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.
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| Sancerre from top of the Tour |
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| Us at the top of the Tour! |
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| The tower |
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| 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.
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| Chavignol village |
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| From the cross above Chavignol |
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| Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses |
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| Evening in Rogny |
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