To Coulanges-la-Vineuse and Yonne Valley…

We enjoyed the most expensive breakfast yet of our holiday (4 times the cheapest) and were in the car for 9am ahead of the parking charges.

We weren’t 50yds away from the hotel when Daisy took a smack to her derriere from a Toyota hybrid who had decided he had sat long enough at the red lights! What to do next?

Back on the road our next stop was Sully Sur Loire, only because it had an amazing castle… You can read all about it yourself 😀😊

http://www.chateausully.fr/en/history

And a lovely cup of coffee 😊

Back on the road and the next stop was , because they too had an enormous castle 😀

http://www.chateau-de-st-fargeau.com/chateau.php

You can read more here if you want…. It was a pretty village but did crap coffee, though a cafe and verre du vin cost €2.80!!!

Now, we had been travelling in the Loire region for two days and hadn’t seen any sign of a vineyard, the fields were planted with grain and stretched for miles with the odd copse or forest! Then we crested a hill and all was before us.

Pushing on to Coulanges-la-Vineuse we also came across a pretty windmill, across the road from those monstrosities that had started to appear!

Our accommodation for the next two nights was at Domaine Maltoff. Now you won’t be surprised to read that this was mentioned in…… Lonely Planet!! We couldn’t check in until 6pm so took a tour around the area….. Well actually we took ourselves to Irancy… why, because Lonely Planet says that’s were locals go to taste western burgundy’s wines. This relatively new AOC uses predominately pinot noir grapes. Of course we had a visit to a cave, sorting out tonight’s tipple.

Having settled in to our room/space….

we visited Clos du Roi for a tasting, where we met Magali, the wine maker, and tasted seven of her wines with François over local charcuterie and cheese.

http://en.closduroi.com

A very enjoyable evening….