep and we kept inside the tent with our fingers crossed he wouldn't bother us (there was absolutely no way he wouldn't see the tent) and as far as we could tell he didn't give us a second glance. Once it was dark we relaxed as we were well off the road and it was most unlikely we would be disturbed. We weren't though again I didn't sleep that well - the countryside just isn't that quiet or peaceful compared to the city - birds sang all night, the wind howled in the trees, the sheep baa'd and various other animals and insects did their nocturnal thing to make sure it was never quiet. Add to that my paranoia that any one of the number of people who must have seen the tent during the afternoon might return to rob us and as soon as I fell asleep I jolted awake again alarmed by some noise, holding my breath, wondering if we were being paid a visit. Of course we weren't and the night passed uneventfully. Of course once up and about the next morning I was delighted with our second night camping in the wild. That particular circular journey of the mind I think will become a regular part of the process of camping wild - something three weeks in we have told ourselves we must do more of.

Early to bed early to rise and following an afternoon off we again were able to put in a lot miles the following day. We are not obsessive and we never set out to travel as far as we can but we felt comfortable and well rested and as a result manged to cross the Pyrenees and into France. We had never thought this would possible this quickly and when crossed the pass after a 10km climb we felt great satisfaction at what we had already achieved. We paid to camp that night in St Etienne having travelled from Lietza. We were helped by a fantastic 20 km down hill section at the beginning of the day when were were always above 30 kmph and often in the 40's and occasionally hitting 50 or 60kmph.

Bike parked at the top of the pass into France.

The climb up to the border was long and steep but it was also one of the prettiest roads we had travelled along so far and never too steep. We kept it slow and steady and took regular drinks breaks and before we knew it we had left Spain behind and were trundling down a very bumpy French road the other side unable to make the most of the hill for fear the panniers would get thrown off. It has become one of the few irritations for me - the state of local French roads is appalling, bumpy, full of pot holes and uneven. It seems to me workmen in France must be trained to finish work off so that the repair is at any level other than the same as the rest the road. I don't think I have once been over a piece of new tarmac that isn't lower or higher than the original road`surface. You may think I should just get over it but when you are on a fully loaded bike you feel like the princess and the pea and notice every little jolt an worry what damage it is doing to your wheels or your forks. Two days away from Italy and I am hoping their roads are better.

COUCH SURFING IN GEMENOS

We seem to be travelling faster than I can write. We have now moved on to Gemenos which is near Aubagne which is near Marseille. We are staying or "couch surfing" with a lovely couple Simon and Marion who have a stunning home half way up a mountain on the outskirts of Gemenos. More on this later - but it is worth saying now that we couldn't have found kinder or more accommodating people who have opened their home to us as though they had known us all their lives.

Now a quick message of thanks and a sincere recommendation - having cycled ourselves into the ground or mountainside on our first day on the road and having cooked a much needed meal we got into our "skins" (for those that don't know they are athletic compression tights which are somewhat obscene if you don't fancy yourself as a ballet dancer and which your wear during exercise or afterwards to help recovery) and went to bed in our tent, in the woods, in the middle of nowhere half way up a mountain somewhere in north Spain fully expecting to wake up barely able to move and planning for as gentle a day as possible through necessity rather than choice.

If you read the box when you buy a pair of skins it seems like there could be a lot of over hyped scientific mumbo jumbo - if you think of that shampoo advert from a few years ago, the one where she tells you to pay attention because it's time for the science bit - well you kind of get the gist of how it's written. Having read the box with great scepticism, having looked at myself in the mirror when I first tried them on and blushed at what was in front of me, I now take all my negative thoughts back and really no longer care if they make me look like Dale Winton doing a sketch for comic relief. They are absolutely brilliant. We woke up the following morning feeling fantastic - I could walk normally, didn't have to hobble around at all. Once we were on the bikes we were stunned at how we felt. Now I know as an experiment we should really cycle a full day and then not wear them that night to see how we feel in the morning but there is no way in a million years I'm ever going to try that. It's just not worth it. I have slept in the skins every night now since we started and have every morning woken up feeling ready to get going with few if any aches and pains in my legs.

So to the recommendation. If you do lots of exercise - get a pair. And the thanks? Well thanks to Dave and Lisa for telling us about them. I now know, Dave, why you never stop wearing yours.

So our second day in the saddle was another great day but this time no need for hindsight to tell us that. We made it all the way to Tolosa which again was a lot further than we expected and not as difficult as anticipated. This did create one problem: when, in the middle of the afternoon, we considered how we were feeling, decided pretty good and so chose to push on it meant we arrived in Tolosa in early evening. There was no where we could easily camp wild, there was no official camp site in the town and just the one hotel. So although it wasn't really in the spirit of our adventure, on only our second day, we booked into a hotel. An expensive reward for two days hard cycling and definitely not one to be repeated. It was great though to have a hot shower and a bed for the night. Oh how we needed to toughen up.

It's very strange how you can so quickly forget and how one day merges into another. I have to ask Bridget to remind me what the second day's cycling was actually like. I remember we started with a short up hill section and then a really long down hill - 50kpmh making up for the slow slog the day before; I remember stunning views and I remember a fairly stormy end to the day as we arrived in Tolosa just in time. The rest is somewhat of a blur. I better remember how I felt which was pretty much ecstatic all day, big smiles all day, tired but happy at the end of the day when we assessed the map. On the second day we also started a small routine. When we camp wild we get up very early and leave as soon as possible so not to offend anyone. Then we stop in the first village, unpack our stove and make porridge. We did this for the first time on the second morning somewhat tentatively thinking local people might not like the ball of flame that bursts from a Whisperlite stove when you first prime it nor the roar it creates while you cook (these are really quiet villages we are talking about) but no one batted an eyelid that morning and no one has said anything since - in one French village we were even encouraged to enjoy our breakfast.

We have been going just over two weeks now and it has all been beyond our expectations and better than we had hoped. We do have some small concerns. We aren't finding it as easy to camp wild as we had hoped both mentally (I am really struggling in this especially when there is a genuine campsite available nearby) and also finding what I consider to be a suitable location - discreet, not an obvious trespass and at the right time of day. We have passed many perfect sites but so often in the morning or early afternoon and not early to late evening. The other concern at the moment is how expensive food seems to be - especially now we are in France. Combine this with the state of the pound and the bottom line is we are spending far too much money. When we totted it up this morning Bridget was particularly worried. I am a bit more laissez-faire and keen not to let it ruin what is a once in a lifetime experience but even I am struggling to work out how we have spent so much. So from today we have begun an auditing process. We are now writing down and recording every single euro we spend and on what. Then after another couple of weeks it should become clear where the money is going and how we can reduce costs.