Briare a canal centre put us on the Canal lateral de Loire a gentle canal path ride through pleasant little towns as we gradually approached Sancerre in the land of the grape.
Morning coffee stop - tres pleasant and picnic bought at neighbouring stalls. Over lunch on the riverbank met 2 Dutch couples the blokes digging around quite meticulously. What are they after wonders my wife so I ask? Geo-caches they answer! Susannah thinks then asks 'who hides them'? People like us says the Dutchman. After they left to continue their exploring of the river bank having proudly showed us how many are hidden in the area Sus wonders aloud what do they do with them when they find them. As I was walking to the loo i related this final query to the wives as they relaxed under a tree. Accepting the set up one wife with immaculate timing looked withering and said 'nothing'. What would Voltaire have thought of geomancing - is this what he meant by cultivating one's garden?
Sancerre is a hilltop town surrounded by vineyards suck give the place a cachet. This is about the last stretch of the Loire heading inland that grows sauvignon grapes which rely more on their own delicate flavor. As we worked out way through the four different local varieties on offer on the board behind Sus the variety of dloral.flavours was notable. For the record Sus preferred Laporte which happened to originate down the hill by our logis hotel -expressly chosen by my wise wife to avoid a hilltop finish!
A Lovely evening spent with locals an fete including a Maggie Smith look a like who was straight out of an Alan Bennett play....We have more in common with each other than either the French nor the English care to admit!
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