The surest way to know if you love someone or hate them is to travel with them ... on a tandem.

Lifestyle journalist Catherine Pringle has no idea what she is taking on when she says yes to a tandem cycling holiday with her boyfriend Nick. A complete cycling novice, Catherine sees the time alone with him as an opportunity to mend their troubled relationship. But Nick is a goal-oriented adventure-travel expert who never does anything by halves, and Catherine soon finds herself committed to a summer-long 4,000-kilometre Tour de France.

Catherine thinks she...