Well found me two pictures that need to have in my blog, after all is my life’s history. I have material for a while but in the meantime let me tell you about the road warrior trails on the D670 road!!! Hope you enjoy the story as I.
I was in my road warrior trails coming from Spain and trying to avoid toll roads and see more of my belle France. So I took the D670 on a rainy day and in some parts hail. The road was created in 1933,and it was defined as the road from Saint-André-de-Cubzac to La Réole as a national road N 670. It was downgraded in 1973 to a department road or D670.
And of course, while passing driving on this road we came into a nice little village another picturesque spot in my belle France. This was La Riviére!!
La Rivière is located in the Gironde department 33 in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. This town has 427 inhabitants (2018), spread over 3.22 km, It owes its name to its location nestled on the banks of the Dordogne river. It is said that Charlemagne installs a watchtower on a promontory at the site of a Gallo-Roman tomb in 769. It serves as a lookout to alert the military camp located further at Fronsac.
The interesting thing to see here are the Church of Notre-Dame dating back to the 11C. In the 19C, a bell tower was added to the church. The vault of the sanctuary, as well as the semicircular doorway and the narrow windows visible on the south wall, date from the 11C. The nave with ogival vault is a little later since it dates from the 12C. Another we passed by and took a peek was the Château de La Rivière. Wine is grown there and the historic cellars are open to visitors. The estate covers 100 hectares, including 65 hectares of vines producing AOC Fronsac wines, The current château was completed in 1577! The sad story of the castle/Château de La Riviére is that in September 2003 its owner became James Grégoire who,on December 19, 2013, sold the property to Lam Kok, a Chinese businessman, president of the Bolian group, specializing in the sale of Pu’er teas. Wanting to show him around the estate in his helicopter, he crash lands in the Dordogne, killing James Grégoire, Lam Kok and his 12-year-old son, as well as his adviser. Madame Lau, widow of Lam Kok, survivor of the accident, then becomes, alone, the owner of Château de La Rivière,to this day.
The official Château de La Riviére: http://www.chateau-de-la-riviere.com/en/home-fronsac-grand-vin-bordeaux-gb/
The Fronsadais tourist board on La Riviére heritage : https://www.tourisme-fronsadais.com/en/discover-Fronsadais/the-unavoidable/the-quarries-of-the-chateau-la-riviere/
The community of towns of the Fronsadais on La Riviére : https://www.cdc-fronsadais.com/communaute-de-communes-du-fronsadais/la-communaute-de-communes/presentation/la-riviere/
Continuing along this D670 road we reach the hamlet of Cantenac.
I passed by the Château Cantenac an 18.7 hectare wine estate located in the town of Saint-Émilion . However, way outside thet own on the road D670 actually closer to Libourne.
The official Château Cantenac: https://www.chateau-cantenac.fr/la-famille-roskam/
The Saint Emilion tourist office on the castle viticole: https://www.saint-emilion-tourisme.com/uk/6-chateaux-a-visiter/24-les-secrets-de-la-vigne-du-vin/20-chateau-cantenac.html
The Community of towns of the Saint Emilion area on St Emilion: http://www.grand-saint-emilionnais.fr/saint-emilion/
There you go folks, a dandy road warrior trip in beautiful wine country of my belle France. The beautiful scenery of country air and the smell of vineyards, can’t beat this combination love it. Hope you enjoy this bit of road warrior trip and do it when possible.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all!!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 