Tour d'Evans: day 6

The Dordogne

Today we went to, well yes you guessed it . . . S decided she wanted to get the miles in, so off we went into the 'hilly' east. Now, I don't know about you, but my experience of the world by bike has taught me that Devon and Cornwall are utter murder compared to practically anywhere else, and so it proved once more as the rolling miles (or should that be km) through stereotypical France sloughed off the wheels like so much spent adder skin in the baking sun. Talking of which, it has come to my attention that S has at last learnt to draft properly, and spent the whole ride stuck to my back wheel like she was on one of those kiddy pull-alongs.

First stop for the de rigeur café au lait was at Sauveterre; the place was packed with Brits and the adjacent table was host to two plaid shorted and rugby topped families (don't know where they parked the land rover) with kids in tow (avec plastic inflatable spider man) who would clearly prefer a water park in Magaluf rather than the Dordogne in 30 degree heat. So, fortified by the French equivalent of a custard slice (me) we carried on. Anyhow, to cut a long story short on a relatively uneventful day, we did a good 50 miles and ended up back in the swimming pool to cool, now drinking one of yesterday's killer bouteille du vin.

Off to Bordeaux by train on our rest day tomorrow.

Bon Soir

P.S. S has been bitten but I haven't - two-nil so far!

Tour d'Evans: day 5

Le Degustation

Today we set forth into the Bordeaux vineyards, specifically the Sauternes and Graves regions on the west of the Garonne. Now, I've probably said this before but I like a nice glass of wine, but my hand normally hovers below the £5 shelf in Asda and rarely gets extended upwards unless the 'half price' sticker is in evidence. However, S was determined to visit a proper Chateau for le degustation, and I ran out of delaying tactics after passing the umpteenth chateau. Any of these might have had the best bottle of plonk in France but I didn't have a clue even after reading the book in the Gite. So, upon reaching the actual village of Sauternes itself, S hares off down a long gravel drive, which I half expected Sebastian Flyte to pull out on in his Bentley, past the chateau and thence to the caves. I can see the holiday money taking a hefty dent but am slightly bouyed by the fact that S professes not to like sweet wine, which Sauterne of course is . . . Cut to le gustation . . .

S:  'that's nice, I don't usually like sweet wine, but this lovely'

Man in caves: 'thees is of course our premiere vintage , we ave others of lesser quality'

S: 'No, this is really nice we'll have a half bottle . . .'

So €14 lighter (for HALF a bottle) we say au revoir and on to the next place. On the way I did my good deed of the day - female cyclists stopped at side of road, one (Italian on a Bianchi) with puncture, the other French says of her partner 'this is her first time'. . . what can a man do . . . asked S to hold the bikes while I gallantly advised on correct technique and impressed them with my big pump (S rolls eyes skyward). So onward to the next cave where repeat of the previous sees me 50 notes lighter on the day, but with some admittedly nice vin to have with our moules ce soir.

Bon soir

Tour d'Evans: day 4

Holiday Essentials

Today was a day of rest after the travails of the journey. A good lie in restored some of our normal zest so we elected to go for a bike ride in civvies - for the un-initiated, this involves cycling in normal clothes and without a helmet (but, I hasten to add, not with a basket on the front). So we 'offed to Cadillac (whence the famous auto was named) but never got there because we passed a supermarché ouvert dimanche, so stopped off for essentials.

Now, I don't know about you but I like a nice glass of wine; so does S, as can be seen from her photographic expertise so far. But, trying to figure out my appellations from my pays and communescand chateaux has defeated me, despite downloading an app for the phone . . . So I will henceforth resort to random sampling grom the €4 shelf, with occasional variegation up or down depending on the state of the holiday money.

Off to the Sauterne tomorrow for degustation.

Bon Soir

Tour d'Evans: day 3

Nous Arrivons

An uneventful day of train travel. After about 2 h sleep (because the house next to the hotel were having their own mini version of the Quimper festival) we retraced our wheels up the 15% hill at 6.30 to catch the train to Bordeaux. Now this was a critical part of the journey; according to the guff the the train accepted bikes on a first come basis so I had prepared for mortal chain-ring combat in the rush. As it turned out we were first there so just got on. Cut to 7 hours later . . . Arrived on time and successfully negotiated our way out of Bordeaux with only minor wrong turns and swearing - as always the hardest part was getting off the platform. Lovely ride down to the Gîte where we have our own shady al-fresco dining area and use of the pool. The supermarché is 2 km away and so far no mosquitos - however, since discovering that it has been scientifically proven that S's O rhesus negative blood group is the mozzie equivalent of Chateaux Mouton Rothschild (which is coincidentally just up the road) I just have to cunningly ensure that there is the merest square inch of her flesh showing to redirect the bloodsucking hoard during the night - hence I awaken relatively unscathed.

Bon Matin ( I am writing this the morning after -too knackered last night)

2012-07-29 09.33.23.jpg (1.9M