Cruise du Beaujolais

Saturday 7 April 2007
Saturday was an early start to catch the bus to Lyon where we spent a good few hours shopping at the Part Dieu shopping centre. After some good bargains and a nice baguette/french patisseries lunch combo we met with Vero's brother, Philippe who was going to take us to his place in Villefranche sur Saône for the Easter weekend.

The journey was nice. We drove alongside the Saône river which with the sun was blazing down made us wish we were actually one the river. In Villefranche we had a quick tour of the town which is dotted with many historical sites in between the regular buildings (but no photos sorry).

That evening was spent at a restaurant called Le Juliénas (which is a cru du Beaujolais, a type of wine), where I had the most amazing meal ever. It was Sea Bass on a what could only be described as a bright green risotto with a wonderful sauce. I don't know why but every mouthful, whether it was the fish or the risotto was sublime and it will be remembered for very long time.

Sunday 8 April 2007 - Easter Sunday
Our Easter Sunday treat was a DIY tour of the Beaujolais wine region. The Beaujolais is a rolling hilly region, with some peaks over 800m. You will find the vineyards on the lower slopes however at this time of the year the vines resembled small stumps as they were still cut back from the previous harvest, waiting for the new season's growth. Saying that pretty much every piece of 'eligible' land for wine growing was used for wine growing!

The region is most famous for Beaujolais Nouveau, produced in the 3rd week of November, however it does have its own traditional wines, divided up further into a dozen or so 'Crus du Beaujolais' usually originating from certain villages within the region. Each one does have a very different taste (which varies further by vintage) and we set out to try just a few.

We started with a stop at a viewpoint before heading up Mont Brouilly. On the lower slopes of Mont Brouilly was an arts and food/drinks fair, where we tried the 'Brouilly' and the 'Cotes de Brouilly' varieties (for free).

We then moved on to Beaujeu, the 'capital' of the Beaujolais and where they have the official launch the Nouveau each November. It was very quiet and there was a wine cave open but we declined to sample this time. (It would have been the 'Beaujolais Villages' cru). Instead we climbed by car up over the Col de Fût d'Avenas and stopped at the nearby La Terrasse where we had a nice packed lunch and took a panoramic walk which had orientation tables for each 'cru' so you could see where they originated from.

We then descended via a very picturesque route through the Chiroubles 'cru' to the village of Juliénas (remembering the restaurant the previous night) and did sample a couple of glasses of the local 'Juliénas' cru in the 'Cellier de la Vieille Eglise'. This time we had to part with a Euro each time. Booooo.

Then we took a route through Chènas (another cru) stopping at the famous Moulin à Vent, which gave its name to yet another cru. The windmill was lacking something, we couldn't quite work out what. We declined to try the local wine instead moving onto the village of Fleurie, which again has its own cru. This proved to be a great decision as in the local wine co-operative they had yet another food and crafts fair and a 'Porte Ouverte' (translated as open door). This effectively meant it was free wine tasting however the co-op was very big and there was far too much on offer. We managed to drink about 5 (small) glasses in about 1/2 hour! Here we were able to try Fleurie and Moulin à Vent, as well as some vins mousseaux (fizzy wine) which were excellent. Philippe bought a few bottles too, plus some delightful cheese.

Despite being slightly light headed, we drove onwards to the Château de Corcelles, which although was closed was probably more impressive on the outside anyway. We also had a good view of the famous Chapelle de la Madone. Then it was back towards base via the Morgon cru vineyards and through a fantastically named village called St Lager, and onwards to Villefranche for an Easter Sunday supper of lamb! So they are not left out, the other crus we may or may not have passed through are Régnié and Saint Amour! I'm sure they are lovely too!

The Rest..

