Silent Sunday

It feels like it has been raining forever, but as I look back over our photos from the week it doesn't seem to have been that bad and we even had lunch in the garden, once!

Best thing about this time of year is seeds.

Our new girls finally brave enough to enjoy the orchard

February lunch in the garden

Homemade pile of compost

Mini's friend Dexter comes to stay

Good boy Dexter

Willow knows just how to get comfy and keep warm

France et Moi with author Shawnie Kelley

Welcome to the very first ‘France et Moi’ feature where I’m talking to author Shawnie Kelley about what France means to her.

Shawnie Kelley Foy is owner of Wanderlust Tours, specializing in French culinary and cultural tourism, and author of 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go , It Happened on Cape Cod, and Insiders' Guide to Columbus. She is a passionate home cook, food-blogger, and advocate of local foods and business.

First question, I think France is a special place and it is famed for many things including its cheese, wine and diverse holiday locations plus, dare I say it strikes and dog poo littered streets. What do you think makes France so very unique and ‘French’?

Shawnie: For a country that’s the size of Texas, France really does pack in the diversity; from its landscape and climates to its historical contributions; from its extreme urban centers and tranquil countryside to its cultural and culinary traditions. As a lover of food and architecture, I tend to define places by those two things. For me, France doesn’t get any more “French” than when you eat.

2) What is your first memory of a trip to France?

Shawnie: This isn’t exactly my first memory, but it is the exact moment when I fell in love with France. It was during my very first trip to Paris in the early 90s. I had been there a few days wandering around, mesmerised and hypnotized by the sensory overload that Paris is. I couldn’t race out of the metro or turn the corner fast enough because something beautiful was always waiting. My breath was taken away upon exiting the Metro at Place de la Concorde. It was a blindingly sunny May morning, the obelisk and hotels were a glittering gold; the fountains were dancing; cars were whizzing by; the arc d’triomphe in front; the Tuileries behind. It was also the very first time I had ever seen the Eiffel Tower from a distance. There were no words. The snapshot of this exact moment is burned into my brain forever. It still makes me catch my breath.

3) What is your favourite holiday location in France?

Shawnie: The South of France in general; but depending on my mood: Nice or Paris. Nice is like an ‘old comfortable sweater.’ When I put it on, it feels good, easy, worn-in, familiar. I lived in Nice back in 2000 and got to know the region rather well, so this familiarity makes for a laid-back holiday on so many levels. Paris, however, is like my ‘little black dress.’ A total looker-- a classic, beautiful, sexy city-- without trying too hard. I go to the City of Light when I want an urbane experience.

4) What would you say your level of French is?

Shawnie: I studied French in highschool, college, and took language classes at the University of Nice in my adult life. I don’t consider myself fluent because I don’t use it, but it resurfaces quickly after being in France for a few days. I can read fairly fluently and carry on well in conversational French.

5) Imagine you are sitting outside a French café at 10.00am on a sunny morning watching the world go by, what do you order from the waiter?

Shawnie: I’m a petit dejeuner traditionalist... a frothy cup of cafe au lait and a buttery croissant or pain des amandes does the trick.

6) What is your favourite regional French dish?

Shawnie: I’m a sucker for socca - the Nicoise specialty. The rustic chick pea flour crepe is served with a drizzle of olive oil and a heavy handed dash of black pepper.

7) Do you ever cook traditional French food at home?

Shawnie: Yes! Often. From hearty daube and cassoulet, to soups, seafood pastas and breads. I’ve even mastered the socca. I leave the pastry making to my sister, Mandy Jones, with whom I also teach cookery classes. She and I founded Simply French, a “tour de cuisine” cooking series and food blog. We combine cooking lessons with a discussion of regional culinary traditions. She mostly teaches the technical component while I speak on the background of the dishes or regional history... putting the recipes into historical and cultural context. It’s a lot of fun! In fact, I’m going to be teaching a Provencal series at a friend’s new cooking school here in Columbus, Ohio, The Seasoned Farmhouse.

8) France has many different cheeses, a silly question, but which French cheese are you? 

Shawnie: I’ve been told that I’m bubbly and approachable, so a cheese with the same friendly characteristic makes sense. Comté fits the bill quite nicely... this sweet cow’s milk cheese is flexible in texture; a little hard when it has to be, yet melts easily into a bubbly pile of goo for fondue. Not to mention, it’s complex, yet a little nutty.

