Chinon

Saturday 30th August

Too sunny and hot to rush about this morning, so didn't venture into Chinon till nearly lunch-time.  There's quite a long narrow island in the middle of the river (the Vienne not the Loire - slip of the fingers yesterday), with a steep road down onto it from the bridge.  As Wendy and Lionel (Paignton friends) are staying in a gite here later in September, we went to do a reccy - there are about 6 houses, then several large gardens/allotments with sheds in, one of which is a bar(!), then a picnic area at the end of the island.  Whichever house theirs is, they will have a wonderful view of the chateau.  We carried on over the bridge into Chinon and by this time, we were ready for lunch. There were so many delightful-looking restaurants to choose from, but we settled on "At'Able!" - we assume it's a play on words for 'a table'.  Anyway, the food was excellent and the loos beautiful! (One never used to be able to say that a French loo was beautiful!!!)
After admiring some of the ancient buildings in the old town, we took the lift up to the top of the cliff.  This is very modern, unattended and free - and saves the slog up the old stone steps to the chateau.

It was well worth visiting the chateau, particularly for the views from the towers (lots of spiral stone staircases to climb) and getting to grips with some of the history.  It was here that Joan of Arc was granted all the armies she needed to conquer those pesky English and call a halt to the Hundred Years War.

Sonzay/Marnay/Chinon

Apologies if anyone looked at this post before the photos went on.  The site turned the wifi off at 9.45pm, just as we were doing the photos!!  Now added.


Wednesday 27th August

Another grey morning, but by the time I'd hung a wash-load on the airer and we were ready to get out on the bikes, it was brightening up.  We went in the direction of the nearby Chateau de la Motte (private home) to find some geocaches and then decided that we would continue for a few more miles to the village of Ambillou.  Ate our picnic and had plenty of rest in a park by a lake before returning to Sonzay by a different route, picking some lovely blackberries on the way (we did get off the bikes to do that!). 

Thursday 28th August

Left Sonzay and drove back south towards the Loire again and stopped to do some shopping in Cinq-Mars-la-Pile (what a name?) at Leader Price - rather like Aldi.  The Chateau at Villandry sounded very appealing, so we went to visit it today.

It dates from 1536 but was bought in 1906 by the Spanish Carvallo family who redesigned the inside and then restored the Renaissance ornamental gardens using information written by a C16 architect, to its former glory.  Apparantly Joachim Carvallo pioneered the opening of private historical residences to the public.  Henri Carvallo and his family now live in the chateau, but the part open to the public had some beautifully decorated and furnished rooms with amazing views over the gardens.

 We also climbed the spiral staircase to the top of the tower for even better views.  The gardens are excellently maintained by 10 gardeners - there's hardly a leaf out of place - and are on 3 levels, with the water garden at the top, flower gardens level with the chateau and below, the world's largest ornamental kitchen garden.  There's also a herb garden, a sun garden with 3 'rooms' - the Cloud room (blue and white flowers and shrubs), the Sun room (yellows and orange) and the Children's room (lawns, play area and sitting area under fruit trees).  We had fun going through the maze too and to quote from the leaflet "Planted with hornbeam, it symbolises man's path on earth.  Of Christian inspiration, and unlike the Greek labyrinth, it has no dead ends.  The aim of the visitor is not therefore to find an exit, but to raise himself humanly and spiritually by reaching the lovely hut in the centre."
It turned out to be a much hotter day today, so after all that walking about, we felt we needed an ice cream to see us on our way.  This wasn't very far - to a France Passion at Marnay not far from Azay-le-Rideau beside the River Indre (just before it enters the Loire).  This France Passion isn't one of the usual vineyards, but the Musee Maurice Dufresne - a museum of old cars, steam engines, farm machinery etc. When the museum closed at 7 we were left with the place to ourselves!  We may go in the museum in the morning.

Friday 29th August

After a very quiet night, we became the museum's first visitors this morning.  Armed with a handset with an English commentary, we ventured into this amazing collection of ancient machinery, all lovingly restored by Maurice Dufresne and his friends.  He collected all these 3000 exhibits all through his adult life (from the 50s) until he set up this museum in the 1980s, then adding to it until he died just a few years ago.  The building was originally a paper mill on an island on the banks of the River Indre.  The exibits date from the early C20 - cars, lorries, motorcycles, bicycles, tractors, farm equipment and even one of Bleriot's prototype planes.  He rescued a traction engine from a lake in the south of France - only the funnel was sticking up out of the water and it took him several years to persuade the family that owned it, to sell it to him!  Then he had to get it here!  The strangest thing was the mobile guillotine dating from the Revolution - built on a cart so it could be taken wherever needed!  The second picture isn't a bus, it's a mobile dentist, the back half still with it's ominous-looking chair - oooer!  He, his wife and 3 children lived in the front half.  The commentary said this was probably the one of the first camper-vans.

