Just in case someone at home was wondering , NO ,  I haven't been shoved off a 1000mt mountain in Albania by Litchfield or " accidentally " nudged into a silent flowing canal in France , I'm still above ground and rotating my bike pedals .

Albania seems like months ago , cruising up gently rolling undulations/mountains of between 10 and 20% in balmy temperatures around 35-39deg with humidity of 90% , I can't ever remember having so much fun .

After infecting half of Albania and the majority of the riding party with a bug picked up from my flight over  our tour leader was  forced to put out an emergency call to Medicins San Frontierre , to no avail .  The diagnosis fell just short of the Ebola Virus category so suck it up was their response .

Albania will quickly become a cycling hot spot in the next 10 years with it's spectacular mountainous country and friendly people , one problem is most of them smoke . At A$2.00 per packet it's a very cheap way of killing yourself .

One fabulous side of Albania is their coffee , the best that I've ever tasted , all over the country They could teach the Italian and Aussie baristas a thing or two .

France could not be more different , the land of the teeth shattering baguette , affectionately known as a sandwich , and the 2kg slab of custard flan / tart , yummmmmy .

It must be a French National tradition that come 12 Noon everyone is compelled to walk around with a baguette in their mitt .

The language problem in France has drawn some most unusual looks from hotel and restaurant staff in response to our attempts at ordering in French .As French speakers we'd make good fairy farmers but we've managed to get by each time , just . Viv , who's the only one in our group who can pronounce more than Bonjour , ordered what she thought was a hot chocolate but on arrival turned out to be a huge chocolate sundae filled with whipped cream , so how are the rest of us hobos supposed to get by .

The riding in France has so far been more conducive to a Senior person of my standing who tends to become altitudinally challenged once we leave the flat stuff but in a couple of weeks I will assume my very important role as Lantern Rouge ( the red light ) once in the mountains .

In two days time our dear friends Viv and Linton leave us to return to Australia and work , I was totally confused by that word , I had heard of it but had to Google the exact meaning , I was not impressed by their explaination .

It has been brilliant having them both for company and providing constant humour and discussion and also for Viv's incredible ability to end up with chain grease tattoos from her ankles to just under her left ear , and on the opposite leg to her chain , even after spending hours wiping her chain of grease , go figure .

Harro's constant singing and whistling brings a jovial light hearted feeling to the group but he has to sharpen up on his ability to stay upright on his new treadly . His ungainly dismount total of 3 has attracted poor marks from the Russian judge who criticised the landing , something to be worked on .

With just over 4 weeks left it will soon be down to 4 warriors to tackle the hills on the way to Nice .

Litchfield has never had it so easy with CCC Christopher Columbus Coxhill and his faithful backup Vascoe De Gama Noel Wolstencroft taking care of all the navigation duties , we've just sat back and enjoyed the scenery .

Hope everyone is enjoying Mike's blog posts and daily Facebook and we'd love to receive your comments .

Melbourne's Spring should be in full swing so get pedalling 

Cheers 

Kev