From the white wines to the red wines.

Route talk on the terrace. Ride the Roman Ruins route, 32 km. Nice ride, good rest stops, noon tour of the Gallo-Roman Ruins of Montcaret. I’ve seen many Roman ruins in Southern Spain and Italy. Didn’t feel the need to walk and see these. I was quite content to sit in the shade and rehydrate waiting for lunch to be served by “dear friends” of the leaders of this Backroads tour, Bernard and Sylvette Mel. The lunch was another outstanding example of picnic-style French. Cold cuts of a wide variety of meats and cheeses, several different types of salads, fresh breads. I took very small samples of as many different items as possible until my plate was full. I didn’t come close to trying everything, and still couldn’t finish what I took. 
            After lunch we had a 57.9 km ride to our hotel in St. Emilion. At 5:25 we met in the courtyard and strolled less than half a block to Vignobles & Chateaux, “distributors of fine wines”. We were introduced to Max who lectured on how to taste and recognize what’s good about the red wines of the region. Too much new information for me to absorb. Dinner on our own in St. Emilion that night and I enjoyed a quiet, compatible, enjoyable conversation with new friends Cheryl & Steven from Huntington, WV. We all ordered a salad and a truffle omelet. As per usual it was too much for me to finish.

The photo is of our lunch detritus and our host, Bernard Mel, who described his experiences as a professional bike rider in the 1950’s with one of the bikes he used. The girl is one of our bike tour leaders who interpreted, Cheryl and Leslie are listening.