Auch

The main part of the day was our visit to Auch, the ancient capital of the Gascogne region. Today it is the main town of the Ger Department. 

Libération Square in Auch

Our day started earlier than usual with an early morning walk into the centre of Fleurance, where the weekly market was getting underway in the old market square - how many of hundreds of years has this been going? Purchased a few items before returning to the van for breakfast. 

Saturday morning market in Fleurance. 

We got on the road at a reasonable hour arriving on Auch mid-morning. We passed through the newer part of the town before we crossed the river and climbed up into the old town on the outcrop overlooking the river Gers. 

No sooner had we ventured into the old town we stumbled upon another market in the Républic Square in front of the cathedral.  

From the market we wandered into the restored late Gothic Cathédrale St Marie, begun

in 1489 - and completed 200 years later. The furnishings of the cathedral are considered remarkable: highlights are the carved wooden choir stalls,  and the equally magnificent 15th-century stained glass. 

Auch went through an urbanisation program in the 18th century. Some fine houses from this period can be seen in the old town. One medieval house that wasn’t replaced was the 15th century tradesman’s house. This half-timbered house is a perfect example of the style of houses of the times. 

Steps from the river lead up to the old town - 274 in fact! Halfway up is the statue of d’Artagan, the captain of the king’s musketeers - a famous Gascon. 

We later visited the Museum of Contemporary Art - located in an ancient convent. Interesting!

We came across other interesting activities around the town. 

Folk Music and Dancing:

Latin Dancing - Tango

... and, of course, a wedding. 

Later in the afternoon we drove on to Gimont where we parked up by the lake and settled in for the night. 

An interesting area along the rampart wall - a place set aside for “doggies do”!

Some notes on:

D’ARTAGNAN

Gascons call their domain the “Pays d’Artagnan” after Alexandre Dumas’ rollicking hero from The Three Musketeers (1844). The character of d’Artagnan was based on Charles de Batz, a typical Gascon whose chivalry, passion, and impetuousness made him ideal as a musketeer, or royal bodyguard. De Batz’s life was as fast and furious as that of the fictional hero, and he performed a feat of courtliness by arresting Louis XIV’s most formidable minister without causing the slightest offense. 

Fleurance

We decided to spend another day here at Fleurance - a great place to while away time. We are currently joined by about another 15 vans without being on top of each other. A very popular spot for the French.

A few notes on ARMAGNAC:

Armagnac brandy is distilled in the Gers Department of SW France. As opposed to  Cognac, which is dominated by big brands, Armagnac is made mostly by small family operations.

Armagnac is one of the world’s most expensive brandies. It is also one of the leading products of southwest France: approximately 6 million bottles are produced annually. Similar in style to Cognac, its more famous neighbor, Armagnac’s single distillation leaves more individual flavours in the spirit. The majority of small, independent producers offer direct sale to the public.

Sauterne

Today we visited the village and area of Sauterne. Some suggest it is one of the quality areas for wine production in the Bordeaux region. 

The Château d’Yquem, a very picturesque château in the centre of the Sauterne region. 

After a  very quiet overnight, having been joined under the trees by two other vans, later this morning we were told that we had actually stopped in the wrong area. The moral of the story is that we were just being French. Gotta love the French!

An early morning walk along the canal took us past two lochs at the same time as a large group barge was passing through. Always interesting to see the lochs work and ponder the reasons for their being here in the first instance. The guests on the barge were some Australians and Americans. 

The barge passing through the loch. The lochs  in France are run by paid employees who zip up and down the canals to work all gates - as opposed to the English model where you usually manage the lochs yourself. 

Late morning we left for The Chateau d’Yquem near the village of Sauterne. 

The 15th century Chäteau d’Yquem. 

The Sauterne district is dotted with prestigious châteaux, the most famous of which is perhaps the Château d’Yquem. Rated premier cru supérieur, the Sauternes produced there, it is said, are some of the finest and most expensive wines in the world. 

The design of the reception area reflects the quality of the wine - Evan to the extent of a gold washroom and toilet. 

Dating from the 15th century, Yquem is also one of the oldest wine estates in the area. Its vineyards cover about 100ha (250 acres). The sémillon and sauvignon grapes are the primary grapes grown here. 

 

The Chateau also has a very fine French garden. Being hot and mid-summer many of the flowering plants were past their best, nevertheless, it was quite spectacular. 

The bees were very active in the masses of lavender. 

We later drove back to Castets-en-Dorthe for a late lunch and the rest of the day. 

Saw our first full field of flowering sunflowers today!

We found this note on SAUTERNES interesting:

The grapes used for Sauternes must have been infected by a form of the fungus, botrytis cinerea, known as noble rot. This causes them to shrivel and have a very high sugar content, which accounts for the sweetness of the wines. The Sauternes grape harvest is a long and painstaking process, in which every single grape is picked by hand. After fermentation, the wine matures in barrels for two years, before being bottled. Sauternes is served well chilled, but it is not only a dessert wine. It can also be enjoyed as an aperitif, or sipped with foie gras or Roquefort cheese.(From tourist info)

Ladaux

We stayed another day at this lovely vineyard. The owners were more than happy for us to spend a little more time here. 

They ordered us a baguette for  today - the baker called by at around 7 am. A little later the ubiquitous yellow French postal van arrived providing door to door service too! 

We made good use of google translator with the following:

Interesting to checkout the vegetable garden with the elderly owner - neither of us understood anything the other was saying but we communicated quite well. He had beautiful half grown tomatoes - and he pinches out the laterals, too - with new lettuce and beetroot seedlings just planted out, he was not worried by the hot day ahead.  The rest of his garden looked very typical of an Australian summer vegetable garden. 

We spent some of the day planning where we might head over the next few weeks whilst in the Southwest France - never can be sure as to where we might end up! Perhaps another vineyard or two - with shade. 

This weather is absolutely suitable for cooking outside - the inside alternative is not an option. 

Ladaux - Smooth Vintage

It was a very warm night but woke to a reasonable cloud cover overhead. 

We moved on this morning- away from the coast with our destination Cadillac on the Garonne. 

Approaching the medieval village of Cadillac. 

We needed to do a little shopping on the way, and with this having been done we then had to tackle the motorway surrounding Bordeaux - which proved to be less tricky than the first time we did this a few days ago. 

Crossing the Garonne again - still a very murky brown!

We arrived at the very interesting town of Cadillac where we were planning to stop for the night - the town was even setting up for a festival, but the aire was not suitable for such a hot day. 

Very quickly we transferred our focus for our overnight stop to Vignobles Lobre et Fils,  a vineyard about ten kilometres away - and we made the right call - it turned out to be a lovely spot for an overnight stop. 

Again surrounded by vineyards, ancient farm buildings and a welcoming lady who showed us where to park for the best shade. 

Late in the afternoon we were invited to taste some of the wine produced on the property. Half an hour later we had an extra dozen bottles to help us on our merry way! Very nice wine, produced in soil rich of oyster shells deposited and uplifted geologically millions of years ago. The secret to the Bordeaux wine producing story! 

Normally noted for its reds but quality whites as well!  It depends on the location - over a hill will produce a very different wine. 

Atlantic Coast

Another very warm day - temps in the mid 30s! So, our shady resting place was the best place to be! 

 An early morning walk to the ocean saw how popular this area is with the locals - very good numbers for early in the day. 

The tide was out and we were amazed at the drop in levels from where the high tide mark was last evening to where it appeared now with the tide out. 

We spent most of the day relaxing before the co-driver took a swim in the Atlantic Ocean later in the afternoon.