Back to France

After a pleasant last couple of days in Abu Dhabi, where we stayed with our friends and former next door neighbours in the Arab Bank Building, we headed back to Manchester. It was strange being so close to our former home but very nice to stay with Helen and John. We enjoyed another day at the beach club and some convivial evenings. Back at the airport we had the opposite experience trying to get an upgrade – a good example of the difference between Arabic and British customer service! In the UK we’d been told ‘no’ up front though somehow they did find a seat for us. In Abu Dhabi we were told that an upgrade using our points should be fine, until the seats were suddenly unavailable and we had to stick with our economy booking! I met 3 people I knew from my days working n Abu Dhabi in the lounge which was lovely – I seemed to be forever turning round to hear someone calling my name! Michelle and Phil from Babcock and then Matt from Wordsearch, who hadn’t yet seen the new addition to the Wordsearch family but would do so in a couple of days. The flight itself was fine and we got two seats together and a nice meal, though we were near the back so they’d run out of sandwiches by the time the trolley got to us. It we’re very organized we might get to use our Etihad air miles at some stage. Good news on one front though – Mum and her friend Jo have finally received their refund from Etihad so the face to face approach clearly had some effect.
We hardly had time to draw breath before getting packed up again and heading for France. Just a full day of washing, ironing and tidying up and then we were on our way to Leysdown where we spent the night with John’s mum before getting the tunnel early on Friday morning. It was very exciting to be crossing the channel again at this time of year, though the weather on the other side of the channel was not very welcoming with rain and low cloud.
With the help of the trusty orange ‘hotels et chateaux’ guide book we hit on a ‘restaurant with rooms’ in central Le Mans for our Friday night stopover. The room was spacious and pleasant, overlooking the main square and a short walk from the pedestrian shopping streets. A modern bathroom had been tucked in though you needed to be fairly small to fit down the narrow corridor to the loo! Promised parking failed to materialise so once we’d unloaded on the cobbled space by the cathedral we took the car to the underground car park. However, the delicious supper was a real treat as well as the fresh cakes and pastries for breakfast.
After a wander around Le Mans to buy some champagne to take to Liz and Keith’s we hit the road again. For Saturday night we’d picked a place just outside Bordeaux so that we could break the journey and end up not too far from Moncrabeau. The trees in their autumn colours were simply amazing. Even in the rain and under grey skies the golds, yellows and greens were just beautiful. Having missed autumn last year I felt that I was being treated to an even more fabulous display this year in order to make up for it.
The Villa D’O, at St Loubes was a real find. Close to St Emilion and surrounded by vineyards, its hilltop location provided 360 degree views of all the different colours that each set of vines was displaying. Converted with modern style and full of fantastic artwork there are just a handful of rooms, we got the last one and had a slate floored bathroom the same size as the bedroom. There was a surprise treat of a huge Jacuzzi and sauna in a converted barn and in the summer the swimming pool terrace must be a real delight. Food came in the form of a set menu, without choices or even explanations, but thoroughly delicious – amuse bouches, crab and avocado salad, cod with wine sauce and spicy rice and a chocolate fondant milk sorbet, absolutely stunning. We’d missed the turning when looking for the hotel and had to turn around in the gateway to a vineyard so we enjoyed a bottle of their wine with our dinner so we knew it was local! All in all what was going to be purely a stopover on the journey down turned into a huge treat.
Sunday morning, after a huge breakfast we set off for Moncrabeau and since we were so close we were able to take our time and have a wander round the familiar entre deux mers countryside. We stopped in Cadillac to buy desert wine and remind ourselves of our summer holiday and this time we actually found Chateau D’Yquem which we’d looked for in vain.
It was so wonderful to be back in this part of the world so soon and, once again we reminded ourselves of what lucky people we are and how privileged to be able to spend so much time in this wonderful country.