Loire Valley (part 2)

Thursday 15^th August Nouan to Amboise

Still at the campsite I again spent the morning working and Mike ‘set too’ on the inside of the van cleaning the carpets etc. It was not until 5pm that we were ready to leave. Now getting pretty desperate for gas we headed for the Super U across the river at Mer. However once we got there we realised that today was a public holiday and that all the shops were shut. No food or gas!

We continued westward along the Loire until we spotted the Chateau Chaumont on the other side of the river. We crossed the bridge and parked on the river bank.. The chateau looked very impressive but was closed so we could not get any close up views. We also saw some signs advertising a BBQ with free folk music. We decided to investigate which meant trudging up the hill. We were a bit disappointed when we arrived as we were not interested in the food and the music was not up to much as at the time we were there it was CDs only so we turned round to get back to the van. Here there was a much more exciting sight as four hot air balloons were just taking off. Three of them were so close together that they appeared to be impeding each others uplift. We were concerned that a) they were going to end up in the river or b) not clear the trees on the opposite bank. However just in time they pulled free of each other and gently rose upwards.  It was an impressive sight. We followed the balloons for a bit in the van and then pulled off the road in a picnic area, had supper and went to bed.

Friday 16^th August Amboise

We had our breakfast in our overnight picnic area and then we headed into the commercial area of Amboise to get our LPG and food. We then spent quite a bit of time sorting out the Old Stables again with Rosemarie and the electricians so that it was 12.30pm when we were ready to head to our next chateau at Chenonceau. This is a very picturesque chateau as it spans the river Cher. We arrived to find it absolutely packed with coaches, cars, bikes and motorhomes. Fortunately there was a dedicated parking area for the latter so we were able to find somewhere to park. Our initial intention had been to walk around the grounds of the chateau but this was not possible so we paid 11 euros each to visit the chateau and gardens. It was a lovely building and most impressive were the flower arrangements that were in each room, flowers were grown for this purpose on site. We stayed for 2.5 hours and then headed back to Amboise for the night.

Once parked up in the aire here we got on our bikes and cycled to the old centre of the town to see Le Clos Luce, a chateau which has close associations with Leonardo da Vinci and Chateau Royal which stands proudly above the Loire.  It was a ‘buzzy’ little town and we enjoyed wandering around it. The highlight was entering one of the ‘caves’ for a free wine tasting. We had to purchase a glass for 3 euros and then we were free to taste any of the wines on offer for the local wine producers. We ended up buying a Touraine Amboise Sauvignon.

We then cycled back to the van where we had a salad supper and an early night.

Saturday 17^th August Villandry

Today we planned to continue westward along the Loire to view the many chateaux.  I had wanted to visit Villandry as it was famous for its beautiful gardens and so we headed there first after driving through Tours. At Villandry we found ourselves parked in an orchard from where it was a short walk to the Chateau entrance. We spent about 2.5 hours wandering through the many beautiful and different gardens, that included a knot garden, a water garden, a herb and a vegetable garden. We then headed back to the orchard where we had parked where we had our lunch before setting off westwards again.


 The next two chateaux at Usse and Montsoreau provided good photo opportunities before we moved on to the small town of Saumur. Here the Loire was very wide with sand banks. I had just sat myself down with the binoculars to watch the birds when Mike encouraged me to see the Royal Chapel Notre Dame. It was an unusual building (with odd proportions) with a huge high dome. There was also yet another chateau at the other end of the town. We continued westwards through Chenehutte and Gennes and had a last stop on a pretty stretch of river at Cunault. Here was a privately owned villa which had its own access to a chapel via anarched walkway. We then cut across country to Rochefort sur Loire and found a parking spot by the river Louret. At the local restaurant a salsa band was playing so we had latin music to accompany our supper and bedtime.

The Loire Valley

Tuesday 13th August Lailly en Val to Nouan sur Loire




We had breakfast by the lake in Lailly and wathed a large fish being landed.  I think this is the first we have seen being cuaaght suring our travelling period despite the numerous fishermen we have met.

We left the aire and drove down to a Super U where we were expecting to get some LPG as we were very low but they had none. We continued down the Loire a short way to a municipal campsite at Nouan sur Loire. our plan was to use this as a base to cycle to some of the chateau. It was a lovely campsite and only cost 11 euros a night including electricity and internet. We found a good spot with shade and parked up.

There are over 600km of cycle routes along the Loire and today we decided to cycle to one of the main chateaux in the region Chambord. It was only about 12km away. The route started along the Loire and then headed inland. Although the path was a bit rough in places it was generally very good and well sign posted.

Chamboard is a huge chateau. Its building (in its current form) was started by King Francis 1 in 1915 when he was only 25 years old. It was intended as a hunting lodge but it eventually became an extravagant chateau. We approached the chateau via a leafy vista and we chose here to sit own and have our lunch. Mike and I had already decided that we would only visit 2 or 3 chateau and this was one of them. (There are 71 in the area!).  I was pleased to get a three euro discount for being a foreign higher education teacher  thanks to my Keele card. The chateau has 426  rooms but fortunately we did not or could not visit them all. Some rooms were quite elaborate but others were empty rooms. A lovely feature was the double spiral stone staircase. It comprises two concentric spiral flights of stairs that wound themselves independently around a hollow central column. It is possible but not proven that Leonardo da Vinci helped with the design of this. From the top fourth floor there were lovely views across the french countryside.

