Bongo Fury

In 2010 we did a 710 mile round trip for fish & chips, details HERE for anyone who missed that. So it should not be a surprise to read that we’ve just done something similar for wine

UmBongoCat and UmBongoChris on here regularly go over to France (it’s easier from London ) and suggested, in the run-up to Christmas, that we should nip over there on a kind of booze-cruise.

Notionally this is a scheme to round up a load of plonk cheaper than you can get at Tesco. But when you tot up the cost of diesel, insurance green card, ferries, campsites etc, it probably works out about double what you would have paid in Tesco. But just going down to your local supermarket wouldn’t be an adventure, now would it?

It also gave us the opportunity to try out the French Aires de Service, their rest areas where you are allowed to camp in your “Camping-Car” – a valuable bit of research that we intend to put to extensive use next year


So, cheapest route over there is to get a fixed ticket on the likes of the DFDS service from Dover....


....except you can go earlier than you booked, if you're prepared to go to Dunkerque instead of Calais


Team Muz on Dover Seaways


Dunkerque


Waving goodbye to our ferry


La Musette – well it would be rude not to


Are we nearly there yet?


Camping Indigo, Bois de Boulogne, Paris, less than 3 miles from the centre of Paris


What are the neighbours like?


Ah, it’s Cath & Chris, Muzette won’t waste any time settling down then


Onto the Paris Métro


Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile


Team UmBongo, Arc de Triomphe


Team Muz, Arc de Triomphe


Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile


Avenue des Champs Élysées, one of the most famous streets in the world....


....Apart from Abbey Road, NW8 Tourist in the middle of the traffic


Avenue des Champs Élysées


Montmartre funicular


Montmartre funicular, spot the tourists queuing up


Montmartre funicular


Montmartre funicular


Montmartre funicular, the royal wave. Or is it we’re going on it twice


Sacré-Cœur Basilica at the summit of Montmartre


Basilica of the Sacré Cœur


Basilica of the Sacré Cœur


Basilica of the Sacré Cœur


Paris skyline from Montmartre with the Church of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul left of centre (with the green roof)


Art Paul, with a typically Gallic shrug


Notre Dame Cathedral


Notre Dame Cathedral


Notre Dame Cathedral and the Seine


Team Muz, Notre Dame Cathedral


Eiffel Tower


This is for a separate little project, as Mrs Muz always has a couple of shot-glasses....


....and a bottle of Jura single malt in her handbag when we go out


Team Muz, Eiffel Tower


Muzette, Eiffel Tower


What? – No ice-cream?


Onto the Seine river-cruise, excuse some blurry shots here, no tripod and even if I can hold the camera pretty steady the boat is wobbling


École du Louvre


River Seine


Notre Dame Cathedral


Notre Dame Cathedral


Notre Dame Cathedral


Notre Dame Cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the middle of the Seine


Mrs Muz and Muzette


Onto the double-decker Réseau Express Régional – Network Rail and Richard Branson could learn a thing or two here


Bonjour! Camping Indigo after a well-deserved sleep


Well that’s my breakfast sorted, I don’t know what the rest of you are having


What the.... Someone’s nicked the bog


Personally, I blame the snails & tripe we had for tea


Palace of Versailles


Palace of Versailles


Palace of Versailles


Palace of Versailles


Palace of Versailles


Palace of Versailles


Palace of Versailles


Palace of Versailles


The World War 1 memorial at Notre-Dame de Lorette


Notre-Dame de Lorette memorial


Notre-Dame de Lorette, this picture just about sums up the futility of war


Coffee & cakes it is then! – What, no ice-cream again?


A sign we shall be looking for in earnest next year, the Aires de Service. On previous tours we wouldn’t have given that sign a second glance


Aire la Pommeraie in Nuncq Hautecôte, Nord-Pas-de-Calais


Only three pitches but all vacant


May as well get the fairy lights out....


....and set fire to some food


All the ingredients you need. Wine, cheese and merguez sausages. The wine is on trial before a major onslaught tomorrow


Aire la Pommeraie, Nuncq Hautecôte


Team UmBongo and Team Muz on tour in la belle France


Merguez sausages and some peppers for the health-food freaks


Aire la Pommeraie, Nuncq Hautecôte


Aire la Pommeraie, Nuncq Hautecôte


Aire la Pommeraie, Nuncq Hautecôte


Well the wine research has gone well, hic


And the white, too


Chez Zaza, Samer, Nord-Pas-de-Calais. For Zaza


Next up, a micro-fromagerie, a kind of Co-Op artisan cheese house....


