Yes………I am here on my own

“The great duckling rescue”

France 2008

Strictly speaking I was not here on my own this year, as I was visited by family members and friends throughout my French adventure, but it did begin that way.

In 2008 I decided, for a change, that I would stay closer to home but take a longer than usual holiday.  So I asked my French friends if they could find somewhere, fairly close to their home, for me to rent for a month. They would have been happy for me to stay with them – they told me as much – but I didn’t want to impose and I did want to be able to invite family members to join me.  As it was, they found me a wonderful old farm house in the same village and my invitations to stay soon found me with almost a full month of guests.

I set off from home, with my car full to the seams and with my trusty satnav.  This was the “here on my own” bit.  I drove down from Yorkshire, took the 5pm ferry, arrived safely in Calais and managed to find my way to my overnight hotel. Luckily the journey to my friends’ home can now be done mainly on the motorway, although there are a few tricky junctions where motorways intersect and this was where my satnav came into its own.  It is also a bit awkward when you come to the douane on the motorway and have to get out and walk around your car to pay, while the furious drivers are queuing up behind you.  Anyway, I found my way the 260 or so miles to their home, including a stop for lunch.  I spent a few days staying with my friends before moving into my new “home” on my first Saturday. 

“My” farmhouse

My younger daughter and her partner arrived later the same day and stayed for a week.  It was the following weekend that we witnessed “The great duckling rescue” in a small town called Les Riceys and this is what happened. 

The Champagne region in France is far more widespread than the well-known towns of Reims and Epernay.  It extends southwards into the department of Aube, which is where my friends live and which is where the small town of Les Riceys is situated.  However, the producers in the north can be very sniffy about the quality of the champagne produced in the south. We once stayed a few days in Reims on our way to visit our friends and any discussion about the champagne produced in these southerly parts of the region was shut down with absolute disdain.

However, every year there is a celebration of the smaller producers of this wonderful wine called “La Route du Champagne” and every few years it will be the turn of Les Riceys (actually 3 communes: Ricey-Haut, Ricey-Haute-Rive and Ricey-Bas) to host the event.  In addition to its Champagne, Les Riceys is known for Rosé de Riceys (pink and sparkling) and two still wines, Cộteaux Champenoise Rouge and Cộteaux Champenoise Blanc.  I can vouch for the quality of these wines, because I have tried them all!

When you visit “La Route du Champagne”, the premise is that you buy a book of vouchers and a glass, which allows you, over the weekend, to visit producers and sample their champagne. In 2008, this involved 30 producers and cost €8.  This year I have read that it cost €30 – still great value, I would argue!  As luck would have it, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

We drove the short journey to Les Riceys, parked the car and bought our tickets (apart from my daughter who was not well and so didn’t drink).  The whole commune was decorated with flowers and little scenes created with model figures.  We wandered around the village, calling into a number of producers, including Champagne Morize, where we found our friends helping out.  They have family links with this Champagne house and I had visited it many times before to buy rather than to sample. 

As we walked along, we noticed that a crowd was gathering around a bridge across a small river.  There was a family of ducks swimming near a weir and one of the tiny ducklings had been washed over the weir and wasn’t able to get back up to its mother and siblings.  A young lady was berating her companion and seemed to be suggesting that she was about to do something about this, which obviously worried him and, all of a sudden, he was removing his trousers, moving along a barrier by the weir and climbing down into the water.  The water came up to his waist and must have had quite an undertow as it rushed under the bridge.  He made his way towards the duckling; the crowd held its breath but the duckling managed to flap its way out of his grasp. He followed it back towards the barrier and it managed to avoid him again.  In fact, he followed it around for several minutes with the crowd becoming increasingly worried about the fate of both man and duckling!  Finally, he cornered it, close to the weir where its anxious mother was looking for it.  He scooped it up and threw it back over the weir to where its family was waiting and the water was smooth.  A huge cheer went up through the crowd and the hero of the afternoon was applauded as he climbed back up the barrier, took off his wet shirt and replaced his trousers.  It was the highlight of our afternoon, even more so than the 7 glasses of champagne that we managed to taste.  We could have gone back the next day, to use more of our vouchers but my companions were setting off for home and more members of my family were about to arrive.  There were beds to be changed and dust to be swept up.

I thoroughly enjoyed this long stay, which included a trip to EuroDisney (never again), to Aube’s own theme park, Nigloland, visits to Burgundy and Chablis and a guided tour around Essoyes, where I learned a great deal about the Family Renoir (from painter/sculptor to filmmaker).  Before I left for home, I was tootling around the countryside with my GPS language set to French and was regularly being asked if I had a loyalty card at the local Atac supermarket.  Best of all, I was able to spend time sharing good times with old friends.  My family and I were lavishly entertained by my friends and their family (all of whom I have known for years) and it was good to be able to entertain them occasionally, even when it was simply for an aperitif (very French!). 

I hope you enjoy the photos of the “Route du Champagne”.  It was a very small part of a great 5 weeks…. with mostly good weather!