Shampanskoye moment in Baku

A Caspian adventure to remember; walking wonders in France; the link between cricket and wine in Vis

names like Ragin’ Cajun and Margariteville, influenced by American oil workers based in Baku. It was almost like a frontier town. It was amazing to see it as it is now, a far cry from a city seeped in Soviet style. CAROL A PARKIN

Footpath to fitness

Walking wonders in France have to include the GR 5 footpath. Like your writer (Readers’ views, June 18), we, five 60-year-old walkers with average fitness and no real trekking experience set off from Briançon to walk to Nice last July.

A wonderful fortnight with hidden village discoveries – Ceillac and St Etienne de Tinee in daily procession. We outperformed our wildest expectations, met other walkers and found a unique camaraderie. The weather was kind, the views spectacular and, oh, the sea was welcoming when we reached the Med.

The GR 5 and its siblings are France’s best kept secret. Each time we felt we had lost our way, there was the little sign to reassure us as to the right path.

We alternated reasonable hotels with more spartan refuges. But as this is France the food was good and adequate everywhere. We had a people carrier and all of us took turns to have a day off. We feel fitter this year, and find ourselves asking “What next?” JUDY EVANS

Overlooked Crozon

Further to Anthony Peregrine’s suggestions of 50 alternative sights for Francophiles (“Think you know France? Think again…”, June 11), I would add the Crozon peninsula in Finistère, above, an overlooked gem.

Here you’ll find clean, uncrowded beaches, rocky cliffs covered in

Cricket in Croatia

Each June for 35 years a group of families has teamed up for a cricket weekend in Herefordshire, but occasionally we take our bats and pads to an exotic location. This year we went to Vis, one of the most beautiful of the Dalmatian islands, to play against the home side.

While the popularity of pink and purple heather and the freshest seafood, thirst-quenching cider and crêpes for which Brittany is renowned. Stand on one of the outcrops at the Pointe de Pen Hir with its Cross of Lorraine dedicated to the Free French who fought in the Second World War. Visit the old ruined manor of the poet St Pol Roux.

In the fishing port of

Croatia is indeed soaring (Hotelegraph, June 25), it is not a cricketing nation. However the game was introduced in Vis by one of Nelson’s sea captains while he was in the Adriatic fighting the French. It was revived, briefly, by Fitzroy Maclean in the Second World War but languished again until the present captain, Oliver Roki, returned from Australia. Camaret sits the Unesco World Heritage site of the Tour Vauban, the best example of “standardised sea fort”. Next door is the pretty Chapelle de Rocamadour dating from 1683. Concerts are held here every Monday evening in July and August. SIMONE BALCON WINS A £250 RAILBOOKERS VOUCHER

Vis CC’s pitch is a former airstrip surrounded by vines and sheep. The home side won by four runs and our team presented them with a piece of turf from Lord’s.

Mr Roki makes excellent wine and, at his restaurant in the hills above the bay, we ate peak, a traditional dish of meat or fish slowcooked in hot ashes, and drank to friendship. JANE WHEATLEY