We were only able to visit about .16% of the 8000 wineries in Bordeaux saving about 7987 for next time. The last 2 nights we stayed in Lacanau near the ocean. We rode long canters along the beach during the day and in the evening had dinners at seaside restaurants with the sun setting on the Bay of Biscay.
One of the best parts of these excursions is the personalities you meet. Michelle, the tour guide and outfitter, like me, is a young man of a certain age. He’s gracious and gregarious, a skilled horsemen and great host, French but he dresses in a cowboy shirt, boots, hat, western jeans, rodeo belt buckle and I only can imagine, western themed underwear with a Roy Rogers motif. He rides a horse named Ranger Bob. I rode the horse he named Trigger.
But Michelle’s personality, as great as it is, was overshadowed every day by that of his best friend and companion, his dog Cody. Cody greeted us each morning, tail and tongue wagging, as we mounted up and Cody lead the way each day, all day long. Cody would even lie down next to Michelle as Michelle would take his daily postprandial 15 minute power nap.
None of this would be possible without a person to do all the behind the scenes work of caring and feeding the horses, morning and night, and ferrying the bags and supplies from one place to another. On this tour that person is Alice, Michelle’s assistant, and she was so great. From the moment she met us at the train station with a cheery “Bon Jour, ca va!” she took the laboring oar and never stopped working to attend to every detail to make the tour all it was. She prepared fabulous picnic lunches for us daily with fresh salad and fruit, local meats, cheeses and fresh baked baguettes and croissants from local markets along with wine that was waiting for us every day as we dismounted, laid out on a lovely picnic table, set with dishes, glasses, table wear and napkins from Provence. And for me, best of all was her patience and the positive reinforcement she gladly offered as I repeatedly embarrassed myself with my efforts to communicate in French.
Merci beaucoup Alice pour tout ce que tu as fait!
The fun I had with Michelle and Cody and Alice, the beauty of the French countryside, the delightful hours and days riding Trigger, the amazing food, wine and perfect weather would have been incomplete without the company of my riding companions Linda, Alicia and Ivana. Three young female college friends, of a certain age, 2 of whom had been friends since age 8 when they rode and worked at the same stable.
They had been planning this trip, their first frolic together since their college days, for over 2 years. They thought they had a private tour with just the 3 of them until I showed up on short notice explaining in part (I guess) why they welcomed me like an escapee from a leper colony during the black plague when we met.
It took a while but soon we were great friends and they were treating me like the irritating younger brother they never wanted who eavesdropped on their girls slumber parties. And bringing up the rear with Trigger allowed me to do a lot of eavesdropping as they talked, laughed, gossiped, reminisced, schemed and argued, shouted, mocked, cajoled and conspired with each other about all manner of things sacred and profane having just the best time all along the way!
It’s a blessing to have childhood friends with whom you remain close throughout life. No one will ever know or understand you like those who watched you grow into the person you’ve become, know you inside and out. They are blessed with each other’s friendship.
I’m blessed too because I’m now off to Normandy to meet one of my closest friends from childhood and after that to Chamonix, among the most beautiful places on planet earth to meet la meilleure petite amie de la planète terre!
À bientôt mes amis, jusqu’a la prochaine fois, restez bien, a tout à l’heure!
