After breakfast Dirck and Jennifer helped me to fix my new headcam onto my helmet, so that it wasn't pointing at the ground or the sky! This was my first trip using a headcam, so mistakes were to be expected. I eventually produced a 17 min video of the whole trip which can be seen on my YouTube channel tra6fom. Dirck and Jennifer were busy with a potential house buyer, so they gave me directions for a really nice walk round the neighbourhood (see pics) ending ...

Once I had tightened the handlebars and secured the panniers, my first thought was to get some breakfast. Luckily there were quite a few places to choose from nearby as the drop-off point was just outside the toll booths at junction 41 of the A9 motorway, and in France such places are magnets for budget hotels, cafes etc. My route from there (and all subsequent routes) are on MapmyRide. At the time I didn't have a GPS, but was using a paper map. Unfortunately ...

Prologue: This was my first cycling trip in continental Europe since 1983, and the first time I had made use of the European Bike Express (see photo). The bikes are carried in a trailer, and before loading, the handlebars have to be loosened and turned 90deg to the left, so the space is used efficiently. With just over a week to go, I had a go at turning my bars, and found they wouldn't budge! So I soaked the area with WD40 and still no movement. Then I hit on ...