9) France has some beautiful old towns and cities and there are a few that constantly battle to be my favourite but do you have a favourite?

Shawnie: Loaded question. One of the most daunting sections to compile in my travel guide 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go was the chapter about old towns, and seaside villages, sleepy hamlets... It took forever to narrow down the choices, but one place that always stands out in my mind (and made the cut!) is Collioure - an artsy, waterfront village on the southwestern Mediterranean coast, not far from the Spanish border. It has everything I appreciate in a town: jaw-dropping scenery; a craggy coastline, winding medieval streets, a hulking fortress, art galleries, colourful waterfront restaurants and fishing boats. Granted, I’d not consider visiting during peak tourist season, but in shoulder or off season, Collioure is one of my top destinations.

10) If money and commitments were no object where in France would you like to own a property and what sort of place would it be?

Shawnie: I call this my “Best Seller” dream house.... when I write that best seller and make millions, I’d buy a villa in the Riviera. Not too big, but with a stellar kitchen and view. Maybe perched up above Eze-sur- Mer, or overlooking the coast along cap d’Antibes. I’d have a revolving door of family and friends while writing novels till my hands fall off.

Finally, do you have any current projects you would like to tell my readers about?

Shawnie: I just finished writing a (English language) travel guide titled 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Go, published by California-based Travelers Tales.  The book is up for pre-sale now on Amazon and will be released in May. I am also organizing fully guided, all-inclusive tours through my travel company, Wanderlust Tours. The first tour in June is a Cultural and Culinary Tour de Cote d’Azur, which includes cooking classes, market tours, and a variety of guided excursions.  I also have a French Christmas Markets tour in the works. I’m a huge advocate of culinary tourism, so the tours put on by my companies are food-forward. We try our best to seek out places that highlight local and seasonal dining and support independently-owned businesses and farm to fork restaurants.

Thank you Shawnie, and good luck with the book release and tours. If you would like to see more from Shawnie and 100 Places in France Every Woman Should Visit you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Hat chat

You rarely see Queen Elizabeth II without a hat and I have to admit I’m quite partial to my hats too. I may not have the selection available to Her Majesty, but I have a cunning system of changing the scarf on my summer hat to better coordinate it with whatever floaty dress I happen to be wafting around in – versatile and resourceful, that’s me.

An artist has spotted a photo of me in my summer hat and has kindly asked for permission to paint it. Wow! In just the same way the commissioning of a new Royal portrait always warrants space in the press, so I just had to tell you. How exciting! If you want to see the photo it is over on the ‘France et Moi’ page here. Tomorrow will see the launch of the new French Village Diaries Friday feature ‘France et Moi’ where each week I will be talking to someone interesting about their love of France. Some, like me have made France their home, others have fallen in love from afar, but always treasure visits. We will be discussing regional food, cheese, patisseries, wine, cars, the language, favourite places and basically all things French. It has been great fun for me to set up so I hope you enjoy it too.

Now back to hats, and I have some sad news. Much as I like my summer hat it is my winter hat that I love. I don’t like being cold and uncomfortable so winter dog walks see me carefully attired, yes, I am the sort of person who tucks my gloves into my coat and then securely tightens the Velcro cuffs. There is nothing worse than the wind whistling in my ears so my hat has become my trusty winter friend since I bought it in a mill shop in Ireland, just before we moved to France in 2004. This week I lost my hat! Our village is not a big village, but somehow between leaving the library on Tuesday and walking the two roads to home I managed to loose it. I have retraced my route three times, checked the wheelie bins on the road, but nothing, my faithful friend has gone. I can only hope it will be handed in to the Mairie or Boulangerie and we will be reunited soon. The look on Ade’s face when I put on the replacement (that used to be Ed’s many years ago) spoke volumes, so I think I may need a shopping trip soon. My poor hat, I miss you my friend.

