Mid-life gap year Tanya and Craig

The Causses is a limestone plateaux with green fertile canyon valleys. It is at the southern end of France's Massif Central. It is a vast and largely unspoiled territory with amazing scenery.  For us there were 3 highlights: Millau Viaduct (world's highest bridge), Gorges du Tarn, and the Roquefort cheese caves.  Millau Viaduct Loving most bridges and being fans of Lord Norman Foster's other architecture (British Museum, Hong Kong Airport, Bundestag in Berlin) we were excited to visit the world's tallest bridge in Millau. It has a structural height of 343m and is a 7 pylon multi-span bridge. It is not only beautiful with its needle pylons reaching for the sky but is also considered an engineering marvel.  Gorges du Tarn A canyon formed by the Tarn River near the beginning of its journey to the Atlantic Ocean is nearly 53km long and 400-600m deep. Over millennia the river has eaten its way through the limestone plateau. The gorges are flanked ...

On our gastronomic tour it would be remiss of us not to share the cognac experiences. Cognac is made in an area of western France just north of Bordeaux. It is an area of 80,000 hectares under grape.  Cognac is largely made from just one grape variety (90% is Ugni Blanc, also referred to as Saint-Emilion) and comes from one of five sub-regions surrounding the town of Cognac. The sub regions are determined by soil type. Cognac is a grape spirit that is twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in French oak barrels from Limousin or Troncais. It is 40% alcohol and matures in the same way as whisky. Most producers have it under oak for many years beyond the legal requirement. Almost all producers in the region are under contract to the four big Cognac houses: Hennessy, Martell, Remy Martin and Courvoisier who blend and market more than 90% of the world’s cognac production. Even the highest quality smaller producers are unable to market most of their p...

A wise person once shared that we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us.  For us this statement is s truism.  Local insights greatly enhance the travel experience because we all have limited time to mooch around. This past week the value of local knowledge was again reinforced.  Our friends recommended that we visit La Rochelle, the capital of Charente Maritime Department. We hadn't previously planned to visit this beautiful, white stone Atlantic coast city with its enormous harbour and marina but in hindsight it would have been a sad loss, not to have done so.  Over the next few days we visited a number of destinations that without local knowledge we wouldn't have known existed. La Tremblade's brightly coloured oyster cabins and ponds each producing wonderful oysters in the estuary. They are surrounded by rectangular oyster ponds The artist and estuary oyster producing village of Mornac sur Seudre has been classified ...

Two cultural icons of France’s Normandy region are the Bayeux Tapestry and Mont Saint Michel. Both are impressive, so much so they are World Heritage Listed. There is a link between them. Mont Saint Michel We have all seen pictures of Mont Saint Michel. Gabriel Gateaux visits it most years of the Tour de France and makes the traditional local omelette. Mont Saint Michel is set on top of a tidal island just off the coast of Normandy and is visible for miles around. It is an island with the biggest tides in Europe, some 15m. On the spring tide the sea goes out 15km from the coast and comes in again very quickly. Throughout history it has been a Roman Church, an Abbey, a fortress and a prison. It has been added to and adapted many times and is now a warren of buildings, rooms and corridors. At its base is a small village that serviced the Abbey. The Abbey has three levels: the top level was where the monks lived at its centre is the chapel, the second level was where important g...

The Cote d'Opal is between the Belgian border and Boulogne Sur Mer on the northern French coastline. We first saw it on TV during a Tour De France. It was windswept, sunny and striking with it's yellow sand beaches and chalky cliff s. On a nice day, you can see across the channel to the White Cliffs of Dover. Boulogne Sur Mur is a fortified town, about 90mins drive south of Calais. The lighthouse at Boulogne Sur Mer in rough seas is one of those lighthouses on the posters completely cut off and fighting the elements to simply remain. It is at the end of the break wall.  The two capes: grey nose and white nose have onshore light houses. Calais was better than we anticipated having heard about it being filled with displaced people trying to stowaway to the UK. We saw no evidence of this.    We walked around the lighthouse, the cathedral, the belfry and the fish market on the harbour pier. Charles de Gaulle's wife Yvonne was originally fro...

The Paris to Roubaix cycling race was first held in 1896 which makes it one of the oldest cycling races. The French call it L’Enfer Du Nord (The Hell of the North). In cycling terms it is a spring classic; a difficult one day race early in the season which anyone can win if they have fitness, courage and luck. Unlike most cycling races where mountain climbs sort out the contenders, the P-R travels through almost flat terrain. What separates the P-R from other races is the cobbled stoned roads through the forest of Arenberg. The route varies slightly each year but in 2019 it was 257 km long with 52km of cobbled roads over 29 sections. So the riders are cycling on cobbled stones. “Big deal” I hear you say, “Thousands of cyclists commute every day on cobbled stones in Europe”. We decided to try a section and see what all the fuss is about. Our friend Bartzie (AKA Gert-Jan De Baets) is a professional photographer for Bahamontes cycling magazine . He recommended the sect...

Le Main de Massiges As we drove through the Champagne region of France we passed what seemed like 30-40 Western Front war cemeteries, each with their hundreds, if not thousands of war dead. We were significantly moved. They are beautifully maintained in honour of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  We then had the opportunity to wander the chalky labyrinth of WWI trenches made by French and German soldiers at Le Main de Massiges in the northern Champagne region, we envisaged the life of those soldiers and the experiences of the frontline families. All horrific! I don't know how true it is, but a British WWI enthusiast at Massiges shared with us that France lost approximately 30% of its people’s bloodlines in WWI.  The trenches were not much higher than head height and photos on boards there showed times when water was mid-thigh deep. There was a story of a three day ceasefire on account of flooding within both sides trenches. The French made a...