Gear Update

Sat in the shade after eating the most enormous lump of Forme d'Ambert cheese and Brebis cheese and saucisson and pink wine.
If I fall asleep I'll fall off my chair so I'll do an update on non journey stuff.

Sleeping
Sue's mat has developed a fault and is slowly expanding. It may take over the whole tent soon. I've sent an email to the shop but I don't suppose there is much they can do.
Sleeping bags are probably too warm and we sleep mostly on top of them, but we knew that would probably be the case and they will still be useful on colder nights elsewhere.
Mirrors
These have provoked by far they biggest reaction. We have been stopped in the street by people curious about what is sticking out of our heads. It seems most people have never seen a "retro" or "retro vision" as people call them.

In use they have been invaluable. Being able to watch for trucks behind and for Sue to make sure I'm not falling too far behind her. They have really been very useful for this sort of riding.
Electrical
Well, we have never run out of power for anything and considering that we have 2 kindles, 2 iPods, 2 exposure headtorches, 2 phones, GPS, camera, and the storage battery that's good. How we manage to move is another question.
During the day the dynamo will charge either the kindles or the battery. After riding the battery charges anything that's low except the camera.
We will leave the camera battery or the storage battery on charge in the loos, other things if it's a quiet site. If the plot has an old style connection we'll use that to top up things. It's a bit naughty as we're not paying for electricity but no different to plugging into the toilets or reception.
Cooking
All fine except threaded gas cylinders have proved elusive at times.
The honey stove has been great fun and has saved us lots of gas but will probably get used less as we go into dryer areas where fire restrictions are much tighter.
Chairs
A last minute decision which I fought against. "We don't need them and they'll be too heavy". Well, I was wrong on both counts. They are very comfortable and well worth carrying the extra weight for the sheer pleasure of having something to collapse into at the end of a long day.
Camera
Very pleased with the Sony so far but will only really know when I can see the shots on a proper screen.
Using my 30 year old Pentax 50mm on it looks great but we will see if the results back that up.
Frustrating and a bit of a worry that I can't upload or back anything up. I've just got to hope that nothing happens to the SD card. I've started a new card to spread the risk a bit. Still using jpeg rather than the usual raw files though I would probably have had enough card space for raw.
Bikes
Except for the broken spoke they have just worked. Brakes and gears need tweaking from time to time but otherwise so far so good.
Bodies

Back aches,
Leg aches,
Stiff neck,
Bites,
Turning a funny colour,
Sleepy zzzzz