Monday 9 April 2007

After the exertions of the day before, we took it easy on the Monday morning, taking a stroll into Villefranche and picking up the obligatory cakes from the patisserie. We took lunch in the scorching sunshine on Phil's balcony before packing up and heading in the general direction of Ruy once more. We skirted over and alongside the east bank of the Saone before turning 'inland' (the rivers are that wide!) towards the Dombes region (an area dotted with dozens of small lakes) and onto a scheduled stop in the medieval town of Pérouges. Here we spent a couple of hours ambling round the narrow cobbled streets looking at the old buildings, browsing the galleries and shops, and also sampling the galette de Pérouges, a yummy sugary buttery pastry/biscuit cooked like a pizza! Then we went on home crossing the Ain and Rhône rivers, passing through historic Crèmieu, before arriving in time for dinner!

Tuesday 10 April 2007

Today was spent taking it easy and relaxing. We went for a walk in another direction from Vero's parents' house, through some woodland on the side of a hill before descending towards the local Champion supermarket to stock up on goodies to take home. The weather was still perfect and that evening the garden looked even more beautiful...

Wednesday 11 April 2007

Today I was consigned to a day with Vero and her friends. Carine picked us up at about 10am and we headed towards a local 'lake' called Lac Clair. However there was no lake just a circular meadow! I resisted the temptation to take a photo of the No fishing No bathing sign...Afterwards we all went into Bourgoin-Jallieu for lunch with another of Vero's friends, Mallory, in a local creperie. So it was pancakes but they were scrummy! Afterwards we stopped by at Carine's sisters for more rugby practice with Joris and a chill out in the back garden with some nice aperitifs, before heading home to watch Chelsea beat Valencia with last minute goal. Boooo!

Thursday 12 April 2007

Thursday is market day and it was déjà-vu for me. Sitting patiently on a wall waiting for Véro and her mum to finish fighting through all the jumble. Véro then deserted me for a haircut, leaving me in the company of her parents to continue around the market and also for a walk in a local park.

That afternoon we went for a final stroll to the Etang de Rosiére for a chill out, where we found plenty of (contented?) wildfowl, and then returned through Ruy picking up our final dose of French patisserie...

Our final evening was spent packing and enjoying one final wonderful piece of home cooking and those cakes we had bought earlier!

Friday 13 April 2007
So homeward bound we started. We left Bourgoin by bus mid-morning and by just after 2pm BST we were back in blighty. We jumped on the tube to Victoria to catch our coach however arrived in enough time to pick up some Krispy Kreme doughnuts and then finish the holiday as we had started it - another giant cinnamon dolce frappucino from Starbucks! Aaaaaaaah!

Yeah we did a lot but there was plenty of time for relaxing in between all the excursions, and we returned home super-chilled and recharged for the summer. We are lucky to have family with homes in such beautiful regions and would like to thank everyone who made our trip so enjoyable......Cheers!

Welcome to the Green Bogey's Big Brother (at last)

So after years of trying aimlessly to keep a website of holiday snaps etc going for family, and then failing miserably trying to send photos via email in a 'blog' style, Dad suggested to me that maybe I should write my own blog, like my little brother does....

So here it is, in all its glory, complete with a plagiarised title from Neilio's superb and un-surpassable predecessor. I am certain I will not be able to match his wonderful travel monologues, nor will photos of Tinside Pool in Plymouth ever match those from the land of Oz, but I will give it a good go.

It will probably end up as a repository for moderately interesting holidays snaps, and attempts to show off my bumbling ability with a digital camera which is far too intelligent and clever for someone who still wishes he had a ZX Spectrum (no not really). So apologies now for endless fuzzy bird (feathered) pics, sheep pictures and other miscellaneous flora and fauna.

Well, enough self-pity, more about me or should that be 'us'. We (my French girlfriend Vero and I) are 30 something wannabes who live in Plymouth, Devon. We like to travel abroad (mostly to France as its the cheapest) and also explore the wonderful region we live in. If you have stumbled across this blog sorry if we have wasted your time - it has purely been set up as an easy way to share photos and our experiences with family and friends. Then again it may become something else.......who knows?