My favourite hat

Book Review France on Two Wheels by Adam Ruck

I have been having a great time with my latest read France on Two Wheels: Six Long Bike Rides for the Bon Vivant Cyclist by Adam Ruck. Every evening when I climb into bed Adam is waiting to take me on an adventure – in France, on a bike.

www.france2wheels.com

I met Adam on Twitter just before Christmas and my first reaction to the write up of his book was “Ooh – look at this! A book about cycling and France and food/wine too. Does it get any better than this?” Well, having read the book I can tell you, yes it does. Adam’s book, like so many other good books on travelling in France that I have read (and I have read a lot), inspires me to get out and see more of France. However, for me at least, Adam brought an extra element of excitement as his ‘way’ makes the adventure seem really do-able. Each of his six routes is covered in about eight days and his daily distance of about 100km would be achievable by us (with a bit of effort put in beforehand). His bike isn’t weighed down with tent and sleeping bag as with a bit of careful planning he finds good value hotels each night – much like we do for our road trips in the Mini. I admire (almost to the point of jealousy) those who can take off with all they need for the next six weeks strapped to their bike. However they all have stories to tell of nights of little or no sleep under canvass for all sorts of reasons and they have made me realise it’s not for me. I don’t do sleepless nights and I know I couldn’t cycle all day following a sleepless night. Adam has made it seem OK to have a cycling adventure and stay in a bed each night with access to a private shower with hot water on arrival and before you leave. Thanks Adam.

Add to this Adam’s experience of travelling and writing about France for the Holiday Which? guides for many years and you have a great read with lots of interesting information, including places to stay and eat, along the way. Adam is also the only other person I have ever encountered who has mentioned travelling with The Red Book (France 2012 MICHELIN Guide (Michelin Guides)) , just like we do.  I would be interested to know do you travel with yours?

The one downside, as far as Ade is concerned is that he now has a bouncy, excitable wife nagging him about how fantastic it would be to cycle the 600km triangle from home to Nantes to Tours (via the rivers and chateaux of the Loire) to home again, this summer.

My big adventure?

Adam, thanks for sending me the book and if you are ever planning another cycling trip in France and you need a ‘Girl-Friday’ I’m your man!

You can see more on Adam’s adventures, including photos at http://www.france2wheels.com France on Two Wheels is published by Short Books Ltd and is available in paperback and ebook format from all good booksellers and online. Here is the Amazon link.

Money Talk Monday Guest Post

When we moved to France in 2004 we used a currency house to ensure we got a good exchange rate when transferring our funds from the UK. When large sums of money are involved currency fluctuations can make a huge difference and my advice will always be to shop around for the best rate. Today's post is a guest post by Peter Lavelle from foreign exchange specialists Pure FX. Please note I am not being paid to host this post, I have not used Pure FX nor do I endorse them, but for any readers thinking about moving to France this is good information to consider. 

5 Tips to Maximise Your Exchange Rate When You Move to France

As an expat myself, based in Madrid, I can attest to the importance of getting your money transfer right. Given that, what I want to do in this post is outline 5 tips to maximise your exchange rate when you move to France.

1. Research the exchange rates in advance. The biggest mistake people make when transferring money is to leave it to the last minute. This means they’re left with little choice but to accept the rate available, be that what it may. Instead, if you wish to maximise your exchange rate, you need to research the rates in advance.

2. Set a realistic target rate. It’s important to be realistic about what exchange rate you can expect. If you’ll only transfer pounds into euros at 1.50, it may be worth rethinking whether that’s a reasonable goal, given that the pound hasn’t been there in five years. Instead, get a sense of where the market’s been in the last six months, and set your target rate based on that.

3. Accept a good rate while it’s available. A common mistake among people transferring money is to spot a good rate and, instead of making their transfer there and then, decide to wait and see how high it goes. The trouble is, the foreign exchange market is deeply volatile, and a rising exchange rate can become a falling one without warning. Given that, it’s better to accept a good rate when it comes around.

4. Consider a forward contract. A forward contract is a way for you to lock in your exchange rate ahead of time. It can be useful if you like the present exchange rate, but don’t yet wish to have your money in France. What happens is, you “lock in” the exchange rate where it is, pay an initial 10.0% of the total sum, then you can transfer your money at any time you like within the next two years.

5. Think carefully before using a bank. Last of all, think carefully about whether you want to use a bank to transfer your money. This is because, compared to a specialist foreign exchange broker, banks offer exchange rates up to 4.0% worse, which can add up to a difference of thousands of euros, if your intention is to buy a house in France.

These tips will put you in a better position when you come to transfer money to France. Good luck!

About the writer

Peter is an economist at foreign exchange broker Pure FX. He’s worked in foreign exchange since 2010, and is a dedicated follower of global politics and economics. If you have any questions for him about the foreign exchange rates, he’d be delighted to help answer them.

Silent Sunday

Some of my favourite pictures from this week, which has been a really mixed one weather wise, but the sun is shining here today.

