La Gironde

"The Gironde is a navigable estuary (often falsely referred to as a river), in southwest France and is formed from the meeting of the rivers Dordogne and Garonne just downstream of the centre of Bordeaux. Covering around 635 km2 (245 sq mi), it is the largest estuary in western Europe." Wikipedia


Arriving safely at Bordeaux airport (the only airport that I've ever come across that has its own vineyard!), we were met by our host who told us of the first change of plans of the trip!

Aperitifs in Bordeaux with our host's daughter that evening had been postponed (we never found out why), so we headed straight to our temporary home, a tiny hamlet about an hour's drive east of Bordeaux. By the time we arrived, it was a glorious evening, just perfect for sitting on the terrace with a glass of chilled Muscat, soaking up the birdsong and the views of the wonderful garden and surrounding vineyards.

As the sun started to set, and the aperitifs were finished, our host suddenly announced that he was off to bed in the 'granny flat' next door! We were left sitting on the terrace, speechless. We'd only had a sandwich for lunch, some seven hours earlier, and we didn't have any food with us! Luckily, at the last minute I'd thrown in an emergency portion of pasta and sauce, just in case I was stuck for a veggie head meal. So for our first night in France we shared a portion of pasta for one, and there wasn't even a glass of wine to drink, despite a cellar full down below!!

Our host rents out his main house as self-catering accommodation so we can only guess that he must have presumed we'd bring all our own food and drink with us. Whereas, as he'd invited us to come and stay with him, we'd thought otherwise! So to bed hungry, and thirsty....