Only in France!

The absence of recent contributions to the Blog could well have aroused suspicions that we are sitting idle, squandering the days of the European summer. But on the contrary, dear Watson! The life of the overland traveller allows little time for frivolities; one should not underestimate the level of commitment and determination required to plan overlanding trips and to consume so much delicious fayre (in particular… French cheese!) with good friends over such a short period of time!Overlanding trips don’t just plan themselves you know 🙂 ! Whilst on the road with Cuthbert’s Grand Euro-Tour 2015, we have, in between the consumption of wine and cheese, been preparing for South America (setting sail next month – very exciting!): researching the minutiae of insurances, mapping, border and visa requirements, vehicle modifications, low-sulphur diesel availability, detailed shipping arrangements, vaccinations and medical requirements, and, and, and…. So much to do! Then of course there was the cheese to be eaten… every meal. Did we mention the cheese?? We like cheese… which is just as well when dining in France.

Cuthbert meets Ulysses

Cuthbert’s Grand Euro-Tour 2015 started with a couple of loops around UK catching up with great friends and family. Hospitality was outstanding throughout and at this stage of the tour, with the exception of the odd bit of Cheddar, cheese was reasonably ‘thin on the ground’.

Phase II of the Grand Euro-Tour 2015 was taking Cuthbert back to mainland Europe for further over-due visits to our friends in the conveniently monetarised ‘euro-zone’. The first stop was a great evening with Eric & Corrinne near Reims. Eric and Co have just taken delivery of Ulysses, their new Cuthbert-sibling truck; it was great to see the very smart ‘new generation’ overland truck (without the scratches that Cuthbert proudly sports as evidence of his year off-road in Africa).

Not cheese!

Collecting a tank-full of Europe’s cheapest fuel in Luxembourg, we passed briefly through Frankfurt then back into France to visit Alison & Gerome Patain in Roanne, Clive & Christine Jones in Toulouse, Paul & Julie Smith in Bergerac and finally, Julien & Karine Walther-Moutte in St Malo. Phew! All that in 3 weeks! The result? Significant consumption of wonderful French cuisine, a fabulous amount of cheese and a corresponding increase to our waistlines. Fortunately for us, we don’t carry weighing scales in Cuthbert, so we’ll never actually know the exact extent of our excesses! Handy eh? 🙂

But stuffing our faces with cheese was not the only pastime in France… No Sir! 🙂  You may be impressed to hear that we also managed to squeeze in a bit of sight-seeing en-route! The towns of Besancon, Auxerre, Dol and Bayeux may not be the highest profile attractions that France offers to the international tourist, but they are delightful and worthwhile stop-offs for anyone with a bit of time to wander and take in some real culture. The Atlantic coast near St Nazaire is also very scenic with lovely beaches and pre-historic relics at Carnac. The WWII destroyed village of Oridour-sur-Glane is tragic and thought-provoking.

Omaha Beach

We spent an interesting and very moving few days at the Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches, the Allied cemeteries and the remains of the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanche. Watching Spielberg’s ‘Saving Private Ryan’ the evening before our visit to Omaha Beach brought a tremendous reminder of the reality to the experience. And stepping back almost 900 years before the D-Day landings, we went to see old Harold taking an arrow in the eye for England, at the Bayeux Tapestry. I’m not sure whether it’s right that the great loss of life in war should be so much less moving when depicted by stick-men embroidered onto canvas, than it is when depicted by photographs of faces. They died hundreds of year apart, but they were all brave men fighting for their countries in their time.

Inevitably, with France being France, we had to end the trip in the wineries of Burgundy… the village of Chablis to be precise. The worthwhile outcome from this visit to Chablis is that we now know our Petit Chablis from our Premiere Cru and our Grand Cru. This can clearly be classed as a resounding “Result!”   And equally importantly we have learned a lot about French cheese. Did we mention the cheese? 🙂

Moving on now to Germany and Austria for a bit of schnitzel.