www.wrington.net We arrived at St Malo on 21 September and, 1250 kms of gentle pedalling later, on 7 October we found ourselves at the Mairie being  royally received by our twin village. We did not have one drop of rain throughout, and the pullovers stayed in the saddlebags untouched; we were in shirtsleeves all the way. Obviously the countryside and the food were also fantastic, which led to the coining of a familiar phrase for the tour, repeated many times every day: 'What's not to like?' We hardly took the direct route, favouring the fantastic véloroutes in France, on former railway lines, canal and river towpaths, and the country lanes, and we avoided hills at all costs. The route included rest days in the wonderful cities of Nantes, La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Toulouse, where we met holidaying Wringtonians, and carried out the necessary trips to the laverie automatique (launderette). And dips in the sea along the West coast and the Ile de Ré to cool down after hot days cycling into the sun could hardly be considered a hardship. The welcome and friendliness we enjoyed over the weekend in Villeneuve were overwhelming. We shouted hard at the sports club when England played France in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final, but two lone voices against so many others were insufficient to tip the match. The French supporters in the club were perfect hosts. There are too many acts of kindness to report individually here; suffice it to say Wrington could not have a better twin village. There is a micro-climate there such that they have had no appreciable rain since July, and one can eat outside all year round; it may be minus two at night in January, but come lunchtime it will be back to 15 degrees. And when they get rain, they’ll say, after an hour, 'When will this rain ever stop?' and for them SAD caused by lack of sun kicks in after three cloudy days. We cannot recommend this trip too highly, and we are available to advise and encourage anyone who wishes to undertake a similar adventure on the practicalities and pitfalls (er....none that we can see) as, although we may have been the first to visit our friends in the South by bike, we truly hope that we will not be the last. As we have said before...'What's not to like?' Even if you do not cycle, you must go there. Phil Parker and Roger Owen