Routier
Le Relais
2km south Lesparre Medoc on the D1215

I often think one of the joys of wandering around France is finding a lunch spot by simply looking for the vehicles outside - and the joy is greater if that is a Routier - the famous French transport drivers' cafes. So there I was driving South out of Lesparre Medoc on the D1215. I had driven round the town and found nothing that looked suitable with a place to park, when a couple kilometres out of town I lucked upon a Routier bearing a Pelforth beer sign and the uninspired name of Le Relais. The cars, vans and lorries stacked up around it was all the evidence I needed that this was worth a stop.
Inside I had a good slab of rough pate, a decent andouillette and cheese, all washed down with a decent red vin ordinaire; of course in the middle of the Medoc it should be good. The wine with the meal always used to part of the deal but in recent more PC times this has began to disappear so it was joy to be offered it again. I added a coffee to that and received a bill of 14 Euros, 12.5 Euros for the meal and 1.5 Euro for the coffee. This was considerably less than the cost of a main course in many so called better places. It had needless to say a cafe like decor but that took nothing away from the food and the clients varied from dungareed lorry drivers to besuited businessmen.

Routier
Le Relais
2km south Lesparre Medoc on the D1215

I often think one of the joys of wandering around France is finding a lunch spot by simply looking for the vehicles outside - and the joy is greater if that is a Routier - the famous French transport drivers' cafes. So there I was driving South out of Lesparre Medoc on the D1215. I had driven round the town and found nothing that looked suitable with a place to park, when a couple kilometres out of town I lucked upon a Routier bearing a Pelforth beer sign and the uninspired name of Le Relais. The cars, vans and lorries stacked up around it was all the evidence I needed that this was worth a stop.
Inside I had a good slab of rough pate, a decent andouillette and cheese, all washed down with a decent red vin ordinaire; of course in the middle of the Medoc it should be good. The wine with the meal always used to part of the deal but in recent more PC times this has began to disappear so it was joy to be offered it again. I added a coffee to that and received a bill of 14 Euros, 12.5 Euros for the meal and 1.5 Euro for the coffee. This was considerably less than the cost of a main course in many so called better places. It had needless to say a cafe like decor but that took nothing away from the food and the clients varied from dungareed lorry drivers to besuited businessmen.