We have had some feedback about the site, and it’s time to give a little insight into our feelings, both as we approach our major milestone and how we’ve been feeling over the last couple of weeks.

We’ve both experienced very mixed emotions; walking through the Alpes was amazing - fantastic weather, breath-taking scenery and a real feeling of achievement. John joining us for that part of the trip was as uplifting as the views.

Arriving in Italy however, I felt that here we go again, another country, another culture that we have to quickly get into the swing of. We had both managed to find our feet in France, had gotten used to it’s quirks, routines and people, it had began to feel very comfortable and natural traveling around.

Since being in Italy the weather has been very bleak; foggy and grey; this coupled with the nights drawing in, has had an effect on both of our moods. We have gotten fairly low at points recently. Getting to Turin was a massive boost, as we were able to wonder around getting to know the city and become accustomed to Italian life again. (Tom himself didn’t see much of Turin as he fell sick, I don’t know what he would have made of the museum of cinema! I’m sure the mere concept in his day would have blown him away)

Giving up not only your job but your creature comforts can have quite a dramatic effect. The physical demands can be tough on there own, but that’s all a case of building muscle strength, stamina and a good diet. It’s the emotions and mood swings you go through which are the toughest part, you can have several mood swings in one day, and not just one month! The littlest thing can get you down or perk you up.

For me the trip so far feels almost like going into rehab, for the last 4 months we’ve been stripped of the usual things that clutter your time and mind. You have a lot of time to think, clear your mind and concentrate on the things that really matter to you and your life. I’ve found it has been both exhausting and refreshing.

It all got a bit hectic at home before bringing Daisy over here, so the number of ‘just in case’ items that I packed seemed to outweigh the ‘necessary’ items as the pictures will show. (luckily John has now taken some of them back home with him and avoided paying excess on the flight).

Leaving England:

Claire and I drove through the night to meet Chris in Melun. We’d left our Driving Ballards CD at home so couldn’t put on Roy Orboson, but made do with a Peter Kay sing-a-long instead. Trying not to draw too much attention to ourselves, we noticed that when we’d changed one of the front light bulbs in England it was now poking up in the air like a Batman calling sign - alas no man in tight black leather pants appeared for us, maybe we weren’t sending out the right French signals.

After the tiring journey down, we all went back up to Paris to spend a lazy, sunny day chilling out on the river and drinking wine in the cafes. It all went a bit pear-shaped from there, as we then discovered another bar with happy hour lasting several hours. I think we all vaguely remember seeing the Eiffel Tower looking stunning lit up and Chris having an encounter with a lamp post, before we finally managed to get the last train home, but all of that was a bit of a blur.

(p.s I couldn’t have done the trip without you LG, not just because of all the help, but also for making me laugh all the way).

We naively thought that August in France was going to be all flip-flops and bikinis/Speedos, but alas……

Only our third day, Sangatte to Audinghen, we found ourselves in a torrential down pour for hours, by the time we reached a local village, near the campsite we were heading for, we looked like we’d forgotten to take off our clothes before getting into the shower that morning. Chris bravely ventured into the local bar, and with his best French (think of the Policeman from ‘ello ello’) found out that there was no room at the Inn, however an extremely kind Dutch family overheard Chris’s story of woe and offered to help us out - the Dutch, my family has always been fond of them.

Week 2 yet more rain, it just kept coming for 3 days. We’d managed to walk 20 miles inland to Bezingham in 29c all day, to a campsite in the countryside set back by a lake, it looked like an idyllic place to chill out for a day. We went to bed with blazing sun and woke to the thunderous sound of rain on the tent. Having eaten all of our food supplies the previous day, we were then faced with a 10K trip just to buy some pan au chocolat, my feet were having none of it, luckily my bum had recovered from the week’s exhilaration on the tandem and when the offer of bikes were put our way I found myself very pleased to be back in the saddle.

The lessons we’ve so far learnt are that ponchos aren’t just for emergencies there for life and maybe walking is a bit loco as a form of transport in this day and age. I’m sure Tom would’ve flown easyjet given half the chance.

Oh yeah and never download Travis on your ipod.

It felt a little strange standing on the ferry deck, calling my friends/family and watching Britain fade into the distance, the realisation that we were indeed now about to begin this long adventure suddenly dawned on us both. Paris at this point, the first major milestone, feeling like another world away and with France as a whole feeling even more foreign than it should. I had been waiting for the nerves from both of us to kick in, this was it they finally had.

Typically, having left Dover rather hurriedly, having not wished to hang around any longer than necessary, we’d rather hastily jumped on the ferry without booking a campsite place the other end - which of course we discovered was full once we got there!

We sulkily checked into a motel hoping that sleep would take our nerves away. Tomorrow the really hard work would begin.

I’m Michele by the way!……..am I brave or mad….

I’m yet to find out the answer! Why am I doing this crazy trip with Chris, well one, it was a way of taking 9ish months off of work without having to produce a baby at the end of it! and two, it’s a huge challenge and adventure and you only have certain opportunities given to you in a life time. I intend to walk for as long as I can and raising as much money for Break Through Breast Cancer as possible, but I do have the option to become in charge of the support vehicle, Daisy, the 1972 VW camper - but I guess time will tell!

I will be writing random notes on here, adding a little femine touch, although those who know Chris will know that’s not really required. If you’d like to email me individually please follow this link.

I thought it was about time there was an update! Better late than never - perhaps not!

Well we finally left on Thursday 4th August from Odcombe church on the tandom, it’s a bit of a sore point the tandom but luckily I have now recovered. Thank you to Dave, Nicki and boys for very patietnly waving us off both in Odcombe and Sherborne, I know there would’ve been a few more to join them had we actually left on the day we had planned to. Also a big thank you to our very own photographer Nicholas George White, who by the way was right in saying that we were scared and very apprehensive!

Once we finally got going we only managed 25 miles, but seeing as that did include the very steep hill up to Shaftesbury we weren’t too disappointed. We were recommended a pub at the top of the hill by a lady who had seen us peddling like mad along the A30 in her car (not enviably I may add!) and stopped to admire the tandom. The beer certainly went down well and the garden had a superb view.

By pure luck or fate we then booked into Cedar Lodge B&B, where we were given a very warm welcome, not only from the owner Lorraine, but one of her guests Linda Hart, who just happened to be a writer and Editor, who is also very keen on walking and history, so had just happened to have read the Telegraph article! Meeting Linda was fantastic for us, especially on our first day, as she gave us some great advice not just on writing but walking in France too.

Linda and Lorraine showed such enthusiasm, it really lifted our spirits on our first night at the begining of this very mad adventure.