Felicity Cloake is no slacker when it comes to cycling, with several long-distance cycling holidays under her belt, including doing the complete journey from the UK to Provence with a group of cycling friends. She is also an adventurous cook and has been described as ‘the nation’s food taster’.

Combining her passions, she decided to plot a cycling tour through France taking in the best regional dishes of the places she visited. Each morning begins with a croissant.

"In general, the best breakfasts in France are bread based – yes, you might well enjoy a bowl of sun-warmed figs and sheep yoghurt at your villa in Provence, but just so you know, most people around you would regard this as an eccentric way to start the day. God gave us the boulangerie for a reason, and that reason is breakfast. Baguette with butter and jam is a lovely thing, but on the move, it’s handier to go for something with the butter already baked in. I never deviate from the plain croissant, the apotheosis of the baker’s art."

Places and dishes include fruits de mer in Cherbourg, Breton oysters, a boozy lunch in the Languedoc, three different types of Cassoulet, fish soup (not to be confused with bouillabaisse) in Marseille, a quantity of brie with members of the brotherhood of Brie de Meaux, and an awful lot of pastries.

Felicity Cloake is author of The Guardian's How to Make the Perfect and a New Statesman columnist, and winner of the Guild of Food Writers' Food Journalist of the Year and New Media awards 2011. She also writes for the Daily Mail, the Metro and Fire & Knives magazine, and is the author of Perfect: 68 Essential Recipes for Every Cook's Repertoire (2011), Perfect Host: 162 easy recipes for feeding people & having fun (2013), Perfect Too (2014) and The A-Z of Eating (2016).

Abridged by Jill Waters and Isobel Creed
Read by Sophia di Martino
Produced by Lizzie Davies
A Waters Company production for BBC Radio 4 Show less