France - Boudeoux -Saint Émilion

Stayed in a cabin last night at a camping ground at Jard sur Mer near the beach. A very quite spot after a days traveling along country roads and having a leisurely look around the country side. The following day was very similar as we head to Bordeoux, camping in a very rural campsite about half an hour from the city. 

Jim has been studying the map and has found a Nuclear Power Plant about 50 km away along the coast.

We have been sampling the pastries and cakes in the bakery's along the way and starting to get a little bit addicted. We have yet to try snails, though almost ordered them the other night, but just haven't quite got hungry enough! The same can be said for the frogs legs; I think we had too much to contend with food wise in Nepal to even go there!

The landscape is very flat and still heavily farmed with crops, the vineyards are just starting to creep into the landscape. There are more sunflower fields so I'm hoping we are here long enough to see them in flower. We came across a town called Blaye and had a walk around its citadel and views onto the river and out to the sea. 

We visited some unique sand dunes called Dune de Pilat in the Acrchon Bay and climbed up them for a view across the inlet and out to sea, a very hot day at 30 degrees+ for a walk, lots of people about and a popular place for para sailing. 

After finding a park in Bordeoux we had a leisurely stroll  around the city, ticking off a few must see sights then headed off to find a camp site out in the country. The weather is very nice at the moment making camping very pleasant.

On to Saint Emilion, thanks to Libby's recommendation. The whole area has UNESCO status and what a gorgeous area. On the way there we passed many vineyards and homes, ranging from simple to very grand chateaus. Saint Emilion is a medieval town with its wine making dating back some 2000 years. Very old buildings and cobbled streets and underground caves; as the area is rich in limestone which contributes to its success as a wine region. The countryside is very nice with gently rolling hills covered in vineyards and all the buildings regardless of grandeur all fit in with the French style of the area. 

We camped the night in the St Emilion camping ground, about 5 minutes from the town, the high season starts this week so we were probably lucky to get a site, very nice camping ground, we enjoyed the pool yesterday as it was 31 degrees.