70!

On Saturday we headed to the small village of Urville, about a 20 minute drive from us. We were heading there for lunch. I’d seen an advert for a celebration lunch to share in the vineyards overlooking Urville, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the ‘Route touristique du Champagne’ and I thought ‘What a wonderful event to be part of’.

So I bought us four tickets, as our friends were visiting for the weekend. With a little trepidation, as I had no idea really on what to expect, I drove us to Urville. As we arrived there was a sign pointing up into the vineyards, it simply said ‘Cap-C’, who were the organisers of the event.

I turned off the main road onto the signposted road, not with the full commitment of everyone in the car, and headed up a dirt track into the vineyard. Another car followed behind me, so I now felt I was leading the way. The track quickly got narrower and more bumpy, and the uncertainty in the car grew, ‘Are you sure this is the right way?’ Brian asked. I wasn’t completely confident, so I decided to stop and ask the man behind us. I pulled over to let him through, and he obviously knew we weren’t sure on where we were going, because as he passed us he said “Le repas est ici”. “Merci”, I replied and we carried on behind him. Climbing higher and driving into a very bumpy track I felt we might well have turned back if it wasn’t for him. The track improved though and we soon arrived at a meadow area on a plateau at the top of the hill,  where a number of cars had already arrived. We parked up and, and feeling more relaxed with lots of chatter and laughter, we headed along to where we could see some people milling around.

They had set up some lovely long tables, with bottles filled with local wild flowers, and an amazing view across the valley. The building was open on two sides, and created from local stone and oak from the surrounding forests.

Our meal was a typical, local French menu of gougéres, followed by chicken gizzards and goats cheese, with a main of beef with boulangère potatoes, a plate of local cheeses and a strawberry meringue for dessert, all washed down with local Champagnes, of course.

It was an amazing setting to enjoy our lunch, learn more about the work of Cap-C, meet new people, make new friends and practice our French.

A great day out was had by all.