So after leaving rainy Picton behind, we arrived quite early at our hostel, and as the weather had brightened up, we decided it would be a waste not to start the wine tasting tour there and then. Rather than go for either of the two wineries in the centre of Renwick, Chris decided two a little further out would be a good idea, to earn/walk off some of the wine. Yeah, great idea Chris - what looked close on the map was actually a 3 or so mile walk mostly along a very busy road. When we reached the first one the owner remarked in surprise "Did you walk here?? Blimey, we don't get many doing that....." Yes, we can see why. However, we were very ready for the wine! A few lovely tastings there, followed by a few more at the next place, and the walk back didn't seem anywhere near as bad.....
Tuesday and it was raining again, so we did the sensible thing and had some coffee in Blenheim then back to the car and tracked down a chocolate factory then a fudge shop! The sun came out in the afternoon, so we decided to try to work off some of the excesses and go for a run. Chris came across a back garden containing a small deer and a trampoline..... Another garden had sheep running around in it, and nearby to both of these was a mobile abbatoir! Fresh venison and lamb for the neighbours, perhaps...
Wednesday morning the sun made a welcome return, so we hired a couple of bikes from our hostel and set off on a tour of the wineries. Honestly, the number and size of some of them makes the regions of France look paltry! Happily all the wineries which offer tastings are really friendly and there is no pressure to buy whatsoever, which again is a nice change from France. So the day was spent happily peddaling between vineyards, tasting as we went. What a terrible way to spend a day - not! Luckily Andy had discovered a nice track through one of the vineyards that meant we didn't need to take our lives in our (wine fuelled) hands on the main road again, and we made it back in one piece, with a very long list of wines that we liked. That evening we managed to whittle it down a little, and Thursday morning we did another tour of the vineyards, with the car this time, to buy a few bottles - it was only polite!
And so we have made it to Nelson. This is a lovely area, with a nice town centre and hills a plenty just behind us which Andy couldn't resist taking a run up not long after we got here. Chris took the flatter option of running alongside the river - much easier! A bit more of the same today, perhaps....
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