A quick check at the border and Bienvenue en France! It was very foggy, snowy and grey compared to the Andorran side and as we descended into the valleys the snow became rain.

We are heading north bound and will edge around Paris and onto Epernay ... for champagne, to celebrate the end of the trip in style, followed by chocolate heaven and Bruge!

Phill did his back in a few days ago and unfortunately it seems to get worse every time there is a difficult bit of driving (like battling through the capital in Andorra with a bunch of crazies!). However I'm coping with the roads a bit better now so its fine. As I write this he assures me its getting better, but I'm not convinced and know he just struggling through dosed up with painkillers!

Staying our first French overnight in Molieres (Toulouse region), we awoke to snow! The temperature is -1° (verses 1° in London)!

The sat nav decided to take us through country roads, but fortunately snow wasn't a problem like it would be along the UK equivalent. Why is it that every other country besides the UK can cope with snow and gets prepared?!

For breakfast we went overkill on pain au chocolate - I blame the nine hour drive we faced ahead!Unfortunately there was no time to stop in Bergerac which is well known for Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac (french dramatist and duelist), although he apparently only stayed there a few times. I only looked this place up because I thought that there was an association to the UK TV series starring John Nettles, however there is absolutely no link!

Changing the subject... foie gras seems quite popular in the Dordogne region, with numerous places along the roadside advertising it. Having looked it up I can safely conclude that I was right... this is ducks liver, but it does come in different 'stages': sold whole, or is prepared into mousse, parfait, or pâté (the lowest quality), and may also be served as an accompaniment to another food item. I love pâté, but I'm not so comfortable now that I know the duck is fattened by being force fed with a gavage in order to create it :(!

Moving on... another regular sight is tree lined roads, quite picturesque in the snow.

It turns out there's snow over most of France, although I've watched the temperature go as high as 7° today during 11 hours of driving. 

It sucks to think 2 days ago we were in temperatures of 18° and sunshine and now its as cold as the UK and we will be back there at the weekend :(.