My first time abroad (written by Jonas)

It's quite crazy to say until a week before we departed on our cross Europe adventure, I didn't even own a passport (luckily it did come in time!).

I'd never stepped out of the UK, though we did have one rainy holiday to the Isles of Scilly, but for the past 19 years I've been roaming around Blighty. 

Neither had I been on a plane, but that's no way to travel, fair enough if you need to cross the Atlantic or Pacific. Cycling is the perfect way to travel, no question about it. 

Plus though we are carrying a lot of kit with us, it's honestly the bear minimum, almost every bit of gear we carry, we use on a daily basis. 

Maybe it's because we're cycling for a good cause but everyone we're met have been so friendly and generous, even the car drivers give us much more space - people have said there is road rage here too but we've not experienced any, (despite me going around a round-a-bout the wrong way in Nantes!).

The cycle route along the Loire was not only paved but the landscape was beautiful, most days we could easily clock up 50, 60 miles however one day we found a campsite with wifi.. We might have left slightly later than 8am - couple hours later we were finally on the road.  

Heading East along the Loire to Orleans we stopped briefly to check the Garmin; a lady putting out her bins asked us if we were lost, we said we were ok but Matty asked  if we could use her Wifi, after showing her a rather battered A5 post of what we are doing, she invited us in for a drink. Not long after we has been invited for dinner and allowed to say the night in their garage! With rain forecast for the morning, we could hardly say no. 

I'm quickly realizing that meal times mean a lot more to the French than the British; it's the norm to eat as a family whether it's at breakfast or dinner and shops shut at lunch time, even some supermarkets!

I've learnt more about French culture over a couple meals with the many kind families than three years of French classes at school. 

We've had many more warm receptions from people along the route, I'm sure Matty will cover them in his blog!