Day 6 Blaye to Puyravault

Rained mostly through the night but stopped by the time we emerged from the van. Great little stop with about 6 other vans overnight and all free!

We were woken early by the ferry horn as it left its dock to make its journey over to Medoc across the muddy brown Gironde river, which is about 2km wide at that point. The ferry does a big sweeping half moon, we suppose due to silt beds or sandbanks. Anyway, it's quite funny to see it going down and round to get across 😁.

While we waited for the Citadel to open we took a stroll around the town (it is a city but thought it more of a town) not sure where it ended and the next town began ready.

A few shops were open on the main road to the port but the back roads are much quieter and mainly residential. We stopped for a coffee and croissant opposite the Citadel and watched the world go by.

The citadel is free to enter with plenty of points of interest in French and English. Funnily, the citadel was fortified by Louis XlV to keep the English out and yet here we are again! 🤔😁.

The views over the town and the River are very good from the top of the medieval castle which also has a dial illustrating various points of interest in the surrounding regions. The highlight of our climb to the top was seeing goats grazing on the graased ramparts. When we came down and round we were amazed at how high they actually were.

There is also a campsite within the grounds, closed for the 2020 season, but with all the services you can imagine this being a great spot to pitch up to. We were a little concerned that we wouldn't be able to get Bilko through the Royal Gate, smaller vans would have no trouble at all.

The drive out of Blaye was just as lovely as the drive in with miles and miles of vineyards. There is an abundance of signs for various wine producers if you set out to visit them all, you wouldn't get very far each day 😋.

We are thinking that one of trips should be to follow the wine routes heehee 🍷🍷🥂.

Caught the back of a tractor trailer with a small herd of cows in, bless them, they could just see out. I know they need to travel but I don't like seeing it.

We stopped in a little village Aire (all services provided free) for lunch, it's just great that these places are available, there is normally always someone else there when we arrive.

Then headed in the direction of La Rochelle. We stopped there last year so didn't want to go again this time. There are quite a few places to choose from and we opted for some free parking outside a cemetery in Puyravault, another little village with a couple of shops and a bar. Hope to take a stroll out in a bit to explore.

One thing to mention is that there is a farm next to the cemetery and the air smells just like back home in Devon! 😄😄