The ride to Saint-Estèphe was a pleasant one through vineyards, past many beautiful chateaux and on small quiet roads. It wasn’t that far either, only about 40kms. When we first started out from Castelnau it appeared to be very smokey but it was also due to fog. Once we had ridden about 20 minutes it lifted completely, the sky was clear again. We learned that the wildfire was now under control.
We made a side trip to Fort Médoc on the west side of the estuary. We visited the corresponding citadel opposite this one on the east bank a few weeks ago in Blaye. Both forts were designed by the famous military engineer Vauban on the orders of King Louis XIV. These two forts and a third, Fort Pâté in the middle of the estuary on a small island, were described as the “bolt” to protect France from enemy attackers sailing from the Atlantic towards Bordeaux. They needed the fort in the middle because of the limited range of their artillery.
The rest of the ride was spent admiring the chateaux and gardens along the way. I thought it was interesting that the château gardens we saw appeared lush and green yet there has been a drought this year. A few of our hosts have talked about not being able to water their gardens yet here they were clearly watering regularly. What happened to Liberty, Equality and Fraternity? There is clearly much profit in the wine business. (It turns out that the Medoc region has not had it as bad and does not have restrictions).
The next two days after wonderful petit déjeuners on the rooftop terrace we followed routes through the region to look at many different chateaux. The rides took us again on quiet little roads through vineyards and small villages. It is a bit hillier in here but still quite easy compared to some other places we have cycled. Also the weather has quite suddenly become fall like and cooler so perfect for cycling.
We can’t really visit the chateaux and do tasting when riding, we need our wits about us. The roads are fairly quiet but still some cars and many tractors around. It is harvest time so lots of activity and grape pickers. We have now seen many of the automated grape picking machines, very interesting to watch. They still require many grape pickers though. The older vines are too fragile and don’t recover as well from the automated pickers so harvest must be done by hand. We have seen huge numbers of what appears to be foreign workers speaking Spanish and other languages here to pick grapes. The are living in trailers and tent villages set up in empty fields or other spaces.
Although we have enjoyed this area of the Médoc peninsula very much it isn’t quite geared for travel by bicycle. It is a predominantly rural area so there are less businesses catering to tourists such as restaurants and hotels. We have struggled a bit with getting evening meals so have mostly resorted to buying prepared meals and heating them up where we are staying, and having a nice bottle of the local wine of course. Our hosts Eva and Bernard are very friendly and encouraged us to use their kitchen to prepare our food, so not much trouble getting nourished.
geeteetravels 
So cool, love all the château’s and especially the Zanzibar gate! Glad to see Tara is still drinking! 😊🍷❤️