Best cycling: Austria
Worst cycling: Hungary

Best campites: France

Best food: Italy
Best coffee: France
Best breakfasts: France/ hotel in Vienna
Best wine: France/ Austria (Sturm!)
Best beer: Germany

Worst day: that day in Hungary.... 3 puntures, 1 fall and an afternoon lost on impassable roads
Best day: cycling through Austria's Wachau, picking plums and apples as we went

Best bike shops: Germany

Favourite cities: Ulm, Besancon, Bratislava
Least favourite cities: Nantes, Linz

Most pleasant surprise: night in hotel on National Stud Farm after that day in Hungary
Least pleasant surprise: rain in Brittany in July... what's that all about?

Best value for money: Hungary
Worst value for money: Switzerland

Best cycle tracks: Austria/ Germany

Friendliest people: Germany

Best countryside: Alsace/ Austria/ upper Danube

Most punctures in one day: 3

Best playgrounds: France/ Germany

Most child friendly country: Germany

Most recommended for a family cycling holiday: France (weather, cycling, food, campsites, pools)

Worst drivers: Italians/ Romanians

Most bizarre sight: rural Romania..... where do we begin?

Toughest hill: relentlessly vicious 6km uphill to spend a night in Wildenstein Castle, Germany
Best downhill: coming back down from Wildenstein the next morning

Best looking people: Italy/ Bratislava
Most stylish people: Italy

Luca's favourites: pasta in Italy/ apple juice in Austria/ playgrounds in France/ thermal baths in Hungary



Linda, Phil & Luca

Reacquainted with our bikes and reacquainted with Besancon, we're now planning our route into Germany and to Donaueshingen, the source of the Danube. We're looking forward to getting back on the saddle and, having been in France for so long, starting what feels like a brand new leg of journey.

We had a fantastic break in Italy. Lynn and John's wedding was amazing, the food was absolutely delicious and the rolling Tuscan countryside was idyllic. We had a car, so we managed to take in Florence, Bologna, Chianti, Siena and of course we had to take Luca to see Lucca. He loved it, especially as we explored its cobbled streets by rented bikes!



We also managed to spend a few fleeting days in Switzerland. Being able to take in so much is one of the joys of travelling by car. But we arrived in Tuscany, having driven almost 1000km from France, nearly the same distance we had spent weeks cycling, without a sense of the place. Seeing it from behind a steering wheel and primarily by motorway, it's difficult to get a feel for a place. This brought home the joys of travelling by bike and reminded us why we set out on his trip. Cycling through a country allows you time to take it all in. The subtle changes in culture, attitude, food and customs between Britanny and the Loire regions were so apparent to us because the transition between the regions was so slow by bike.

The wedding was a great break from the cycling routine though. It was nice to be back in finery after weeks in cycling shorts!



It was also lovely to catch up with family..... and of course to call in babysitting favours!




But it necessitated more goodbyes...... it's not easy to explain to a 2 year old why his beloved grandparents, aunts and uncles have all gone home on the "big plane" and we're still pottering around on our bikes! But he loves his cycling life and seems as keen to return to the saddle as we are.