Slow cooker pork a firm favourite meal here

Hazelnut catkins promise summer harvests

Ducky-boy enjoying the orchard

Signs of spring, the first violet

Special homegrown Saturday breakfast

http://www.frenchvillagediaries.com/2013/02/la-chandeleur.html

Poppy plays dead - no cats were harmed in the taking of this picture!

La Chandeleur

A younger Ed making pancakes

For a country famed for it’s many food related fêtes and traditions it will come as no surprise to hear that France celebrates not one, but two pancake days, and today is one of those days. 

February 2^nd is Candlemass Day or La Chandeleur in France and marks the halfway point between the shortest day and the spring equinox as well as the Catholic feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary 40 days after Christmas. There are traditions all over the world for today and many involve the weather:

If Candlemass Day be fair and bright,

Winter will have another fight.

If Candlemass Day brings cloud and rain,

Winter won’t come again.

Anyone out there want to take a bet on what winter still has in store for us as the sun is shining as I write this, but less than five minutes ago we had squally winds and rain that turned to hail stones? Whatever the weather has in store there are signs everywhere that we have turned a corner, I have seen my first cowslip, daisies and a few violets and our hazelnut trees are covered in catkins. The bulbs are all looking good too, but no flowers just yet. Another sign of impending spring is our itching to feel the dirt beneath our fingernails as we start sowing the seeds for the summer potager crops, especially the courgettes, tomatoes and chillis. It won’t be long before we get our little greenhouse out again, but we’ll wait a while for the wind to die down.

Tonight all over France families will be celebrating La Chandeleur eating pancakes together. The tradition is to hold a coin in your writing hand whilst flipping the pancake with the other –if you manage to catch the pancake your family will be prosperous for the rest of the year – well it can’t do any harm to try can it? We will be participating, Ed has assisted in making the batter and good old Brucie the goose has provided the egg. Here is my pancake recipe:

175g (6oz) plain flour

2 large eggs (or one goose egg)

175ml (6fl oz) milk, mixed with 120ml (4fl oz) water

Sift the flour into a bowl, make a well in the middle to crack the eggs into. Start whisking the eggs and the flour will slowing become incorporated, then add the liquid a little at a time. Ensure all flour is incorporated, whisk until smooth, then leave to rest for about half an hour before using. The great thing about pancakes is that you can serve them with so many things, but homemade jam tops our list of favourites.

Do you celebrate today? If so, how?

Top Tips and Recipes for Curry

As we are creatures of routine Thursday night is often ‘curry night’ for us, but not of the takeaway kind. France doesn’t really do curry and in our little bit of rural France there isn’t really much choice in takeaways at all. I have developed my own mixes of spices and other ingredients over the years to make my own delicious curries, much healthier and cheaper than high street curries and I even have my own naan bread recipe too.

Ready for the freezer

No two of my curries are the same as a lot depends on what is in season, or what needs using up in the fridge, but the following recipe will work just as well with any diced meat, courgettes, butternut squash, plus tinned lentils or chickpeas. Having watched Dave Myers and Si King (The Hairy Bikers' Great Curries ) on TV last night I just have to share their brilliant top tip for curry paste. I regularly make up large batches of walnut pesto using wild garlic, basil, rocket or parsley and freeze it in ice cube trays so it is always ready to use. Si and Dave made a huge batch of curry paste in a food processor and froze it in…you guessed it – ice cube trays – I seriously can’t believe I didn’t think of this myself!

Here is what went into my batch of curry paste today, some will be used tonight with lots of sliced onions sautéed with 2 tsp of cumin seeds, mushrooms, diced carrots, peppers and a tin of lentils, and the rest is safely tucked up in the freezer.

1 sliced chilli (I kept the seeds in, but you can scrape them out)

1 whole bulb of garlic

Fresh ginger, finely sliced – I used a 50g piece (or about twice the size of my thumb)

1 bunch of fresh coriander (I substituted this for parsley which is growing in the garden at the moment and the coriander isn’t)

2 tsp of cinnamon

8 tsp of ground cumin

8 tsp of turmeric

8 tsp of ground coriander (omit if using fresh coriander)

2 tbsp of tomato purée

Water added when mixed to make a wet paste consistency

Courgette curry, one of our favourites

For a creamy curry I add a small carton of coconut milk just before serving or top tip for a healthier option, mix 1 tbsp of desiccated coconut, 1 tbsp ground almonds, 125g natural yoghurt and 3 tbsp of water and add this instead of the coconut milk.

