Cycling through France ?

I have taken it upon myself to cycle through France.

So far the longest I've ever done is across Devon from the South coast to the North coast. I went with a couple of friends and we took two days over it. We only took the minimum amount of kit to last us one night as some more friends were meeting us at the finish, with my Landrover full of kit for a few days camping.

The idea for the French adventure came about from a comment made by one of these cycling mates.

I have no experience in long distance multi-week cycling and some people are at pains to point this out. As usual I'm being bullish about it and steadily plodding ahead with plans here and there.

I've bought the following equipment to try and make it easier -

• clip pedals and shoes. So far I've only used them around town and they seem to be okay. I've only come a cropper once so far, going up the last hill to my house.
• a small sleeping bag. I still haven't worked out whether I'm camping or using pensions etc. I use it in my kayak anyway so no big problem there.
• Solio panel. This is a solar power storage device which I can use to charge my mobile phone, mp3 or Nintendo DS console. This should at least keep me amused, and in contact without having to rely on charging from the mains. My issue is now to be able to charge my camera batteries or take enough so it doesn't matter. I even tried to find some solar charged bike lights, but no success so far.
• Cycling shorts. The ones I got from the US actually look like normal shorts but they have the all important padding and Lycra inside.
  

The local cycle dealer has offered to go over my check list for me to see what can be pruned, exchanged or added. I really need to get on with that as it might prove useful for my practice runs as well.

Once I decided I was going to cycle through France the next big question was the direction of travel. Either N->S or S->N had advantages and disadvantages.

Doing North - South :

1. Starting in the cooler climate.
2. Relatively flat, and I could get saddle fit as I went along before getting to the Pyrenees.
   
3. Would have to meet plane back to blighty on a specific date.

Doing South - North :

1. Could get the flight over and done with at the start of the ride.
2. Hills would be bit of a shock to the system at the start.
3. The climate would be hotter.
4. At the end I could get the ferry across whenever I actually managed to get there, no rush.

I have come down slightly on the side of South to North at the moment.

Still plenty to do.