Weeks
9~10 News - Journey north via the Médoc,
Marais Poitevin and Brittany:
It was so
difficult to tear ourselves away from Gavarnie after 5 days camped in this
glorious setting looking straight up at the craggy walls of the valley
head. Before leaving, we had enjoyed 2 more excellent days' walking amid
the Pyrenees' highest peaks (Photo 1). One disappointment was
failing to reach the Brèche
de Roland because of so much melt-water still pouring down from the
great Taillan Glacier. From the opposite ridge above the classic glacial
Vallée
de Pouey Aspré, we did however get distant views of the Brèche
as the cloud drifted across - not what we had hoped for, but still
exhilarating (Photo 2).
We also witnessed more Pyrenean wildlife: Lammergeyers (bearded vultures)
swirling above us, hunting with a flock of Griffon Vultures - enormous
birds with 3m wingspan - and marmots, buff-coloured furry rodents, some 75
cms in length which nest in colonies on scree slopes at around 2000m. Click on map for
details
But time was moving on, and the morning came to say au revoir to Gavarnie and begin our staged
journey home. As we drove
northwards, a text message from our daughter told of the terrorist
outrages in London. Since Tony Blair so enthusiastically and with dubious
justification took us to war in Iraq, perhaps he and his buddy in the
White House could also oblige the civilised world by applying the same zeal in ensuring
that the barbarians responsible are duly brought to justice.
The first
stop on our journey was the Médoc,
just north of Bordeaux overlooking the Gironde Estuary, to stock up with
wines to see us through next winter. The municipal Camping les
Gabarreys at Pauillac provided a thoroughly recommended base for our 3 day
stay 'au coeur du prestigieux vignoble médocaine'. We had spent a week
here in 2003 trying to get our heads around the arcanely bewildering
classification system for the Médoc wine châteaux,
which seems to have more to do with Masonic-like price-fixing than the
quality of wines - they are all good! (Photo 3) The Grand Cru Classé
wines of the great prestigious estates like Château
Latour or Mouton Rothschild can command anything up to €300
a bottle, while even the lesser Cru Bourgeois Supérieur can push prices
up to €30.
While considering ourselves true 'amateurs du vin', we are not prone to
throwing good money after bad; our experience in buying excellent Médoc
wines at sensible prices is to seek out small producers of Cru Artisan
category, whose prices are still in the range of €5~15. Tasting sessions
with these true craftsman-producers are so educative and satisfying,
discussing with the actual producer the character of each year's wine reflecting weather, harvest
and grape mix.
Our French viticulturalist technical vocabulary continues
to increase.Click here for
recommended Cru Artisan and other producers
We did break with our normal frugality in making an
appointment to visit the prestigious Grand Cru
Classé
en 1855 Château
Beychevelle in the St Julien AOC, in order to buy wine as a christening
gift for our grand- daughter Isobel to keep for her 18th/21st birthdays.
The VIP reception we received for tasting matched the superb quality of their wine. As you can detect from our enthusiastic writing, it
was another memorable few days in the
Médoc;
the winter of 2005/6 will not be without its comforts.
With
space in our camper now severely reduced from our purchases, we crossed
the Gironde Estuary via the Blaye ferry. After a pause to buy the more
reasonably priced AOC Premières
Côtes de Blaye, we continued northwards for a 2 night stay in the
relatively unknown rural retreat of the Marais Poitevin. This area of reclaimed
fenland is riddled with drainage canals, and is known locally as the 'Green Venice' (Photo
4). And the campsite to use is the delightfully quiet
municipal Relais de Pêcheur at Le Mazeau.
The final
stage of our journey brought us via Nantes, Rennes and St Brieuc to the
north coast of Côtes d'Armor in Brittany. At the village of Plougrescant,
the eve of 14 July, the Fête Nationale, is celebrated with
fireworks on the beach at midnight, accompanied by a Breton bagpipe and
biniou band. Such a fitting climax to our eventful trip. But we
still had 5 days left in Brittany, spent at 2 campsites whose owners had
become friends over many years of family holidays. The first, les Tamaris
near Paimpol is set on cliff tops overlooking the blue waters and rocky
shoreline of Bréhec Bay (Photo 5). M et Mme Menguy, a charming couple of
indeterminate age, have kept the campsite from long before we first stayed
there in 1991. Each time we have returned, we fear they may have
retired (or worse), but on arrival, there they are just as before: Mme
greets us enthusiastically with enquiries about our family, while M Menguy
stands quietly in the background. The normally peaceful Brittany is a
seething mass of holiday-makers in mid-July - it's only 3 hours drive from
Paris these days; Ouest France, the local newspaper, proclaimed
'Vague de touristes sur les plages Bretonnes'. But the isolated cliff tops
up at les Tamaris are a haven of peace. During the day, the sea sparkles
across the bay, and at night the lighthouses and buoys twinkle along the
coast. While at les Tamaris, we spent a day on the small off-shore
island of Bréhat. These days it's essentially a holiday island, but the
semi-tropical micro-climate means that every cottage gardens blossoms with
Brittany's iconic hortensias and agapanthus flowers (Photo 6).
Our final
camp before the ferry from Roscoff was at Baie de Térénez, another
long-standing favourite. But to our regret, Liliane Pétiot, the owner
whom we had known from many years of family holidays, had moved; the site
was the same and the bar was still open, but without Lili's
ebullient presence, something essential was missing. We enjoyed a relaxing
last 2 days, and of course a couple of lunches of moules-frites (Photo
7) and a quiet pression with the local newspaper Ouest France (Photo
8) after shopping in Plougasnou market for our homecoming supper. It's home now, but our next travels begin soon to Hungary when
again we'll publish regular updates of our web site. Stay watching ....
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