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| Sunset tonight with a very threatening sky. |
Another day of high temperatures as we left Lake Annecy after
emptying and refilling the “essentials”. It was bumper to bumper travelling
from camp into the centre of town but we were soon on our way and cruising.
After an hour and a half we reached Seyssel and found a spot beside the Rhone
for a coffee stop. Ange is having battles with Kate, her GPS so they were very
happy to follow us. Except this navigator didn’t follow Jilly correctly and we
ended up in some “interesting” roads. Spotted a big supermarket in
Ambrieu-en-Bugey and seemed a good place to regroup, get some supplies and have
a late lunch break. We didn’t linger long as the temperature had reached 36
degrees.
We had selected a French Passion site from the book that looked
very good, so back on the road for another hour and a half driving. We took a
route around the outskirts of Vellefranche-sure-Saone which we negotiated
successfully although like driving anywhere in France the route was full of round-a-bouts,
often dealing with very aggressive drivers.
Pleased to finally arrive at the Winery, but were very
disappointed as it was really just a big co-operative on the main road and had
no charm. Although we were all feeling hot and tired made the call to head to a
nearby vineyard, 1 ½ kms up a smaller road to Domaine Paire, and such a great
call. This would have to be one of the best French Passion sites we have been
to. We parked on the grass and were met by one of the workers who showed us
where we could use the showers and toilets and arranged for a tasting at 6pm.
The 360 degree views are just amazing, we are high up and can see villages and
vines dotted around the hills, and on an extremely hot afternoon we were able
to sit in the shade and catch a bit of breeze.
We joined the owner, Jean-Jacques in the cellar, a really nice guy
who spoke very good English. He showed us through the museum and explained how
barrels used to be made with wooden hoops. He is the 16th generation
at this 100ha vineyard, that has been in the family for over 400 years. Then he
talked about the wines they make, and for the last 14 years they have been
organic. We tried rose, a white similar to a chardonnay and then onto two
different Beaujolais wines, accompanied by some goat cheese and salami. They
were all superb and we wandered back to the motorhomes with a “few” bottles.
Enjoyed a Beaujolais with our barbecue dinner. The skies darkened, and there
was thunder and lightning, the air was very humid although it didn’t rain,
which we needed to cool everything down.
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| A perfect spot to camp |
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| Jean-Jacques in the museum |
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| We were told to say Beaujolais!! |
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He had an "Interesting" collection
of corkscrews! |
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