Off to the south of France

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Tuesday 28th October

At last our journey has started after all the months of waiting and planning . We left our house in St John De Monts this morning and headed on to Bordeaux. We decided to make a stop over at a French Chateaux called Chateaux Malherbs. What a job to find it. The GPS didn’t know anything about the chateau or even the road. Yet we discovered later that it was one of the most important chateau around. When we found it the owner made us very welcome in his very good spoken English. We were given a lesson about the local produce of wine and honey. The bees were locked in for the winter and also to protect them from an alien Japanese bigger bees, So we were unable to buy some honey. Apparently if the Japanese bees enter the hive the local bees bring up the temperature to 38degrees and it kills the intruders!!!!!
We spent a bountiful night in the compound of the chateau with gates shut and a Doberman dog outside. How about that for security?
We will be visiting Bordeaux tomorrow we are looking forward to that after which we will be heading east we think towards the Dordogne by the way we just received at text from my sister saying you have got snow. Wee have a pleasant 12 degrees. Signing off now Linda.
Abder signing in now.
Would you believe it, it’s 8:20pm and Linda is already in bed!…I suppose she cooked a nice leg of turkey with new potatoes in a spicy and juicy sauce all in the oven. Yam yammm! After eating (of course!) she felt a bit cold and decided it’was bed for time.
I feel alright despite spending some 6 hours travelling 250mls. The route that we have chosen from St=Jean de Monts to Bordeaux goes through zelion villages, but outside built up areas the roads were very clear.
We made it to Bordeaux by 4 in the afternoon. We had a job finding the chateau where we will be staying or rather should I say 'the ground of the chateau where we will be staying'. The chateau is right in the middle of vineyards’ as far as the eye can see in all directions. The owner greeted us nicely and showed us a nice place in the chateau courtyard where we can park the motor home and spend the night. Linda asked him what the chateau is famous for. A two hours lesson followed on how the famous Bordeau wine is made in the chateau.We had to pretend we were interested somehow!
Linda wanted to watch 'strictly come dancing', so I fiddled a bit with the satellite TV but due to the position of the motorhome parked next to a huge tree the reception was bad. By 9pm we just wanted to go bed.

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