Sing it again Don!

Tuesday 26th September 2023. Gigondas.

Our day’s plan changed at 9am when King David suggested that the Dentelles area was nice and since we were in no rush to get to Lyon we could do a diversion.

I must explain that I have been remiss in not acknowledging that my older brother, David, is the rightful King of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and my plan to assassinate him and to seize the crown is not yet for public consumption! Don’t tell him.

We filled with water and said our “tearful goodbyes” to Michel….he was definitely odd. We have a dilemma about whether to give his aire a truthful review. Probably not! We don’t usually do reviews.

As we left Orange we found a Decathlon store again. A new cycle bell for Janice’s bike and a fleecy top for each of us! Why we want a fleecy top in our current temperatures I don’t know, but as we like to say, ‘it were a bargain’! Perhaps we only bought them because the area is famous for its….wait for it…..Cotes du Rhône!

We also managed to fill our LPG tank again without any problem. We only needed 6 litres after over a weeks use, not bad!

Gigondas was our destination. A free aire, lovely town and great local wine. The region is called after the Dentelles hill range. The hills are craggy and very scenic. Judge for yourself. The neighbouring towns of Vacqueyras and Beaumes de Venise make up a fabulous wine area.

I had given Janice a day off driving and once we arrived she had a chance to have a decent bike ride through the vineyards and small towns of the area. Our cycle destination was Beaumes de Venise which is the bigger of the places nearby.

The cycling was perfect in the glorious sunshine. A few weeks ago I would have said it was hot but I think we have acclimatised to the heat. It felt so pleasant.

At Beaumes we were interested in a local event that we saw was on today. The poster that we saw said…..

We thought a local singer called Don….it could be entertaining and it’s great when a visit coincides with an event. We were considering hanging around to watch the event….but….when Google translate did its job we realised that the event was a ‘blood donation’ session!! However, the French won’t take English blood because they think we still have ‘Mad Cow Disease’!

So, we returned to Gigondas for a glass of red. We had our salad with ham and eggs and we both commented about how much tastier French ingredients were than British. We could never have such a tasty salad in the UK, no matter where you bought it, unless it came straight from an allotment.

In the evening we had a beautiful walk around Gigondas as the sun was setting. It’s quite a classy village with smart wine bars and restaurants. It is set on a hillside with well kept narrow streets and nice rooftop views.

I’m sad we missed Don’s vocal performance but never the less we have had a super relaxing day in beautiful surroundings….I recommend Gigondas.