Vin en Vacances team Member Kate Wardell writes about one of her experiences this year.
Whilst I think it's fair to say that our own food & wine holidays are pretty spectacular, sometimes we have the chance to work with other travel organisations, and this year, Vin en Vacances teamed up with Intrepid Travel to offer their holidaymakers a day trip with a difference!
What does 'Intrepid' mean to you? Fearless? Dynamic? Adventurous? - maybe all three – and we certainly had a fantastic mix of characters on the day tours around the Minervois, from a single lady from Scotland who had mountain biked across the Atlas Mountains, and had over 100 parachute jumps to her name, to couples who had travelled through South America and the Antarctic. Intrepid Travel brought this amazingly diverse collection of travellers together on the Canal du Midi, for a succession of trips featuring a rather more gentle paced immersion into life in Southern France!
It’s October 3rd and I’m sitting in my Languedoc garden soaking up the bright autumn sunshine. Did I say autumn? It feels more like summer. Although a few leaves are turning golden the bees are still buzzing the birds are singing like its springtime. The peace of my garden is only disturbed by a distant dog bark from across the village, probably from near the little castle or by the church. All that is missing is the gurgle of river water that is normally running swiftly just beyond the wall at the bottom of my garden next to where I am sitting. The river has been dry since sometime in July for we have had not a drop of rain since early June.