Balade Decouverte en France

Since I have been in France I have missed the Ramblers weekend walk, so when I saw this poster for an organised walk on Sunday 8th September I decided to give it a try.

Sally and I arrived at La Forêt De Tesse , the small village where the walk started ,at 10am -registered, received our route map  and paid our 10 euros each for the walk and the meal afterwards.

After the introduction talk in French obviously, which went completely over my head, we  set out at 10.30 with the 80 plus walkers.

The walk was 10 kilometres (6miles) I would say it was a moderate 2 on our walk grading system, well signed with arrows and tapes as there were no footpath signs as we are used to the UK.

The route was along farm tracks and single track roads through the flat open farm land of the region. The weather was bright and sunny with a cool breeze at times and the forest section gave welcome shelter from both.

We arrived at Le logis De Tesse, the finish, just before 1pm and were greeted with a cup of sweet wine or fruit juice, a small piece of quiche and a cup of potato soup . After milling around for about half an hour we sat down at the benches in the open barn for our meal. 

The main course was served on a wooden platter and was a slice of thick bread with baked beans and a slice of Parma ham. When I say baked beans it was not baked beans as we know them but in a white sauce and looking a bit anaemic. We were invited to come for seconds this I did but passed on the beans this time.This was followed by goats cheese and date bread, a small fruit tart, brioche and coffee.

Local wine was on the table, not the vintage you would purchase in Waitrose wine section but after the 3rd glass the quality did seem to improve.

The meal finished about 3pm and we walked the 2 kilometres back down the road to the start point, to collect the car.

An interesting experience and a good chance to practice my French, which seemed to improve as I drank more wine, as we were the only two Brits on the walk.

John Reeves

Pembrokeshire Rambler,

In France.

Wait for me!

Pretty flat around here

Waiting for Lunch

Still waiting for Lunch