About a month ago My friend and I made the decision to drive to Nice in the South of France. But we both agreed that we would like to take in some of the sights on the way. We set off from Richmond Surrey at around 14.00 on our way for a 16.10 Eurotunnel crossing to Calais, the M25 had other ideas, making us sit in stationary traffic for well over an hour!
We finally made it to Folkstone and boarded the 17.40 arriving in Calais at 19.20 (with the hours time change) and we set about heading to Eperney approximately 300KM from Calais where we had booked ourselves into and the IBIS for a couple of nights.
The following Morning we decided to head off on foot as our plan was to tour the Caves of the Champagne region, first stop, Moet and Chandon although originally it was set up as The House Of Moet by Claude Moet in 1743, It wasnt until 1833 when Jean Remy Moet decided to sell to his son Victor Moet and his son inlaw Pierre-Gabriel Chandon that Moet and Chandon was finally born. An Interesting fact about Moet and Chandon that i was unaware was they own Dom Perignon. We Started our tour with a video on the history of the Caves, toured the Caves and Finished with a a glass of vintage chanpagne and a glass of vintage rose champagne, and off to the next Caves we went!
Perrier Jouet was our next stop, created in 1811 bu the marriage of Pierre Nicolas Perrier and Adele Jouet, fortunately we had pre-booked this tour as you cannot just turn up. we were in a small tour of just 4 people and we definately learnt more on this tour than on the others, interesting cellar set-up and very importantly they actually show you the factory with the bottling plants and the great big vats which most of the other houses tend to ignore and the Champagne is to die for.
We then headed off for a late lunch / dinner where we endulged our newly found taste for a couple of bottles of Perrier Jouet, then headed back to the IBIS for preparations for drive. we made the decision to head to Grenoble the following day a trip of about 500KM so we made the decision to do the journey in one day and spend a couple of days driving from Grenoble to Nice across the Alps.
The Drive from Eperney to Grenoble was mainly motorway, and we arrived at our hotel in Grenoble with just enough time to have a tour of the city and settle down for a long delicious dinner.
The following day we were up early for the drive to Nice, we headed out of Grenoble on the N85 towards GAP, passing through some out standing senery as we heading up into the alps and towards Sisteron on the E712, after Sisteron we took the A51 towards Les Mees, passing through some of the most beautiful villages along our windy route before stopping to collect the items for our picnic. TBC……………….