We have 2 questions for our readers from this visit. 
1.  What is the object in this photo? (sorry it's dark, should have used flash) Hint - used in the home.

2.  What's wrong here?

The restaurant seemed very nice, but we just had a drink there and drove on to Chinon.  We'd thought we would just park up, visit the town and then move on a bit, but parking was a bit tricky, so we drove over the bridge to the campsite at St. Jacques and had our lunch on our lovely flat, grassy pitch in the sunshine before having a walkabout both the village here and Chinon, back over the Vienne.  The chateau is very high up and as impressive as many others and very photogenic from our side of the bridge.  We shall stay another day and go and see more tomorrow.

 

PS  I have been taking the advice of Hannah T. re my ankle - well at least some of the time!  It is improving but aches by the end of the day.  The pretty colours are fading now too.

Lavardin/St Martin des Bois

Monday 25th August

Before we left La Ferme de Prunay, we had a chat with the family next door to us who were very nice - not surprising really - they might now live in Leeds, but she grew up in Billingshurst!  We'd seen on a local map that not too far north from here was 'one of the prettiest villages in France' so we thought we'd go and have a look.  This was Lavardin on the smaller river of le Loir and although we didn't get any sunshine, we admired the old, well-preserved houses, the church with some amazing wall paintings from C15 and the ruins of the castle way up high above the village.  We just happen to have chosen the one day in the week that the chateau is closed, but never mind, we were able to see it by walking up the road beside it.

After eating our lunch in a little park, we drove to the town close-by - Montoise-sur-Loir - to take a look at the Aire (for motorhomes) by the old station.  We decided not to stay there, but admired what they had done to their old station building - restored it and turned it into a museum (closed Mondays of course!).

Another nearby village with an Aire is St. Martin des Bois and there we settled in a peaceful spot beside a small lake (plan d'eau) to have a wander around the village and stay the night.  After our walk, the rain started - and continued well into the night.  And so we were left in peace - even the fishermen gave up.  One excitement though, a very colourful van drew up beside us and the chap slapped on a new poster on the information board, an invitation to go to his circus in Montoise.  We really don't know where he thinks the crowds are coming from!

Tuesday 26th August

Morning at St Martin - spot the poster!

Of course, will all that rain, the circus poster is now peeling off the board ....  However, with a grey start to the day, but no rain, we bought our baguette in the village boulangerie and drove to our next campsite.  We'd picked Camping Arada Parc at Sonzay for 2 reasons - today is the start of low season at ACSI sites, so we pay no more than 16E a night, plus it has an indoor pool - perfect for a grey day.  So we arrived before midday and spent the next few hours enjoying warm sunshine on our pitch!  We did go in the pool for a while and even John found the water warm.  We also took advantage of the restaurant on site and chatted to a couple who are on their way to their favourite site near Nice.

Orchaise and Molineuf

Sunday 24th August

Decided to go out in the van today, but to return to this farm site for one more night.  We didn't go far, to the villages of Orchaise and Molineuf, a bit north of here and west of Blois.  At Orchaise we parked in a large car park between the football pitch and a village hall.  It was totally deserted, so we sat on the grass to have a drink - then cars started arriving from all directions and people poured into the hall!  We set off for a walk down a path through woods to a small river with a pretty house that was an old mill and to the lavoir to find a geocache.  Unfortunately, the latter became another DNF despite quite a bit of searching and interrupting a young French family's picnic!  On our return to the parking, all those cars and people had gone, but the field was running alive with footballers!  We ate our lunch where we'd had our morning coffee, entertained by some very macho warming-up and, as only the French will do, 7 of them having a pee in the longer grass just a few yards from us!!

  At Molineuf we walked up a very steep hill to a cache and were rewarded with a lovely view.  Quite unusual around these parts to be on top of a hill.

 Wearing walking boots for these 2 short walks has kept my ankle in check - I would like the swelling to go down though.

La Ferme de Prunay

Friday 22nd August continued ...

We did move on, just a few more miles downstream and satnav took us right through the centre of Blois.  We didn't stop there because that had been part of our previous holiday in 2006.  Then we had visited several of the famous chateaux - Cheverny, Chambord and Blois which were amazing - but we are trying to keep away from the busy areas and seeing new places and sights.  And so we came through the Foret de Blois to la Ferme de Prunay in the middle of nowhere north of Onzain - a perfect place to chill out with my feet up.  See photo of the day - spot the difference!! (Hannah T. where are you when I need you? No doubt you can diagnose which one hurts.)

This is a campsite, but also a working farm and surrounded by fields of sweetcorn and sunflowers.  In the evening we had a walk/hobble as far as the facilities.  They are excellent and more like NZ than usual in France - including a kitchen area for tenters with cooker, microwave, fridge and freezer and, the first we've ever seen - shower rooms with two showers in!  The site is very popular with families and English ones in particular. When John booked in Madame had said to him that she loves having the English - they are always so polite and well behaved!