Another curry top tip is to add an extra whole chilli but remove before serving and slice with a pair of scissors. This peps up the heat for Ade and I when added to our plates, without making it too hot a curry for Ed.

I always serve my curries with rice and naan breads.

Book Review of The Summer of France by Paulita Kincer

I was the lucky winner of THE SUMMER OF FRANCE in a competition on Delana du Jour’s blog just before Christmas. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again entering online competitions is well worth it!

In this book we meet Fia, married to a safe and sensible husband and Mom to teenage twins, who feels the need for something to change following the loss of her job and wants to bring her family closer together. That something comes from a call from her Uncle who fought in France during the war, met a French girl, stayed and is now running a Provencal B&B in wife Lucie’s family home. Now nearing retirement Lucie and Martin want a break and ask Fia to help. However, things don’t go quite as planned and she soon finds herself alone and working hard while her family all go their separate ways exploring France and the French. It soon becomes apparent that there may be skeletons and secrets hidden in Uncle Martins closet and a break in at the B&B makes Fia realise someone is looking for something. But who does she trust and who can help her to put things right?

Paulita’s descriptions bring the colours of Provence to life in this fast moving book that got my pulse racing at some points. It is a book of two stories, Uncle Martin’s and Fia’s and despite sometimes finding books like this a little difficult to follow I thought the two stories running together worked very well. There is (bien sur) a hunky Frenchman, but I would have been disappointed if there hadn’t been and there are lots of ‘will they, won’t they’ moments between the characters. As the book draws to a close there is a good mad dash and adrenalin-pumping chase that meant it was hard to put down.

If you are a fan of the Meg Ryan movie French Kiss [DVD] [1995], or enjoy reading Juliette Sobanet books you should enjoy this one.

You can read more from Paulita on her blog http://paulita-ponderings.blogspot.fr/

Festival International de la Bande Desinee Angouleme

An hours drive from home is Angouleme, the capital of the Charente department and also the comic book capital of France. As well as hosting a very popular annual comic festival, Festival International de la Bande Dessinée, it has some fantastically decorated buildings and is home to the museum of the comic book. 

Street art in Angouleme

This weekend Angouleme is celebrating the 40^th Festival from 31^st January to 3^rd February and should you wish to see more information on tickets and what’s going on see here http://www.bdangouleme.com Much as we love Angouleme as day trip location, and think the huge pieces of street art are fantastic, we won’t be attending the festival as we are not comic people and I wonder is it because we are English?

Angouleme street art

French children of all ages love to read comic books and even our small village library has a huge selection that are very popular, especially the rather 'grown-up' images in the ones not designed for small children. Despite receiving many of the kids favourites as birthday presents from friends they have never grabbed Ed’s imagination the way a reading book has. This probably explains why it took us over eight years to get to visit the museum in Angouleme, despite it being free to enter on the first Sunday of the month (except July and August).

The beautiful buildings that house the museum in Angouleme

The museum is home to many examples of original artwork, detailed pencil sketches plus old editions of childhood favourites that would probably give my parents a stab of nostalgia. Far more exciting and fun for Ed and his friend was the many different and funky seating areas dotted around the museum, each with their own collection of books, the perfect place for a spot of quiet reading. Except they weren’t really interested in the reading, and I can’t say I can blame them. Give me a real book with words and I hungrily gobble them off the page, however, lots of squares, noisy illustrations with large ‘Ker-pow’ and ‘Bang’ over the top and the odd word bubble dotted around and I glaze over, sorry, but that is me! Whether it is a cultural thing or an age thing, or a bit of both I don’t know, but I think we will leave the festival to the fans. Angouleme, we will be back to see you and your street art soon.

Rouillac Market

In the local town of Rouillac, nestled in amongst the Cognac vineyards, the 27^th of each month is an important date. For on the 27^th, whether it falls on a weekday or weekend and come rain or shine, the whole town becomes a huge market place. This tradition goes back over two hundred years and is likely to have originally been a horse-trading market. Rouillac is situated both on the Voie Agrippa, an ancient east/west route across France linking Lyon with Saintes, and also an important trade route between Brittany and Spain. People still come from miles around (it is BIG in the local calendar) and one of the main attractions now is the poultry, although there are still a few horse sales too as well as everything else you would expect to find at a French market.