Francis 1 reigned for 32 years but only spent 72 days at this chateau but his son Henry II and Louis XIV continued the building project.

We cycled back along the same route arriving at the campsite about 6pm where we then enjoyed a BBQ in the evening sun.

Wednesday 14th August Blois

We had decided to stay for two nights at this campsite. I worked in the morning whilst Mike washed clothes and the van. We had our lunch and then prepared ourselves for a longer cycle to the chateau at Blois about 20km away.

It was another hot day with a very blue cloudless sky. The cycle route ran along the Loire right up to Blois. The river is quite wild here: wide, brown, fast flowing. There is no commercial activity - just a few kayaks on the water. No one appears to swim in it here. it was a long cycle and it was nice to reach some shade by the Chateau when we arrived. We had already decided we would not go inside this chateau but we admired it from outside and then walked around the medieval town. One of the interesting sights was the House of Magic. Whilst we were looking at the front of the building 4 giant serpents suddenly appeared! Further up near the twon hall there was a rather bizarre display of brightly coloured metal animals.

We spent a couple of hours here and started on the return cycle. Mike got a puncture but fortunately we were less than 1km from home. I cycled on to put the kettle on and by the time Mike was back tea was made. That evening he mended his puncture whilst I cooked supper, which once again we ate outside in the lovely warm evening air.

Orleans

Monday 12th August: Orleans

We had a long journey today to finish off our journey to
Orleans and the beginning of our tour of the Loire Valley. We arrived in Orleans about 2pm and were able to park by the riverside. The Loire was looking very full and flowing freely. We didn't think we would be able to put our canoe on the river here.

We had admired the city as we drove in: lots of elegant buildings in wide roads adorned with beautiful flower arrangements.

Mike was especially keen to find out about Joan of Arc - the Maid of Orleans. Our first visit was to the Cathedral Saint Croix where there were many lovely stained glass windows telling her story. From there we went to the 16th century Hotel de Ville also known as Hotel Groslot. here was one of the many scuptures of Joan of Arc and the Hotel contained some sumptious rooms which now seem to be largely used for civil weddings.

We followed the Joan of Arc town route which took us to other statues, her house when she lived here (rebuilt after the WW2 bombings) which is now a museum and the Church where she prayed before going into battle. It made a good focus to visit the city. Jacqui made a rare purchase en route and bought herself a black dress which may or may not be worn for Lou's graduation.

It was quite late in the day when we left and we went back to another McDs to catch up with this blog and then we travelled further west down the Loire to a lovely free aire at Lailly en Val.  The only down side was that the aire was adjacent to a churchyard and the hourly clock bells could be heard loudly.

On our way to Dijon (including the Onion Festival)

Saturday 10th August

Today we left the Vosges region and entered the haut Saone. We had a pleasant drive
arriving at our chosen destination Pontailler sur Soane in the afternoon. This small town was a convenient stop for us on our way to Dijon. It sits on the banks of the River Soane and when we arrived the Fete d' Oignon was in full swing. It looked like any ordinary summer village fete except in the centre ring men were competing in the 'faster peeler of onions' competition.
As we caught this part way through we were not sure how much time was allowed but the fastest two men had both filled a washing up bowl of onions by the time the end was called and the bowls were taken away for weighing.  We cant say that it made spectacular viewing but there was some entertainment value. We left the fete and walked down the main street which made up the town and decided to go for a cycle.  We took the cycle route along the river and headed for a chateau at Talmay. It was a nice focus for our ride and it turned out to be a lovely building but as it was privately owned we were not able to visit it.

After our cycle back we ate our supper and then headed back to the fete. The onion ring had now been transformed into a dance floor. People were dancing to old British pop CDs but nothing was going to induce me to dance to YMCA so we returned to the van and bed.

Sunday 11th August



This morning we had a short drive to the grand city of Dijon. Entering a city on a Sunday has worked well for us. We found free parking easily in the centre so only had a short walk to see the main sights. Armed with a map we walked for 2.5 hours taking in all the lovely buildings including the Palais des Ducs, Musee des Beaux Arts and Notre dame with its good luck owl stuck in a corner wall. Most of the shops were shut but I was able to buy some 'cassis moutarde'.  After our tour of the centre we headed out for Lac Kir which lies on the western side of the City.  It was another lovely hot day and we enjoyed eating our lunch by the lakeside and watching some people rather chaotically train three dogs how to rescue people from water (and how to tow a dog marooned on his surf board home too!


Mike also spent some time trying to fix the water pump which had suddenly stopped working until he realised that he had pulled a wire loose when trying to fix something else!

Later in the afternoon we set offotwards Orleans. We called in at McDs to catch up on some e mails and to skype Millie. it was after 10pm by the time we finished and we still had not found anywhere for the night. So in the dark we drove for another 20K until we found a suitable picnic area to stop for the night.