Pasta has been called the cyclist's best friend. Among other things. For the next few days we'll be enjoying this carbohydrate favourite at pretty much every meal, stock-piling energy to pound up the Pyrenean mountains on the big day.

That's the theory. Some experts say it's pointless carbo-loading too soon and just one huge pasta meal the night before is all that's required. Who knows? Anyway, we like pasta - so endless spaghetti, conchiglie and lasagne is no real hardship.

Today (Thursday), we joined a group of other cyclists from Britain, loaded the bikes onto a trailer and travelled by coach to Dover, then by boat across the English Channel. It rained most of the way. Because we didn't get out on the bikes today, and to remind us that the sun does shine in Britain sometimes, here's a picture from a 160km sportive called the Richmond Five Dales that we did as a training ride a couple of months ago.

Thankfully, by the time we got to Paris this evening the sun was out. A friend already in Toulouse near the start of the Etape sent a SMS to say the weather in the Pyrenees was great and that the first Etape cyclists were arriving.

The Tour de France has been going for a few days now. While the Spanish may go crazy for football, and the Americans for baseball - the French just love cycling. They say when the Tour de France is happening the government could fall and no-one would notice.

We'll try and catch the TV news later to check the Tour de France results, and see how the British and Aussie riders are getting on.

It's another drive south tomorrow, and just three days before we get a chance to sample the thrills and the hardship, the pain and the pleasure, and - yes indeed - the agony and the ecstasy enjoyed by the Tour de France professionals.

Lonely Planet author David Else is heading for France to take part in L'Etape du Tour - cycling through the Pyrenees on the trail of the Tour de France. This is the third of a series of blog posts.