Next stop was Lyon, which meant Beaujolais sampling and a nice meal in the gastronomic and beautiful old town of Lyon. We were at this point staying off the motorways and avoiding the horrendous road tolls made worse by the fact that Betty was over 2m high. We took the back roads into the Vacores, a set of ruggard mountains which Phil explored on his 2hour run which was meant to be 30minutes but he got lost. After a nights stop in Orange we moved to the heart of the Cote du Rhone wine region and a little town called Chateauneuf du Pape. After shunning the over priced 17euros a day bikes for rent and opting for more money for wine purchases, we headed off on foot to do some serious wine tasting. Our first few wine houses we got a serious telling off for not holding/smelling or swirling the wine properly - so we apologised each time and said sorry Mr French Man please show me how again on another bottle of your lovely wine. Adrienne even got a telling off for not holding her glass properly when it was filled with water!!! By the end of the day we were pros or at least in our own minds we were which could have just been the 35 degree temperature and all the walking. Chateauneuf du Pape, meaning the 9th charter of the Pope was a mere 20km drive from Avignon our next stop.Avignons main claim to fame was that the Pope, well 3 popes, lived here in the 1300s xhen they were having a few troubles at home in Rome. Needless to say the pontifical court had a bit of money and in the 70 odd years they were in Avignon they made quite a nice palace etc. In Avignon we heard that Adriennes Mum operation had gone well and so we had a celebratory bottle of the local red and meal out in her honor (which of course was one of the many things that we choose not to include as a travel expense against our budget - creative accounting!!!) The shock did come however when Phils steak came out well done and he had asked for it rare. Who would have thought that we would have to send a steak back in France cause it was over cooked!!
Next stop the beach!!!! After much anticipation by Adrienne and some (quite a lot) of whinging by Phil (it being too hot, too crowded, camping grounds too expensive etc etc etc) we arrived on the Cote d'Azur via a quick stop in Marseille. St Tropez our first stop was great with a camp ground in the middle of a vineyard and a 5 min walk to the beach and to top it all off a covers band playing Crowded House! We had a great time at the beach however the next day had to walk for 2 hours to get to St Tropez as the bus driver did not stop at the allocated place grrr. St Tropez would have been less than impressive if it was not for the super yachts and the herds of super rich that come with them. We spent most of the day looking at the boats and spotting some good ones for Uncle Brian. Luckily we got a lift from a Belgium couple some of the way back, they had a car and no map, we had a map and no car so all worked out well. Our walk back along the 3km of beach towards our campground, revealed that the French's attitude to the need for bathing suits is as everything liberal.
TO BE CONTINUED
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