Slow start to the day, the French eat so late we were having dinner at 10pm last night so no surprise we didn't wake until 8am this morning, the last thing I wanted was Breakfast.   We got a few things sorted with Carol and Eric for our little apartment, my first job is to clean the kitchen area, its recently been painted throughout and the bathroom is all new, we have a brand new bed. As you know the French love to have lunch so that was next on the list and boy what a lunch!! We had a beautiful tomato, avocado, corn salad with hunks of bread – not for me today, so I thought that was it as there was a huge bowl – oh no that was just too wet your appetite. Next out comes out huge slices of veal, potato gratin – Pacal was looking at me sideways pulling faces that he was full – oh no you can’t give up that easily you have to have CHEESE!! - samples of Brie and a hard Goats cheese mmmm they were both good-more bread was consumed by the frenchies, now you are ready for dessert, a homemade pie with real prunes picked fresh from the tree this morning ohlala – Carol is a very good cook and I’m not quite sure how she finds the time these meals just seem to appear. It’s a great experience to live like the French and eat what they cook in their home, Carol tells me she cooks her mother’s recipes that she likes – how lovely that these have been handed down through a generation.

Carol is from Miramas and never moved outside of this area to live, Eric is French and was born in Germany as his parents moved around a lot with his father’s work, they met in Aix-en-Provence approx 40 minutes from here and have two teenage daughters – (don’t need to say anymore other than they are teenagers!!)   


 After that lot there was no negotiation it was on the bikes for a test ride. We originally were getting what you call crosstail bikes which are a cross between a city bike and a bike that you can ride on trails. JB in the bike shop was exceptional and he really thought it would be better for us to get 29’er mountain bikes with the right tyres so we can go anyway, we both liked the idea of still being able to go mountain biking too. We got the pannier racks put on and to our surprise they didn’t look too dorky at all!!!  So off we went for a few back roads and then a ride along the enclosed sea fed lake and clocked 25km’s with a couple of hills and the bikes rolled along – this is the first woman’s specific bike I have had and WHAT a difference – I would love to change my bikes at home now. We are so excited and I can’t wait to get pedalling across France.