Summer Road Trip To Meribel

Hi everybody and welcome to my first blog post for a few months. As ever, it's always nice to squeeze in a summer trip back to Méribel. After all, who doesn't want to be in the mountains? This year for a few reasons, Harriet (my wife) and I would only be able to visit at the end of August going into September. We discussed our dates and schedule, and decided to make a road trip of it this time! So stop over on the way down a couple of times, thus breaking up the 800+ miles drive from Leamington Spa.

Too many times in the past I've been guilty of putting the foot to the floor, whizzing down the autoroute, and then moaning that I hardly ever get the chance to see the country. This summer was different, and how refreshing it was. A couple of hours south of Calais - north of Reims - is a town called Laon just a few kilometres away from the autoroute.

What an interesting place. It's one of those archetypal medieval walled towns on a hill, with a massive gothic church in the middle. Talk about suddenly being immersed into a French experience. We arrived last Sunday evening, during the heatwave and the final weekend of their holiday season. For some reason the vast majority of the bars and restaurants were closed that night. However we fell on our feet with a restaurant and had a stunning meal, then promptly fell into bed for a good night's sleep.

Then the following day - when the mercury hit the roof again - it was time to jump in our (thankfully, air-conditioned) car, and head further south. A few hundred kilometres later, we had our second overnight stop in Tournus, in Sud-Borgogne. Located a couple of kilometres away from the autoroute, on the River Saone, Tournus also had plenty of character.

Little did we realise that in Tournus, on a Monday evening, the vast majority of the bars and restaurants are closed! Spot the theme here? In the early evening heat the stress levels increased a smidge, and a few gentle French expletives were mumbled. We searched for, and eventually found, a peach of a restaurant in a hotel next door to ours. Perfect.

I admit that I could get used to this way of travelling; however only if local customs can be understood in advance of booking regarding closing of facilities !?!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we both thoroughly enjoyed our journey and are now settling back into relaxed mountain life. Oh, hang on a minute, the resort closes this coming weekend. Looks like it's homemade food for me during next ten days. Harriet and I are just about to pop across to Magali's wine bar 'Le Saint-Amour' for a couple of glasses of wine before she closes for the season ("Je reste ouvert jusqu'a lundi") Phew! Santé. Do come back soon for a mountain blog post. Martin.

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