A Drive In The Hills

With Claude and Carole tucked snuggly into their Newmarket home, we set out the restock the larder for the next visitors - Jackie and Tony. We have decided that we prefer the slightly longer, one euro thirty, autoroute cost to shop at the Auchan at Pontet (Avignon Nord). We are starting to know our way around this store, which makes it a little quicker, but when it comes to us and a French grocery store, quick is not in our vocabulary. So, after a couple of hours we relied on our GPS (Emily) to get us to Tissus Gregoire - more shopping - this of a fabric kind. We are constantly on the lookout for new fabric for our dining room chairs, once the room undergoes its makeover. This year we think we found a suitable replacement - no more information pending, except a second box home may be required. Once our shopping was complete, with Emily's help once again, we headed over the fields, through Carpentras and into the foothills of Mt. Ventoux and through the village of Barroux with its impressive chateau.

Then we continued on through Malaucene, bike staging town for a gruelling climb to the summit of Ventoux, and stopped in Entrechaux, where there was restaurant recommended by Margaret called St. Hubert. We thought this might be a nice destination after a market this week, but alas, they had closed up shop for holidays.

Fortunately, Dawn had brought Margaret's binder with its wealth of information with us, so we continued on to check out another restuarant nearby, La Fleure Blanc, just outside the mediaeval perched village of Crestet.

Strike Two - on holidays. We had already noted on the weekend that a newer restaurant in Ste. Cecile called FX was closed for holidays, so we determined that this could be a difficult time to get into one's restaurant of choice. Take note, travellers! The vendage is complete or almost, so I guess a vacation is in order. Undaunted, we continued our journey through this very picturesque countryside.

At our next destination, the village of Puymeras, which shares the same wine designation as Cairanne, we sought out the restaurant Girocendre. Even though we were arriving on a Monday which is their regular closing day, it appeared that they were not on holidays, so this could be a possible stop for later in the week.

Girocendre, by the way, is located immediately to the bottom right of the photo above. We got back to Cairanne at around 4:30, unpacked and as I worked on this, Dawn kept busy downstairs - she loves gardening and ironing - crazy eh? For dinner tonight, it was Charcroute Garni, courtesy of the man with his market hat working at a paella style pan in the meat section of Auchan. This is always one of our and Dawn's in particular, favourites. It wasn't quite as warm today, but the week promises to continually warm up, as we creep further into the fall with its cooler evenings and shorter days.