Saturday 23rd August

Although the swelling doesn't seem to have changed, my ankle has been a lot more comfortable today, so after a lot of resting it, I tested it out on a short bike ride.  John is getting more like his son every day - the bike ride was just over 9 miles!  But I'm none the worse for wear and despite the fragrant aromas of muck spreading it was good to see this a bit of this rural area.  It was good to hear from Natalie and David today - they are spending a day in Cowes to celebrate David's birthday. 

Beaugency

Wednesday 20th August

It was just a sleep-over for the children as they were all packed up by 10 o'clock this morning.  They all seemed to have had a great time.  We moved on soon after that too, and drove back to the last village we passed through when we came to Chateauneuf, Germigny-des-Pres, as we wanted to visit the 'L'Oratoire' there.  This is one of the earliest religious structures in France, built in 806 by Theodulphe, Bishop of Orleans.  It was part of a Gallo-Roman villa complex at the time, but most of it was destroyed after only 100 years.  This unusual chapel was enlarged over the centuries, but the most amazing feature that was added in C11 was a mosaic ceiling in the apse.  We read that around 130,000 tiny squares of gilded glass and enamelled stones depict the Ark of the Covenant descending from heaven beneath the outstretched hands of God.  Theodulphe particularly chose this image because he thought that images of God, Mary and the saints in churches encouraged idolatory.  This ceiling only came to light in C19 when restorers uncovered layers of limewash, probably applied to preserve it in times of war.  The photo of the inscription at the top of a pillar says that the oratory was dedicated on 3rd January.  Another one gives the year - AD 806.

Then taking a scenic route we travelled west to Beaugency, missing out part of the River including Orleans - we have been there before.  Another pleasant and spacious campsite by the river and we have a great view of the 26-arched bridge over to the town.  After dinner we walked over to see the old town and the huge towers of a former chateau and  the church and also a clock tower that was an archway into the town. 

Thursday 21st August

The summer weather seems to be back to normal now, with beautiful sunshine all day.  After an easy morning, during which we had a phone call from a very excited Emilie - she had found her special treasure box that we had hidden for her on the island of Herm, CI, we cycled into Beaugency, had lunch at Chez Henri (light lunch turning into main meal with huge portions) and then along a very pretty section of the river to Meung-sur-Loire.

Beaugency

A clever geocache attached to a slice of tree

Meung-sur-Loire

Loire bridge at Beaugency

 Meung is another very attractive small town, of course with a chateau and a handy Salon de The!  After the welcome cuppas, I said, shall we go and look in the church beside the chateau.  There was a stone step down in the doorway and it was deeper than I thought - and turned over my left ankle - OUCH!  I hopped to the nearest pew and thankfully, after a bit of a rest, I was able to ride my bike back home OK.  But then it started to swell ....  Later we heard from Adam, that he had found his treasure too.  They sound as though they are having a lovely holiday.

Friday 22nd August

.... probably not walking too far today as my ankle is rather fat....  Going to move on to pastures new.

Chateauneuf-sur-Loire

Monday 18th August

Just travelled a little further NW today to Chateauneuf-sur-Loire, spending some time at St. Benoit-s-L on the way.  We had read about the Abbaye de Fleury there and decided to get there for the daily service at midday, sung by the monks in Gregorian plainsong.  It's a very impressive Benedictine abbey founded in C7, with most of the present building being C11.  But the marble mosaic floor of the sanctuary is Roman from a previous C5/6 abbey and rather lovely.  (Photos not allowed.)  We are very doubtful about the shiny box in the crypt supposedly containing the relics of St. Benedict, though.  After lunch we had a wander about the village and went to look for a geocache close to a house with arched windows.  The hint was 'you haven't got the right' so we were inspecting the 'no entry' sign opposite the house, when the owner came out and took the top off the post of the sign and asked if this was what we were looking for!!  He admitted he didn't know what people were looking for, or why, but had seen the likes of us before!!  We had a little chat, showed him that we just had to sign the log book to say we had been and put it back where we found it.  He shrugged and went back indoors!!

We've come to another river-side campsite to stay the next two nights and will explore Chateauneuf tomorrow. 

