After a week spent cycling across the Swiss Alps, I came into the French town of Chamonix, which sits below Mont Blanc, Europe's highest mountain.

Occitania is the ancient name of the Languedoc region of France, once an independant country with its own language. In the middle ages the northern part of France prevailed over the south, and so did the language.

I found this stone at Montsegur, in the French Pyrenees, while doing a four-day walk.

A bit of well-deserved triumphalism after a gruelling climb to the top of the Furkapass in Switzerland.

Why cycle up roads like this? The ride down is that much sweeter when you've made it up by yourself.