....very small-scale but very good....


evidently. The garlic cheese does blow your socks off though


On to Auchan in Boulogne-sur-Mer for a major asault


Oh yeah, how many types of cheese do you need, really?


I just hope the rear suspension is up to it




Next up – Netto – And it’s nothing to do with the Netto we used to have in the UK….


….this is a hard discounter that REALLY stacks it high and sells it cheap


Fortuitous planning due to the storms of late….


….we’re booked on the Chunnel


....so 35 minutes and we’ll be back in Blighty


So there you are, mission accomplished. Merguez sausages, horse-burgers, wine and cheese. Oh, and a tin of paella


The fruits of success – Horse-burgers & tartiflette


One thought though, as I quaff this Bordeaux which cost me 77p a bottle (although I did confuse the checkout operator, she was doing her best until I said “Muchas gracias, monsieur” in my best French), Tesco you are having a laugh!!

Excellent! Had a fun weekend and glad you enjoyed he fromagerie and the small detours we took you on to get there

Our roof is still in our garden and now cracking open the wine to get me through the next few weeks!

Fantastic, thanks for posting.

Oh no, not good weather again Paul.. Must get sooo boring.
Glad you had a good time and practice for next year.

Not content with being thoroughly debauched yourself Muz, you now have to recruit the innocent Umbongo people into your sordid little expeditions

But seriously. Superb travelyfotologue yet again. Made my day and the Muz clan are an inspiration (though for quite what I'm not sure)

Looks like you all had a fab trip.

Cheers

Andrew

Hi
Coo, looks like fun!....Christmas?....I haven't even started thinking yet....BUT....I'll be looking for some nice Chilean , and Aussie vino.....(bit partial).....
Cheers
Helen

mikeonb4c wrote:Not content with being thoroughly debauched yourself Muz, you now have to recruit the innocent Umbongo people into your sordid little expeditions

We're safe and sound Mike and not so innocent (The French side I would say is most definitely less innocent and English side is a saint) It was indeed us who persuaded Muz to come and be thoroughly debauched with ourselves.

umbongocat wrote:

mikeonb4c wrote:Not content with being thoroughly debauched yourself Muz, you now have to recruit the innocent Umbongo people into your sordid little expeditions

We're safe and sound Mike and not so innocent (The French side I would say is most definitely less innocent and English side is a saint) It was indeed us who persuaded Muz to come and be thoroughly debauched with ourselves.

Damn southerners. Corrupting an innocent northern man. I should have known

Although I would have to say it's pretty impossible to corrupt Muz as much as we tried with the offerings of stinky cheese, cheap Netto Cremant and frozen snails

It was a fab quick trip and one that we'll definitely be doing again and maybe we'll manage to persuade some others to join us on a fun booze trip to France

Muz... the pic of you and Hannah sipping the wine is ace!

umbongocat wrote:Although I would have to say it's pretty impossible to corrupt Muz as much as we tried with the offerings of stinky cheese, cheap Netto Cremant and frozen snails

It was a fab quick trip and one that we'll definitely be doing again and maybe we'll manage to persuade some others to join us on a fun booze trip to France

Muz... the pic of you and Hannah sipping the wine is ace!

We had the horse-burgers last night for tea. Merguez sausages tonight!

That photo was taken on my phone, not by me obviously, can't remember who took it, it's all a bit of a blur, just like the photo

Chris also failed to tempt us with the tinned sprouts in Netto

14 Bottles! they'll be gone by bonfire night won't they?

Wendy'n'Alan wrote:14 Bottles! they'll be gone by bonfire night won't they?

No, you've not spotted the cardboard cases behind them

This wasn't our total haul either, we were unsure whether the table would be up to it

Great pictures Paul. We are just back from a week around Fontainbleau in the bongo. I couldn't believe how nice the Bordeaux was even at less than 2 Euros per bottle. Couple it up with a fresh baguette, some cheese and sausison sec...... mmmmmm. Makes you wonder what our 'supermarkets' pay per bottle, when you can get a really nice one of less than 2 Euros in French supermarkets?

Cheers

David.