Wine and rain

Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, top Loire whites. (There is Sancerre red and rosé too.) Here is the village of Sancerre, on its hilltop across the river on the left bank. 

But I am a right bank man at the moment so I press on towards Pouilly-sur-Loire. There are vines everywhere suddenly on what is very stony soil. 

I had thought to sleep out in a vineyard but it would have been a hard bed. And a wet night. The thunderstorm approaching in the photo above caught up with me 20 minutes later. Luckily I had found a railway bridge and could just watch the rain hammer down and bounce off the road. 

It then changed to a gentle steady rain and eventually I set off to Pouilly, seen here below with the Loire beyond. 

Pouilly has an acreage of vines only half that of Sancerre and every bit of suitable ground must be used it seems, including this unusual location. 

And then it's all gone. The geology has changed, the landscape is back to pretty flat and it's fields of maize, wheat and even oats. It rained on and off for about 36 hours. Happy farmers!