Monday 12th September 2023
Up and about as planned then hit the road. Today we have a long stint making for a vineyard in the Pouilly region on the Loire, by missing out the “Peage” routes, the drive time alone is 7-hours, hence the early start.
By missing out the motorway’s we were reminded of days gone by, driving through rural France on the old “N” routes and passing through numerous villages and hamlets normally missed out whilst “speeding” along the autoroutes, was a pleasant change; well it was for me, Christine felt differently!!!!! I suppose it’s very boring sitting twiddling your fingers for mile after mile, hour after hour. The only downside for me were all the roundabouts we encountered, every junction seems to be a roundabout in France, and yes, it was boiling hot all day making the dogs uncomfortable as well.
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We eventually arrived at the village we were heading for; a very tiny one at that when the SatNav told us to turn right between buildings that looked as if they were about to fall down, and even worse, the lane was so narrow that had we had one more coat of paint we would have scraped both sides; scary or what?? At the end we turned right onto a gravel track with no sign of the house we were looking for so had to use my best French and ring them up. Following a brief conversation, we were informed he was “complet”, should have actually booked, serves us right😡😡, so back along the “crazy” lane and through the village. We are members of “Passion France”, so travelling through France we can stay at numerous farms, vineyards etc., at no charge, but naturally “they” hope, (though no obligation), you will buy some of their products; wine has never been an issue with us!!! Unfortunately this week the weather has been “just right” for picking the grapes and we suspect this was the real reason for his statement “complet”; little did he realise we were looking to buy a number of cases for my 80th; his loss!!
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We found a local and he suggested we head back down through the village, turn left and stop along the river, so that’s what we did but by now tempers were rising, dogs were fed up and words were spoken once we had parked, after all it had been a very long, and a very hot day.
Once settled in the “empty” carpark alongside a large green area, the chairs came out along with the corkscrew and we settled down with a bottle of wine before dinner and watched the sun go down. Later in the evening we got Sandy’s ball out again and got the dogs running, we wanted a quiet night!!!
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Originally we were leaving the U.K. a week earlier but due to the NHS consultants strike, my appointment got delayed. We had a definitive date to be at Andrew’s to meet up with Elton so we were put under unreasonable pressure, originally we were taking 10-days to meander through France visiting “many” vineyards, still it is what it is!!!