Wednesday November 6th
Tonight we are in Bouzy surrounded by Champagne vineyards. We drove around the outskirts of Reims looking for diesel (€1.28/ litre, thank you very much) and it's wall to wall vineyards as far as you can see, rolling hills of vines in their autumn colours; very impressive.
The first vineyard we stopped at said he had no room at the inn for us. From the look of his establishment and his rather brusque manner I rather think he is hoping for rich folk in massive motor homes not a couple of pensioners from the UK on a winter break. We were luckier on our second choice and we are now parked in a tiny courtyard in the centre of Bouzy. The guy who produces champagne here has invited us for a tasting in his house, more to follow.
Our plan is to avoid toll roads during this 6 week break. We won't normally be in a hurry and every euro spent on toll charges will be begrudged. However for the first leg of our trip we want to get to St Etienne by Friday so once we were out of the tunnel today it was straight on the motorway to Reims. Hence it was a pretty boring drive although remarkable for the lack of traffic. I can't imagine a motorway in the UK being that quiet.
Thursday November 7th
We are parked up in another vineyard, this time in Auxey Duresses, just south of Beaune, the vines in their autumn colours stretch for mile upon mile and are truly spectacular. We drove down the motorway again today which was pretty boring scenery wise but once we came off and travelled the country lanes through small villages it was stunning. Fun also to match the village names to the labels on the bottles; Nuits St George, Meursault, Pommard, Volnay. We are in the heart of Burgundy and it was warm and sunny here today.
Tomorrow St Etienne.
Friday November 8th
Here we are in St Etienne looking forward to a long weekend with our daughter and her family. The journey so far has been uneventful, if a little expensive using the toll roads, however disaster struck backing into the yard here. Anyway we've administered the hi tec aluminum tape to the smashed polycarbonate window and it will last until we get back to the UK.
Whilst it has been fascinating walking around the couple of villages we've stayed in so far it is also sad to witness the demise of the French village, the local shops killed off by the big supermarket chains. I'm not knocking the supermarkets, we all use them, but it's difficult for older, less mobile, people living in villages which, in some cases, don't even have a boulangerie any longer.
As I type this our daughter is preparing Moules Frites, they don't take long, gotta go.
Tonight we are in Bouzy surrounded by Champagne vineyards. We drove around the outskirts of Reims looking for diesel (€1.28/ litre, thank you very much) and it's wall to wall vineyards as far as you can see, rolling hills of vines in their autumn colours; very impressive.
The first vineyard we stopped at said he had no room at the inn for us. From the look of his establishment and his rather brusque manner I rather think he is hoping for rich folk in massive motor homes not a couple of pensioners from the UK on a winter break. We were luckier on our second choice and we are now parked in a tiny courtyard in the centre of Bouzy. The guy who produces champagne here has invited us for a tasting in his house, more to follow.
Our plan is to avoid toll roads during this 6 week break. We won't normally be in a hurry and every euro spent on toll charges will be begrudged. However for the first leg of our trip we want to get to St Etienne by Friday so once we were out of the tunnel today it was straight on the motorway to Reims. Hence it was a pretty boring drive although remarkable for the lack of traffic. I can't imagine a motorway in the UK being that quiet.
Thursday November 7th
We are parked up in another vineyard, this time in Auxey Duresses, just south of Beaune, the vines in their autumn colours stretch for mile upon mile and are truly spectacular. We drove down the motorway again today which was pretty boring scenery wise but once we came off and travelled the country lanes through small villages it was stunning. Fun also to match the village names to the labels on the bottles; Nuits St George, Meursault, Pommard, Volnay. We are in the heart of Burgundy and it was warm and sunny here today.
Tomorrow St Etienne.
Friday November 8th
Here we are in St Etienne looking forward to a long weekend with our daughter and her family. The journey so far has been uneventful, if a little expensive using the toll roads, however disaster struck backing into the yard here. Anyway we've administered the hi tec aluminum tape to the smashed polycarbonate window and it will last until we get back to the UK.
Whilst it has been fascinating walking around the couple of villages we've stayed in so far it is also sad to witness the demise of the French village, the local shops killed off by the big supermarket chains. I'm not knocking the supermarkets, we all use them, but it's difficult for older, less mobile, people living in villages which, in some cases, don't even have a boulangerie any longer.
As I type this our daughter is preparing Moules Frites, they don't take long, gotta go.
Hi Phil and pat how are you still no news on the overseas jobs even the College are not coming up with a start date yet ! Hope you having great time Where are you now ??
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