Farnsniente

A bright rainbow

Rain, rain, go away!

—

in
📍 Sancerre, France

Photos

Trip index

Summary

Awoke to steady rain which continued all morning. Late morning we drove to nearby Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire for a hike along the Loire river and lunch. On the way back to our hotel we stopped into Le Perrière winery for a Sancerre tasting and view of their caves. Bought a few bottle for the near future. Spectacular rainbow on the way to dinner.

Details

At 7 am, when we wake up, it’s already raining. It looks like it has been for a while and the weather service says it will be most of the day, for most of the country. Oh well. 

We look at the date on the calendar and realize that today’s pretty much the 1/2 way point through our two month trip to Europe. We better get our butts in gear and start doing stuff (wink). On days like today we ask ourselves whether the X amount of time we’re here… is it too much? too little? It’s been fun so far. It’d be OK if it continued on. 

While having breakfast we look ahead to the rest of our soggy day. What should we do in the rain? Any logical free indoor activities? How about having a realtor show us houses? That’s free, isn’t it? How many times have we convinced ourselves that owning a place in France would be a bad idea? Many. We’re surprised, though, by how “affordable” the places here seem. Maybe if we were 20 years younger.  

Post breakfast we pretty much just hide inside from the rain. 

After noon we gather our courage and our rain gear and head out. We drive the short distance to Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire to do a walking circuit I’ve found online. It features lots of views of the river & fancy houses there alongside. Karen seems to recall that the Loire river is France’s longest and least navigable. Very wide with lots of sandbars and shallows. We’ve seen levees and they seem to put the houses up away from the water proper, so it must get deep and wet at some times. 

Karen finds a place for lunch that’s well reviewed. It’s also well attended and we’re nervous they may not let us in, given how close to 2pm it is. Service is slow which allows us to observe our fellow diners. The French are very social but don’t share food. At the nearest table the six people (not a family) pretty much each get their own big pizza and each eat the whole thing. How do they do it?? Karen keeps close track of who’s eating their pizza with a knife and fork (the French way) and who is just picking it up. 

After eating a whole pizza most get dessert. A couple of them get a favorite of ours: Le Colonel. A couple of scoops of lime (lemon?) sorbet and a long pour of vodka. Cheers. 

Back at the car we point our GPS in the direction of the La Perrière winery. We can see it from our room. It looks like a dark horizontal gash in the hillside and that’s pretty much what it is. It’s a natural cave that the monks, way back when, expanded by carving out big blocks of stone for constructing local churches. It’s just the two of us. Madame (it’s her third day on the job) gives us samples of five wines with deep details about each. We get a mineral lesson about the three terroirs complete with rock samples. Tastes like wine to us. We buy four bottles to be enjoyed in the coming days. 

We’re back at our room just in time for another downpour. We hang out until dinnertime when we notice it’s stopped raining (likely just for now). On our walk to Hotel du Rempart for dinner we’re treated to a bright colorful rainbow. Either end is touching down, not to the ground but at least to the trees or buildings. 

At the restaurant we see that they have chicken breast and salmon on the menu, just what any long-traveling, self-respecting American could want. They’re just OK, but at least we get a break from all the traditional, rustic, high-fat fare we’ve been enjoying. 

After dinner we again walk through town, to exercise off a bit of dinner. It’s cool and the sun is again gone. The clouds are so low they’ve swallowed up the tall tower overlooking the village. The wispy clouds seem to be threatening to swallow all the buildings and whole town, too. We take a different route back towards our hotel and find yet another (third) awesome panoramic viewing area in town. 

Back in our room we look out and see a lovely, bright sunset, way off in the distance. What time is it?? 9:40! Ah summers in France!

Photos

[Note: Start at the top to see the photos in the correct order. 🙂 ]

We wake and the weather outside does not look too promising. The outlook for the day, as well, is consistently iffy.
In the early afternoon it gets nicer (for a while) and we take a good, long walk along the Loire. It’s the least navigable of all of the French rivers. This shallow craft is about all that this part of the Loire can handle, and even that’s when the water is high.
The waters must get high at times because most of the houses are set far back, up high, away from any possible river overflow.
For now the waters aren’t high and in fact there are a lot of sand bars. It seems people use them for recreational purposes.
Tasty lunch (Italian) and a beer.
Next stop a winery. It’s inside a natural cave carved into the side of a hillside, otherwise just covered in vines.
In we go.
Karen gets an earful from madame while I wander around and snap pictures.
The caves help keep the temperatures comfortably cool, supposedly great for aging wine.
Back at the car (a Ford) I realize another amazing feature. When you open the door the car thoughtfully installs a bump guard, real time. When you close the door, the guard retracts so you get a smooth seam. Nice!
Not so nice? The afternoon rain. We’re starting to get big muddy puddles down below our hotel, where they’re doing construction.
Thankfully at dinner time the rain stops again (briefly) and we get a pretty rainbow (or two).
After dinner we walk around town some more. We see a cafe offering after-meal coffee. You can just get a coffee (espresso) or a Cáfé Gourmand, with a small creme brûlée, vanilla ice cream, a small brownie, whipped cream, and a little baked sweet bar. Now THAT’s a coffee!
The more we explore town the more amazing stuff we find. There’s lots to like here in Sancerre.
Back at our room we take one last peek outside before bed. We’re having a lovely sunset, despite (or maybe because of) all the rain. Wait! Sunset? What time is it? 9:40 pm. Ah, you gotta love France in the summer.