Paris to St Emilion

Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport) - Bordeaux Airport - camping ground – 25kms

5am meeting in foyer of hotel to walk bikes etc to airport.  Booking in process was a bit complex and ended up costing us 75 euro for the bikes.  Arrived Bordeaux Airport 9.30 am, unpacked our bikes in a vacant space next to the main arrival gate at the airport.  Lots of bits and pieces everywhere, but everything went together, no dramas, received lots of inquisitive looks from the locals and a bit of special attention from the local janitor who provided us with our own bin to get rid of the excess packaging.

Rode via the city to the campground, on the other side of the Garonne River.  We called into the Bureau de Tourisme to establish our bearings. The campground was newish, but a bit sandy underfoot.  Then had dinner and a sample of the local delights at the campground.

Bordeaux – Bordeaux – 17kms

Surprisingly we woke to misty rain.  A reminder of last year’s trip!  The day did improve.

Rode into Bordeaux and had breakfast, then another visit to the Bureaux de Tourisme. Took a sightseeing tour around the city which included a wine tasting.  Bordeaux seems to be having a spruce up.  Lots of the buildings have been cleaned and are sparkling.  We missed out on their Festival de Vin which will be huge, but doesn’t start until next weekend.

Bordeaux – St. Emilion – 72kms

Woke to misty rain again.  Packed up the tents and headed off about 7.45.

By mid morning the sun had come out and the temperature increased enormously. We headed back into the city to start our days ride.

Route took us along the cycle path adjoining the Garonne, then we headed east towards Creone for morning tea.  Tourism office advised our chosen winery tour was booked out and gave us directions to an alternative.  This route took up through the hills and dales of the vineyards, beautiful scenery, but a few hills of note and great declines.  Although there were lots of vineyards around Bordeaux this area seems to be a more concentrated wine growing area.  The buildings associated with the vineyards are very grand. We couldn’t find the winery, so we had to do the hills and dales in reverse, which isn’t everyone’s idea of fun!

Pushed on to St Emilion.  Just when we though all was lost the MIGHTY GARMIN 800++!! led us to the next campground. (For those uninitiated the Garmin is our GPS navigation system which we use in times of crisis!)

Campground is very upmarket and we had a swim in the pool.  Heated to 29 degrees, so it didn’t really do the job of cooling us day, but was welcome all the same.

Dinner was at the three star tent restaurant, with a wide selection on the menu.  Choice of three different dishes, all a “one pot” meal!

We all headed to bed about 8.30 pm with the sun still high in the sky.  Some of us have resorted to using the eye shades handed out on the plane to help draw the shutters in the tents.

St Emilion – St Emilion – Wednesday, 27 June - 7 kms

Day dawned beautifully.  The ducks joined us for breakfast and we decided they had a mating session nearby, considering the kerfuffle in the bushes next to our tents!  Had a leisurely start, setting off about 8.45 am to ride into St Emilion. 

We rode into St Emilion through walled lanes which divide the appellations (various vineyards) on the way into the village.  The scenery through the vineyards was fantastic.  Lots of vines, wildflowers and we were delighted to encounter a nice “minty” smell as a worker was cleaning the roadside drain with a very large excavator with an opening bucket, disturbing the wild mint.

A bus tour of the vineyards took us past the Petrus vineyard.  Looking later in the shops we could have bought a bottle of Petrus for 2,000 euro for the current release.  The area is very wealthy and the chateaux appear to be well maintained.  We gained lots of information regarding the area generally.  The wine production was originally established in the 13-14th century.  In 13-14^th century the village had 5000 inhabitants – now there are 145 permanent residents.

After the wine tour, we found an outdoor urinal for the guys to use and a natural spring pump which you operated by spinning a solid wheel.  All very different and interesting.

Next was our subterranean tour of the “largest monolithic” church in the world, and the catacombs associated with the church, where they buried the rich and the local monks.  The whole church was dug out of the side of the hill. It was completed very quickly – in about 50 years of digging, during the 9-12 centuries.  Quite amazing.  The pillars of the church support the bell tower, which weights 4,500 tonne.  They have had to reinforce the pillars with steel supports, following archaeological digs which established problems with springs under the ground.  Over the years the well designed original drains had been blocked, creating issues with moisture creating capillary action in the limestone.  It was a relief to be underground with a constant temp of 13, today’s top temperature reached 38 degrees.

St Emilion is very tourist oriented, but we all had a lovely feeling about the place.  Apparently the place virtually closes down for the winter and is overrun by tourists in the summer, so we arrived at a good time.

After a nice day in the village we did the mandatory shopping on the way home.  Tonight’s dinner will be at the “3 star” tent restaurant – cheap and cheerful!