{"id":19263,"date":"2015-12-13T11:21:11","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T11:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=19263"},"modified":"2019-04-02T12:41:14","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T11:41:14","slug":"epernay-simply-superb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/epernay-simply-superb\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00c9pernay, Simply Superb!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zagan the motorhome’s occupants have been overwhelmed with the spectacle laid on by\u00a0\u00c9pernay while we’ve been here. Yup, the capital of Champagne country has come up trumps, accidentally gifting us a cracking parking spot before delighting us with one hell of a sound and light spectacular. We’re parked in a temporary aire which was created from a basketball court for a motorhome tour company (GB Privilege) which appears to have gone bust (N49.03620 E3.95246). Cost to stay here: \u20ac0, wow.<\/p>\n

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Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!<\/p><\/div>\n

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We **think** this aire at \u00c9pernay is temporary, as the guides and tourist office told us there are only 2 or 3 spaces here, and we’re in a basketball court!<\/p><\/div>\n

Jamie had warned us our planned route to the east of Paris would be flat, a dull plain. Having crossed France more times than I’ve eaten chips, he was of course right. The eye tired of the earthy-green sea of fields, drawn quickly to anything which broke the hedgeless monotony. Signs warning of an ongoing hunt, followed by the questionable sight of two shotgun wielding men in camo gear and high vis jackets. Four deer stood in the centre of a field, each looking in different directions. Ju wondered if they were planning an escape from the hunters. On the plus side, the roads were Roman-straight, carrying Zagan like a speedboat north until, abruptly, the ground grew a crew-cropped hair of vines.<\/p>\n

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Crossing the plain to \u00c9pernay.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Crossing

Crossing an invisible line, the Champagne vines sprout from the earth.<\/p><\/div>\n

I love vines. Why, I really have no idea. Even in winter, when the twisted, stunted wood reaches upwards almost dead, the clean regimented lines draw me in, like the mountains attract. Vines here mean money, big money. We met a couple in Rocamadour who held a Franglais conversation with us about Le Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Talk turned to camping cars,\u00a0and Monsieur took out his iPhone, swiping past photos of the most enormous Concorde motorhome, \u00a0him stood with a button in hand, a car rolling out of a cavern in the back. He was from the Champagne region he said, he used to own vines here.<\/p>\n

In among the grapes stood the industrial side of the grape, huge prefab buildings identified as special with the mark of the maison:\u00a0Mo\u00ebt & Chandon springs to mind, since it’s the only champagne I’ve heard of. Hang on a sec, a classic car rally is driving past the back window, gimme a mo… I’ve come back in, it’s cold! Grumbling chevvies, ancient Renaults and 2CVs, a couple of lowered ratty Beetles, and hundreds of other makes are honking and waving their way past. Ah, sod it, grabbing my coat and going for another go, back shortly… Right, sorry, sorry, where was I?<\/p>\n

Down into the town, the aire symbol appeared on the satnav, but as I said above, an entire aire was laid out, with about 20 motorhome’s lined up. We just piled in, parked up, then ummed and arred whether we’d gate-crashed a GB Privilege tour. GB? But they’re all French. The occupants were coming and going indivdually, no group activity detected. Ju checked with the tourist office later and yes, this area is reserved for a tour group. No-one appears to have told the tourist office that the tour company’s gone under though, so every last one of us in here has chanced it. We wondered if our arrival with a grubby GB sticker sent ripples of concern through our neighbours?<\/p>\n

So, where are we?\u00a0\u00c9pernay and Reims are basically the two big champagne towns, where the exclusive maisons\u00a0operate from. Opinion seems to be if you’re visiting one of them,\u00a0\u00c9pernay is the place to come. We’re glad we did, as for once we arrived to see the town\u00a0at its best. A festival of sound and light was on, get in, and best of all it’s free. We missed one in Chartres by a few days, and the Lyon one we wondered about visiting was called off after the Paris terrorist attacks.\u00a0\u00c9pernay went ahead with their show (well done!), throwing machine-gun toting black-clad groups of frowning fellas\u00a0into the fray to at least give us all a warm feeling of security.<\/p>\n