Tuesday 19th August

Another lovely sunny morning, but we are noticing that the nights are getting chillier.  A lone cyclist who had just emerged from his tiny tent said he had noticed that too!   We are really enjoying this cycling nearly every day, but of course we are doing it the easy way - everywhere we see single people, couples, groups and families with panniers, back carriers, handlebar carriers, rucksacks, trolleys that fix to the back of bikes which sometimes have a small child in, but often are also loaded up with stuff - doing it the hard way.  Various nationalities, but particularly Dutch.  The 'Loire en Velo' route is quite a popular thing to be doing.  Apart from the scenic river and the gardens and park surroundng the manoir (the real chateau has long gone), the town is quite ordinary.  It has a Marine Museum and we'd have liked to have seen that - but it's closed Tuesdays!  We did a little bit of caching and we have a similar story to tell as yesterday.  While wandering around a little chapel, trying to decide where to start looking, an elderly lady came out of her house and called to us.  We tried to look as though we were just interested in the building, but she led us over to a tree and pointed to a piece of green wire looped from a hollow between the branches!  She also wanted to chat and we did our best.  We are very impressed that these 'locals' don't get fed up with strangers snooping around their patch - they actually welcome them.

By a 'fontaine', working out the final co-ordinates

Le chateau

Camping at Chateauneuf

The Red Tent camp

Sully sur Loire

Saturday 16th August

Drove straight to our next destination this morning - to Camping Jardins de Sully, on the opposite bank of the river to Sully-sur-Loire.  (Now we are heading downstream, as originally planned.)  When going to a campsite, one has to arrive before midday or else forget it till after about 3pm.  The French take rather long lunch-breaks and most sites have a barrier so you can't get in!  So here we arrived in beautiful morning sunshine, perfect for catching up with the washing and just a little bit of 'housework'.  Then we spent a relaxing day before cycling over to Sully in the early evening to view the beautiful chateau and find somewhere to eat.  This we did at the Cafe des Arts and exchanged several texts with Peter, Hannah and the children because this was their first evening in Guernsey.  They were eating at the Boathouse in St. Peter Port - we remembered our first meal when we were there last month.

 

Sunday 17th August

Today we've cycled over 12 miles, exploring Sully and out into the countryside beyond, past fields and fields of ripening sweetcorn.  (It's very tempting to pick one, but maybe they are not quite ready.)  We didn't go in the chateau, but enjoyed the paths through its grounds and the views of it from around the lake.  We found a geocache at the old (very neglected) railway station, but unfortunately had two DNFs out along the lanes.  Never mind, because just going for them gave us super routes to follow.  The weather seems a lot more settled - lets hope it stays that way.

Sad Sully Station

An unusual outfit opposite us today

Sancerre and Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluse

Just picked up wifi again after a couple of days without.



Thursday 14th August

We left Chatillon this morning and followed the Loire even further upstream (the opposite direction to our original plan, but this area is proving to be really lovely) to Cosne-Cours to do a big shop at Auchan and then on to Sancerre - a delightful small town built on a hill.  We parked at a France Passion vineyard in Chavignol, a village about 3 miles west of Sancerre, and cycled back to explore the town.  We couldn't cope with the steep hill up into the town, so locked up the bikes and walked the rest of the way and explored the town following the 'Ligne Rouge' - literally a painted red line on the roads with numbers and information boards at the points of interest along the way.  An excellent geocache trail picked out some of the waypoints for us to work out the co-ordinates of a bonus cache.  En route we found a lovely Salon de The for refreshment and also climbed the 166 steps up the Tour des Fiefs, the remaining tower of a medieval castle, for amazing views over the rooftops and beyond to the Loire and the hillsides covered with vines.

Chavignol village is nestled between these hills and the main street is lined with 'caves' - all the different wine producers advertising their brew.  Our chap, Roger Moreux, seemed to have plenty of customers when we got back and John joined in the 'degustation' and bought us 3 bottles to take home.  The Chavignol goats cheese is also a local delicacy and sold in lots of shops in Sancerre.  So walking through the village this evening, we expected to see evidence of the animals - but didn't spot any at all.

Sancerre from top of  the Tour

Us at the top of the Tour!

The tower

Sancerre from the vineyards

Friday 15th August

In the (relatively) early morning sunshine we followed signs of 'panorama' from the village up through the vines.  We passed a man and his dog and he encouraged us to keep on up because the panorama is superb.  We were indeed rewarded when we reached the cross at the top, with the sight of Sancerre (the tower we climbed being the highest point) and the fruitful hillsides.  We kept our eyes open looking for the goats, but all we saw were a couple of sheep and a few chickens!

Then we deviated even more from our planned route by driving through the countryside via St.Amand-en-Puisaye, lunch beside Lac de Bourdon and Bleneau to Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses.  The name gives a clue to the fact that when the original Canal de Briare was built (early 1600s) this staircase of locks took the canal to the top of the hill.  The new canal goes round! (We wonder why they didn't do this the first time.)  So the flight now just a tourist attraction, with a little water in the bottom of each chamber and in amazing condition considering they were abandoned in 1882.  We are spending the night on an Aire de Camping Cars overlooking the locks. 

Chavignol village

From the cross above Chavignol

Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses

Evening in Rogny