The EdVon Tour de France

EdVon is headed to France for 10 days! Vonda will be blogging from the road, so pop in every few days to check their progress.

Wednesday will mark the beginning of EdVon's first big trip. We have taken some small baby trips over the long weekends, but this one....this one is big! Two months ago I knew nothing about France. Now, I have successfully (or at least I hope) planned a 10-day trek that will take us on a clockwise route around the country, stopping to explore 4 key regions.

We will drive to Dover Wednesday evening and spend the night, so that we may take the early ferry over to Calais Thursday morning, where our journey will begin. Our first stop will be Epernay, Champagne...we'll tour some of the vineyards that produce the world's greatest champagne and take part in some tastings in the big Champagne houses.

After this overnight stop, we head on down (just a little) to Beaune, Burgundy for two nights. The Burgundy region produces what is considered to be the best wines in the world with the Cote d'Or vineyards at its center. Think really high dollar and robust. Dijon is the major city in this area, so maybe I'll pick up some mustard as well!

We will then get our first taste of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea when we head down to the South of France and make our base in the Languedoc region, the largest wine producing region in France. We will be staying one night in Pezenas and three nights in Roujan, perfectly situated to take to the sea or hike through the land in the Natural Park.

Our last stop will be in the Loire Valley, famous for its grandiose chateaux. I am very excited about our accommodation, which is in a converted windmill sitting on its own island in the middle of the Indre River. Since this is the end of the trip, I'm sure we'll relax a little and I'll pretend to be a princess as I let my hair fall down the side of a castle. We'll then head back up to Calais and take the ferry in to England, giving us a view of the White Cliffs of Dover as seen by generations of travellers, warriors, and royals.

There are several regions that we will just not be able to visit because of time. Most of these are on the western coastline, so they shouldn't be too hard to get to in the future. We are packing as lightly as possible, as customs will allow us to bring 90 liters of wine back over....guess this should be enough! I am going to blog from the road, so check in every few days to see our progress...and see our smiles get bigger and bigger!

On a slightly different note, every few years the real Tour de France begins in a city outside of France. Can you believe that this year it will start in London??? July6-8. Too bad we are just a little too late to see Lance. I am so excited to watch the Grand Depart and see the very first pedal strokes of what is probably the most grueling race there is.