Beaujolais

On the way out of Lyon there was a big sculpture on the road - supposed to be an infinity sign - but it’s more like a big safety pin!

It was a showery day but the first priority for the day was to get our washing done so we found a good launderette in Villefranche-sur-Saone and put 2 loads on, then went for coffee and pain au chocolat - at an Irish pub no less!

There was an Aussie pub across the road- closed I’m afraid.

We also found a salon for me.

After getting our washing all done and dried we drove off towards the Beaujolais area to the village of Vaux-en-Beaujolais. It’s on a hill surrounded by vines - and it’s special to the French as it was the village inspiring the famous novel Clochemerle by Gabriel Chevalier written in the 1930s. It was the first big bestseller book in France and worldwide selling millions of books. The characters of the story were on buildings all over the village.

One major part of the story is where the mayor wanting to make improvements builds a urinal next to the church. Glenn inspected it.

We went into the little museum which had a film with English about the author Gabriel Chevallier and had original drawings and manuscripts for his books.

We then went into the Cave de Clochemerle which is a wine cellar where you can taste, drink and buy Beaujolais wine - with additional pictures on the wall about Clochmerle. The cellar was ancient with very old wooden beams and stone walls.

We bought a bottle - with a Clochmerle label - and then the book from the tourist agency - so we have the pair!

After a little walk around the village - all old - we drove a short distance to another small village Saint-Etienne des Ollierres and free parked beside the church.

The villagers must be very keen pétanque players as they had a ‘boulodrome’ - a large boules area with 10 lanes.

As it was a lot cooler than previous days I turned on the oven and made a peach cake with walnut flour I had bought in the Dordogne.

It turned out quite nice and light with baking powder and Greek yoghurt to fluff it up. We had spicy mince and potatoes for first course - so cold weather cooking. We had a quiet night as the very loud church bell stopped from 10pm to 7am - thank goodness!