2 Walk On!: Pic Saint Loup et Saint-Guilhem Le Desert

Friday was a great day out for us. Wendy had organized for us to go on a winery tour and then to the village of Saint-Guilherme Le Desert. Bertrand and his family run a B&B in a small village 20 km north of Montpellier under the slope of Pic Saint-Loup - (pic is French for peak). There are 14 villages that are within this wine producing area and Bertrand gave us a thorough history of wine making in France on our drive through the little country roads on our way to the first winery. Both of the ones we visited are small family operations. The harvest is nearly over for this year but both are busy getting this year's crops into the tanks. We were shown the operation at our first stop and then had a chance to sample 1 white, 1 rosé and 4 reds. This was at 11:00am ( I won't say anymore about the effect of that much wine on someone at that hour but will say it was probably the best red I have ever tasted at a wine tasting).

Stainless steel vats where the fermentation occurs.

Bertrand explains while Fabrice, the winemaker, looks on.

Syrah grapes on the vine.

View across vineyards to Pic Saint-Loup.

The 2nd vineyard, Mas Gourdou, has been in the family since the French Revolution, 1789. The father and son are now the winemakers. The son was serving us the wine today and he told us that he has a young son to follow in the family business.

After our wine tasting, Bertrand drove us to his family's home, which is a lovely B&B where his mother does all the meals. Lunch was ready for us and we sat out in the outdoor dining room. What a setting!! It was so quiet and so beautiful.

And lunch was outstanding.

Our entrée (starter): gazpacho, chickpea salad with aubergine (eggplant) and a phyllo wrapped warm goat cheese filled with chopped tomato and some other good stuff, of which we weren't entirely sure.

Main course:

Bulgar with a very slow cooked veal with cumin and curry. Delicious. All served with a rosé of the area. In France rosé is only drunk in the summer when it is hot, never served in the winter.

Dessert followed, of course, with some chocolate cake and a wonderful piece of apple tart. I gave Wendy my chocolate cake and I got her apple tart in trade. Both delicious but I thought the apple tart fabulous. Bertrand, his mother and his wife are busy every day from April to end of September. Bertrand does his winery tour 7 days a week during that time; then in the winter he catches up on his sleep and has time for his children, he tells us. We both felt that we really had a little open window into the French way of life. Loved it!

After lunch Bertrand drove us to Saint-Guilhem Le Desert up in the hills. This village had been on Wendy's list so we were very glad we could combine a visit with our wine tour. It reminded me of Cirq de Lapopie which we visited when hiking the Le Puy route in 2013. Both on the list of top most beautiful villages in France.

He dropped us off and told us he would meet us at the bottom of the village in an hour and a half. First we had coffee in the main square, and then went to visit the church, The Abbaye de Gellone. It is much more impressive from the back side than from the front, which is just this door on the square.

The church cloisters with the Pic in the background. There are remains of a castle high up on the Pic.

Little streets winding their way down the hill with many little interesting shops off of the streets as well as restaurants. Some look like they are only open in peak tourist time. It's much quieter in September.

Many of the shops had ceilings like this - carved out of the stone.

The back end of the church as you head down to the bottom of them village.

The Arles route of the Camino goes right through town so lots of signs and we could have got our credential stamped in the church shop (but that would have been cheating ;-)