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Saturday 24th October 2015

Up early to meet Murielle at 9.00 am and check out of her great apartment. We could not have asked for a better base for our 3 night stay in this beautiful location and Annecy has certainly lived up to all the glowing reports that we had received from people who had previously visited the area.

Another fine morning as we head north in the direction of Geneva before turning west on the A40. This stretch of elevated freeways with a number of spectacular viaducts is truly a miracle of road engineering.

After having had to tackle these roads and a Latino female driver who in her luxury Merc gives a new meaning to the word ‘erratic’, it is definitely time for a caffeine ‘fix’ at a freeway cafe. I’m also taking time to get used to truck drivers who actually obey the 90kms speed limit and as I follow the lead of other drivers and move over to the inside lanes after overtaking I often get caught behind the truckies. Hopefully I will have this sorted out by the time we get to the Champagne region this evening.

We take another picnic stop near Dole and then the route takes us past Dijon,Troyes, Chalons-en-Champagne and Reims finally bringing us to the villa Clos Rigaux in the small town of Dormans. Isabel, the owner of the villa, is there to meet us and give us a guided tour of this lovely property which we have to ourselves in the light of Andy and Mo’s absence. Isabel is delightful lady and the warm welcome is much appreciated after 600 kms and 7 hour drive from Annecy. Isabel’s son Christophe Bertin produces champagne in Igny-Comblizy and we are the very grateful recipients of 2006 vintage.

Although the scenery in this area lacks the magnificence of the mountains around Grenoble and Annecy the gently rolling hills and the glorious autumn colours more than compensate.

Dormans which is right in the heart of the Champagne region and close to both Reims and Epernay is a very pleasant small town but on the day of our arrival they have had an annual festival and market and many of the restaurants are fully booked. We, therefore, have to settle for take-away pizzas which we thoroughly enjoy in the elegant dining room of Clos Rigaux.

End the day watching the RWC semi-final in which the All Blacks beat South Africa 20-18. A rather boring war of attrition with the AB’s always seeming to have something in reserve. However with box kicks and other tactical kicking being the dominant feature the Springboks in particular seemed to have very few attacking options when going forward.

Fall into bed after a long, tiring day but looking forward to exploring the region and, of course sampling some of their liquid products.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.