After a week cycling through Northern France, we’ve come away with a few highlights, and lowlights, to remember.

The Good

1. Our first wild camp
2. The surprising amount of forrest along the way, even close to Paris
3. Leffe beer on tap everywhere (Belgian 6.6%)
4. Moules frites and a bottle of wine by the sea, having survived our first week
5. Managing to naviate our way through Paris, all the way from Charles de Gaulle
6. Matt’s first escargo (in the form of a savoury escargot and champignon pancake)

The Bad

1. Northern France summer – cold, rainy and strong headwinds
2. Not being able to find cooking gas anywhere (i.e. no tea in the morning for Matt, and no soothing cooking in the evening for Ally)
3. General lack of campsites along the route, or anywhere near towns
4. The relative blandness of french food. Ok for a few days, but there’s only so much cream and bread you can enjoy. Our arteries may have hardened a little.

The Interesting

1. Everyone in France smokes, and all the ‘local pubs’ are bars combined with tobacco stores.
2. The pastries get worse the closer you get to the UK (or the further you get from Paris?)
3. The Avenue Verte route varying from perfectly smooth rail trails, to rough narrow cattle tracks
4. Turns out we both snore when it gets cold (winter could be interesting).