Wine, cheese and a Château

 It’s been a while since I last posted, and a long time since we were traveling, but life and work got in the way…. However, to pick up from where we left off (and to finish this trip before we embark on another)….Speeding through the mountains we needed to come up with a new plan. As the trip developed I got better at finding park ups on the move. Before leaving the UK, I needed hours, maps, books, websites, with coordinates jotted down just in case. To be extra sure, I always had a couple of back up stops if the first one didn’t work out. 

Now, that’s great when you know where you are going and have plenty of time. However, it turns out, most of the time plans change (the beauty of a van is if it isn’t right, you can move), and if plans change, so do park ups!

This time it was just a case of locating somewhere we can stay that has a restaurant and we can rest up before moving on. Out came the phone, a quick look at the map and I’d found the spot, only the roads were slow going, rather narrow with loads of villages (and we were still hoping to move at speed to get further north). Perfect for a slow meander through France, not quite what we were looking for, so another quick search and Dax became our destination.

We’d never heard of Dax, but it turned out to be a little gem. A Roman town with a spa, lovely cafes and a microbrewery!  We were heading for the cathedral to have a look around and some respite from the sun, but it was closed when we arrived and this little spot was next door. It would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?

In the end we stayed a couple of nights so Ian could recover from the very long drives and we could plan a little more slowly .As we slowly drank our coffee the next day  we talked about what to do next. We were in France several weeks earlier than planned and originally we’d expected to spend most of our time in Spain, just driving through France on route. We’d not thought about exploring France on this trip - that was for future trips. But here we were.

I’m a member of several Facebook groups for motorhome owners, some fabulously helpful (some less so!) I’d seen a few people mention that you could often stay at vineyards and Châteaux, and I liked the sound of that. Bordeaux wasn’t too far away, and we do love red wine (although to be honest, Argentina produces our favourite, Malbec, but that was perhaps a little too far away to drive to).

I opened up one of our handy park up apps (Park4 night) and ta da Château Marquis de Vauban/Château du Cône looked perfect - and it was.

You can stay for free in the grounds, next to the Château among the vineyards with no obligation to try or buy any wine. It was beautiful. Calm, quiet and close to the small town of Blaye.

After a welcome aperitif and an introduction (in French) by the Marquis we had a good rest, and booked into a wine tour.. It turned out Bordeaux was still really hot, but we ventured into Blaye and had a wander round the UNESCO World Heritage status citadel, had a bite to eat while it unexpectedly rained!

As the only English speakers visiting we had a personal tour, just the two of us, where our guide told us all about the local vines and showed us their setup. Really, it’s just a bit bigger version of our brewing system at home.

Ian was fascinated that they ferment at quite high temperatures and he’d been reading about ‘ideal temperatures’, and in our conservatory it is often hotter than recommended. He felt reassured by an award winning vineyard not going with the online forum consensus.  

After a brief tasting, we purchased a bottle - just to be polite - and headed back to Agy (all of about 10 steps) for our second night in our home at the Château. Not something I had ever imagined saying!