Wednesday 12 June

Today we are on holiday.  We have been here in Pauillac for three days, but with all the work we had to do, we have not had much of chance to look around.  So up early and to Chateau Lynch Bages for our tour of their winery.  It was all very interesting.  They show you all the modern equipment first and then they still have a whole shed with equipment used in the 19th Century.  Afterwards we got to taste two of their wines.  One, the Pauillac which we drank last night, but it was 2006.  Too young so not so nice.  We also tried a St Estephe, but that was far too young and I found it rather harsh.

Back to the boat.  It is now very hot and sunny.  In fact so hot, we have had to put up the bimini just to eat lunch in the cockpit.  After lunch we decide that we really must buy some wine while we are here.  We want to find something drinkable that costs under £50 a bottle!  We try the local Co-op, but we really didn't like what they had to taste.  So we try the tourist shop just across from the marina.  She had three wines to taste, a Pauillac, a St Estephe and a Margaux.  We liked them all and they were all about 20 Euro, so we bought two of each.  That should keep us going for a while.

We were supposed to see the harbour master who was going to give us information about the next part of our trip and in particular details about how to work the tides and get to the first lock.  However we discover that he is now on holiday.  His deputy tries to give us the information, but although we manage to understand a lot of his French, not all.  So we shall see.  The tides are at inconvenient times to go up river, but we don't want to leave until we see our mast safely on its way.

I guess a description of the town is in order.  It will be very nice when they finish building their posh new waterfront walk.  However at the moment it is all just a bit of a building site.  The buildings in the town are quite attractive with many of them in very nice golden stone.  However, as I said  before, there are a lot of empty shops and it all has a bit of a run down feeling.  The marina is friendly, but dilapidated.  The biggest problem however is the tons of driftwood that comes in.  It surrounds the boats and is really dreadful.  They try to drag the bigger pieces out of the marina and dump them in the river, but it seems like a hopeless task.

So finally we get ready to go to our posh dinner.  We are eating at the Chateau Cordeillan Bages.  It is right next to Chateau Lynch Bages and is connected to it.  At least we know their wines are made and bottled at Lynch Bages.  The chef is Jean-Luc Rocha, who we understand is on French television at the moment.  So what can we say.  The meal was wonderful.  It started with a choice of three breads and 4 different spreads/butters to go on them.  We had two amuse bouches to start.  Then I had Foie Gras beautifully set off with interesting tasty bits.  Richard had a crab dish which was a combination of Alaskan King crab and torteau (Dungeness crab)  As a extra we had a little dish of octopus.  I have never had such tender octopus before.  They wouldn't tell me how they make it like that.  Then we had roast fillet of veal.  Beautifully prepared.  We had a pre-desert of cherry and cream, which was tasty.  Then our deserts.  Both were so pretty they were a shame to eat.  Finally they bring along a whole trolley of chocolate and other sweets.  We try local specialty of Caneles (little sweet cakes) and of course some chocolate.  With all this we drink their own Pauillac, 2002.  It is very nice.  A lot lighter than the the Lynch Bages, but it goes down beautifully.  The service was, of course impeccable and very friendly.  When we asked for them to get us a taxi to take us back to the Marina, they drove us themselves.  A perfect end to a perfect evening.    Tomorrow we move on.