August Journey Diary – by Yolanda Edwards

August is the month the place I attempt to flip off as a lot as attainable. You could have observed the month of visitor editors we had on our Substack—thanks a lot Christine Muhlke, Rebekah Peppler, Tracy Georgiou, and Maria Shollenbarger! I hope you loved their posts, and in the event you weren’t already following them, that you’re now.

We decamped to the Médoc to tune out as a lot as attainable—arduous to do while you’re a pair who each have fall print points to organize and a podcast you’re enhancing (Matt’s, not mine—the primary episode of “The Hotline” is here!), however we managed to unwind a bit. If you’re new right here, the quick story is we’ve been coming to this space northwest of Bordeaux for over 10 years—we purchased a Nineteenth-century stone home and glued it up (extra background here). It’s the uncommon caught-in-time place that’s near an airport (Bordeaux) and a two-hour TGV from Paris. We stay in slightly village referred to as Saint-Yzans-de-Médoc in the midst of vineyards on a peninsula bracketed by the Gironde River on one aspect and the Atlantic on the opposite. It’s oddly quiet—you’d suppose that any lovely shoreline in Europe can be packed throughout excessive summer time, however right here you’ll find sleepy seashores in time-capsule cities like Soulac-sur-Mer, Montalivet, Hourtin, and Lacanau—and you may also simply park your automotive and stroll via the dunes to a seaside you’ll should your self. Matt and I at all times say we will’t work out why extra individuals don’t find out about it. Why is the Dordogne so widespread, even in summer time, when you could possibly be right here by the ocean? And it’s cheap!

August within the Médoc for us seems like this: lengthy morning walks the place we barely see a automotive, however loads of tractors (harvest can occur from the tip of the month all through September), lengthy bike rides on very flat roads previous fields of sheep, shopping for cheese from