Monday 20 July 2009

French Passion


Our First Experience of “French Passion”

No need to avert your eyes. For a small fee, we became members of “French Passion”, which is an organisation providing addresses of 1400 winegrowers, farmers and artisans, which offer 24hrs free parking. Very small locations, some offering only two pitches.
We set off in very different weather this morning. Extremely hot yesterday, followed by an electrical storm, and downpour, during which the side-awning, fully extended, stayed solid. We were impressed with the technology! The following day began very wet, with a miserable journey through what must be stunning scenery of the Ain, leading into the Haut-Savoie region, just south of Jura, where we spent some time in 2007 (and it p***ed it down every alternate day then!).
Passed through old towns and villages, which we discovered later in the guide were in a very unspoilt area of France. In fact so unspoilt that they are not even mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide to France. How’s that for irony! May go some way to explaining why we can’t get a signal to send this blog, and you may receive a job lot of blogs all in one go!!
Anyway back to the passion! An amazing spot, high in the hills at the sommet of a little village, in the middle of nowhere is the Caveau Bugiste. Extremely well-maintained, full of flowers with pretty old buildings and narrow streets. Parking for two, and we’re on our own. Managed to run into the Caveau out of the rain, and organise our stay. No obligation at all, but we just had to sample some of the wines, visit the small museums, buy a couple of bottles to take with us to visit friends later, but there might be one bottle less in a couple of hours, if this rain doesn’t stop!!
There’s a steady stream of customers to the wine cellar which we assume must be locals, as it’s a bit out of the way, and they’re leaving with boxes of the stuff!
We’d love to explore the village and the medieval church when and if it stops raining!

No comments: