Sunday 14 August

We left Lyon today and headed for Uzes which is in the Languedoc area about 2 ½ hours south west of Lyon. We set off around 9.15am to find the A7 motorway and found that was not as easy as we had anticipated. We had marked on our map the direction we needed to take but when we came to turn left, the road just wasn’t there. Lyon is a maze of tunnels and roadworks (like every other city in France we have been to) and it also has a system of one-way roads which is very hard to negotiate when you don’t know the system! However we made it eventually and got on the motorway. We had thought that leaving early on a Sunday morning we would avoid the traffic but it was not to be. We think that every other person in Lyon decided to go for a trip today and we just had to join the queue! Having said that, the traffic here is very well behaved and while cars travel fast they seem to do so in an orderly fashion. We tend to stick to the slow lane but this can be a bit of a nuisance at times because we get held up by campervans and trucks. Not so many trucks today though and we think they are not supposed to use the motorway on a Sunday.

We stopped at a truck stop for “breakfast” and had coffee and a croissant. It was good to have a breather. There were hundreds of cars at the truck stop and people all over having flasks of coffee and eating baguettes or sandwiches etc. There were also lots of people in the café when we had our food. On the way again and I rang our contact to let her know we would be arriving in about an hour and she gave me directions to our Gite. I forgot to mention that Mary had gone on strike in Lyon and was creating all sorts of bother so I had abandoned her in favour of my map book. However as we got closer to our turnoff I tried her out again and lo and behold she obliged and led us carefully off the motorway and through umpteen roundabouts where we had to take the “second turnoff”. We eventually arrived at our rendezvous, found a park for the car (not easy as there were people and cars everywhere) and presented ourselves at the Gite. Monica was there to greet us – a lovely lady who spoke very good English and made things easy for us. We decided to hire a garage for the week and she took Kev there to park the car while I unpacked things and settled in. (Kev is not sure he will ever find the car again it has been so cleverly hidden in a basement behind a tunnel)!

The Gite is everything the people (Australians) said it would be. It is an extremely old building (rather like our La Charite accommodation Jane) that has been modernised and made into a comfortable roomy flat. It has a separate kitchen, lounge area with table and chairs, bathroom and a gorgeous bedroom. Stud height is about 10 feet and windows go from full height to less than a metre off the floor. Windows have shutters on them and like many French buildings they open right back inside the room. The inside of the flat is all original stone which has been cleaned and sealed with some sort of a cream wash. It is lovely!

We were desperate for a beer so set off for a wander around. The information centre was closed so we stopped at a café nearby and ordered a pizza to share and ‘deux biers’ which we devoured with gusto! There were people everywhere enjoying the lovely day (30 degrees) and the café areas were all situated under lovely old trees which provided some comfort from the heat.

Our first impression of this place is that it is very old, quaint and quite lovely. Every place we have been to in France has been different and this is too but it is also similar to some of the historical towns we have had the privilege to visit. (Kev has just handed me a beer in the most gorgeous glass made out of cut crystal with a stem – quite large and very heavy – fantastic!)

After a bit of a walk we chanced upon a wine degustation which had been going on for the past week. Many tents housing representatives from various wine growers in the region were set up in one of the village squares – at least 50 wine sellers. Although it was hot, we braved the heat to wander and sample some lovely reds and also some chardonnays. It was fortunate we found it because this was the last day. We came away with a couple of bottles of Chateau Neuf-du-Pape (Paul you will be pleased) and I bought a couple of bottles of Chardonnay, both local. One was a Domaine from Domaine de la Vaillere and the other Domaine les lys.

We decided to head back home to put our feet up, unload all the wine we had bought, do a load of washing (in the machine – yahoo!) and rest up while the sun is at its hottest – and here we are!