Two for the road

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On Wednesday morning, we meet Erwan at his office in the village of Ville sur Arce. He shows us the process by which champagne is produced. The huge hall is empty now, but this is where the grape harvest will arrive, to be washed and placed in the pneumatic presses. The new facility has been designed so that gravity feeds the juice to tanks beneath the presses, to minimise the use of electricity for pumps. The tank room is like the engine compartment of a vast ship, all gleaming stainless steel and wire walkways. We see how the wine is riddled: residue is frozen in the neck of the bottle and removed in a lump of ice.

We taste a selection of vintages before a lunch of local artichokes and trout at a nearby hotel. Fortified, and armed with two magnums of champagne as gifts for our future hosts, we set off south, avoiding the autoroutes. The roads take us through gently rolling landscapes of cereal crops. Every few miles, sunflowers crowd a field, their faces all turned the same way, their necks craning to glimpse the road.

In a café in the town of Chablis, we try unsuccessfully for citron pressé and end up with Orangina again.

We're looking out for a roadside auberge like the one where we had lunch, but by 8pm we're in Bourges and haven't seen anything of the sort. Driving round the one-way system, we spot an attractive boutique hotel near the railway station. After checking in, we walk into the centre ville. The hotel receptionist has recommended the place Gordaine. There's a bustling trade in the restaurants round the pleasant tree-shaded square.

After dinner, we walk up through the paved streets and come upon the imposing High Gothic cathedral. Knowing nothing of it, we're surprised and fascinated to find something of such scale and beauty: elegant flying buttresses, a richly ornamented portal over the north door, the intricately carved west facade.

Drawn by the sound of music, we turn the corner into a square where an audience is seated before a music stage. A blues band, fronted by a guitarist and a harmonica player, is playing to a Cajun rhythm. This is a free concert, part of the town's festival, Un Eté à Bourges. The music carries to the crowded bars in the next street.

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