Mucky ducks at Rouillac Market www.frenchvillagediaries.com

For some time now I have wanted grey speckled hens and with Ade’s permission (he keeps a very tight control over my animal purchases) that was my goal and the search was on. Those seriously looking for a bargain are there very early, but on a cold, wet Sunday we decided a mid morning outing was a better idea, so set off after a coffee and croissant breakfast. The drive down was grey and damp, the Cognac vines, some neatly pruned some still scruffy and twiggy looked bare and wintry. A quick tour around the poultry stands and we found our girls. Wanting 2 or 3 grey speckled hens fate led us to the only stand offering a discount for buying 3 birds, and they just happened to be grey speckled birds – sold to the short lady in mauve! To top it all the weather was dry for our wander around the market where we could have been tempted by all sorts from day old ducklings, to strings of garlic, to huge turkeys (alive), to fish (dead), to sausage and chips (hot) to locally grown kiwi fruits. We did scoop up a bargain on the kiwis as they are full of vitamin C and make a great winter breakfast smoothie with a banana and some natural yoghurt.

Fifty, Phyl and Kirstie

The new girls, Fifty (the light grey one), Kirstie (the bold, bossy speckled one) and Phyl (the other one) are settling in well, they haven’t met the others yet, but I hope they will enjoy their free range life in our orchard very soon (and lay us lots of eggs).

Eggs, all sizes, all colours at Rouillac Market

Fish at Rouillac Market

Garlic at Rouillac Market

Our purchases from Rouillac Market

Silent Sunday

Welcome to another week in pictures.

Mini has a friend to stay - Toffee

A windy start to the week

Baking keeps me warm and happy http://www.frenchvillagediaries.com/2013/01/fat-free-cherry-cake-recipe.html

Deer in the distance

Toffee and Willow keeping warm

Our new grey speckled hens

Book review of Good Vibrations by Andrew p. Sykes

When I read a book to be reviewed I try not to read other reviews so I can ensure that my review is 100% my thoughts and words. Following Andrew on Twitter has made it a little difficult as he is always tweeting snippets of reviews. I therefore know that the word ‘inspirational’ seems to appear a lot in association with his book Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie, so I was determined not to use it.

Andrew is a teacher who decided to put his summer holiday to good use by cycling from Reading in Berkshire, through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and into and through Italy. That is 3,300km following the Eurovelo 5 route, alone, unless of course you include Reggie, his bike. Now as I am the sort of person who names her cars and even her central heating boiler, I love that Andrew named his bike and it really added an extra something to the book for me.

Image from www.cyclingeurope.org

For 30 cycling days in 36 days he clocked up about 100km and about 6 hours in the saddle each day. He climbed mountains, braved city centre traffic, endured cobbles and spoke-snapping incidents and was attacked by killer mosquitoes. So I admit it’s difficult not to use the word ‘inspirational’. Andrew himself says he was ‘inspired’ by the Beijing Olympic cycling of 2008 and spent two years trying to pinpoint an exact route, for although Eurovelo 5 takes you from London to Brindisi in Italy, loosely in recognition of the Via Roma Francigena pilgrim route, it’s a very vague directional guide that doesn’t exist in detailed map form.

Reading this book in the cold, dismal month of January made me long for warm summer days cycling the vineyards with my beautiful Blue Belle. Oh yes, ‘inspired’ by Reggie, my lovely blue retro road bike now has a name too. For us a good day in the saddle once a week, covering anywhere between 40 and 80km is about the norm, however our routes are planned in advance and often follow well signed local rides. For Andrew, much of the detail in his journey was put together the night before and he rarely knew exactly where he would be laying his head at night – now that is ‘inspiring’ for a control freak planner like me! This book and the likes of Sir Bradley with his 2012 Tour de France win and not to mention the fantastic Team GB cyclists and their Olympic ‘bling’ are likely to ‘inspire’ a lot more bike adventures in the coming years. We will certainly be upping our game this summer in terms of distance and pace. The cyclists among you cannot fail to be fired up by reading this book, but for those who prefer armchair travelling I’m sure you will enjoy Andrew’s interesting description of his journey.

This summer also sees Andrew (and Reggie) taking on another adventure following Eurovelo 8 from Athens in Greece to Cadiz in Spain, popping into the South of France on his way. You can follow his adventures online here. Thanks for sending me a copy of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie and best of luck for your 2013 adventure Andrew, we would be on route to cheer you on but you will be a little too far south from us. Andrew's book is available in paperback and ebook format from all good bookstores and online retailers, link to Amazon here.