Goat’s cheese droppings

A last minute decision to try some cheese tasting fortunately only required a minor deviation from our route.  We took the more gradual road to descend from the town and I stopped frequently to admire the scenic views across the valleys.  

Once down amongst the vineyards, we could see Sancerre perched on top of its hill. We stopped at La Ferme Bête Noire which produces Chavignol crottins, a raw goat’s milk cheese that adheres to traditional production methods. It is also known as ‘horse droppings’ as crotte means ‘dung’ in French and the cheese is shaped like animal dung when mature.  

As we wound our way through the entry corridors, a series of posters explained the process of making goat’s cheese and large windows enabled us to see the goats in their enclosure.  We opted for the tasting with apple juice as it was too early for a glass of Sancerre wine, and sampled 5 cheeses.  The difference in flavours is due to the aging process as the flavours become more pronounced as the cheese matures, the outside hardens and darkens and the cheese shrinks to half its original size. At its most mature it develops a bluish mould on the outside.  We decided to buy a Demi-sec and a Blue cheese, finding that the youngest cheese lacked flavour and the most mature cheese was too strong.  

Purchases secured in our little cooler bag with ice block, we followed a dirt road round the edge of the farm and were soon back on our route along the river.  At La Charity-sur-Loire we stopped for the menu du jour at the Central Restaurant with a nice spot in the adjacent terrace.  It was a popular spot and a few other cyclists also stopped there for lunch.  

It was an easy afternoon’s ride alongside either the river or the canal, before reaching the outskirts of Nevers where we stopped for groceries.  As we were packing the bikes, a French man chatted to us about our route as he had also done some cycle touring. The roads in Nevers were busy and it was a relief to finally arrive at our accommodation.  Simon was struggling with a cold, so we had a light dinner and he went to bed early.

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