More Champagne anyone?

Our last full day together saw the troupe up and at 'em early and as the town slept in on their sabbatical day, we were scamming the tram system by not touching on for the two stops required to get to the train station. No trains for us today but this was where the tour pick up was, so we hung around coughing and sputtering hoping the other people who were obviously waiting as well wouldn't mind when we were enjoying the same enclosed space of the bus. As it turns out we had our own sleek black vehicle so we only really annoyed the driver.

Very quickly out of town we started being surrounded by fields of vines and we actually stopped by the side of the road for a while for a look and chat about the growing side of the process. It was very pleasant and interesting given blogger and non-blogger's past experience in this field (well, obviously not this exact field as that would be really silly, but the fields of yonder years....never mind...)

Back breaking stuff for the farmer's  here as they keep the vines low to absorb the heat off the ground. And they all must be carefully hand picked and gently treated until the very careful pressing which happens as close to the plot. Back in the nearby village in other words. That's where we headed.

Into one of the many local establishments, based on a small area of Village land where they do all the pressing, ship some off to the larger houses and keep the best for their own production. Vats and casks and bottles and cellars where they spend countless hours twerking the bottles (or something like that) and history and maps and more discussions about the finesse of making the product. E.g. more spin

The ensuing tasting was good even if before lunch. Bought a bottle for us to share over dinner and we moved to the next establishment which was a smaller operation in a well set up man cave. Thinking of putting in a cellar at home,  shouldn't be too hard.

On the way home we stopped by to catch the panoramic view of the various plots changing colour as the sun occasionally exposed itself behind the high clouds.

Back at base we had a few hours to ourselves so it was off on the hire bikes for this here blogger. Spent the time hopping from one to another in search of one that had a decent charge. Not sure how they charge them but it sure isn't done on a Sunday. It was tricky, at one point got to a lonely treadly that had charge but for some reason was erroring and wouldn't release from the stand. Seemingly a common theme. All power had been consumed to get to this outpost . Stranded. All alone. A long way from home. Choice time as the location was next to the planetarium ( which was of no consequence and therefore not really relevant to the story but does add some colour to the post and is therefore included .... words are, after all , cheap) and the end of the tram line which could've been an easy out and fast way home. Naah, no fun in that...so putting the new knees to good use, set off on foot to the nearest station in which the app alluded to having a few options available.

A long uninteresting walk ensued, through the dreary suburbs of a major French metropolis on a cloudy dull Sunday afternoon with very few locsls moving about. Nothing interesting to describe this leg of this adventure except that nothing much happened. Luckily it was all possible due to working devices with coverage and appropriate subscriptions and therefore comforting that what was being attempted was possible. Scott of the Antarctic, Bourke and Wills would've loved such an easy challenge. Blogger without an ebike was put to the test...eventually a rack of blue beasts came into view and one with 30% charge was unlockable. So away we went. Back down to the canal and along a bit until it seemed pointless in trying to find a place to cross (was never going to ask anyone again), so back to the known bridge and around the town and bit to suss out what all these peeps do on their Sunday arvos considering most things are closed. A few of them noticed the gopro on the hat and gave cheery waves. That's nice.

It was also nice that the sun decided to poke it's head through the clouds just as the final bike docking occurred. Luckily the SanSebastion experience made sure it had registered the end of trip because it hadn't. Save a whole lotta pain there.

So sometimes these posts can be interesting, other times not. That was one of those.

The troupe was extremely well prepared for all the eateries being closed and J&S put on a fabulous (if not - spectacular) array of dishes of which we all heartily consumed and enjoying the finsl overall debrief, summarisation and subsequent review. Many members of the troupe had gleaned a significant insight into the whole champagne thing  (and it is, without doubt,  a Thing) whilst one heathen still can't tell the difference from a bouquet perspective but sure can now from the spin angle. From bucket to bouquet  - who'd a thunkit.