Two Return to France

[GAVLAD]

Great reading your experiences.
We are planning on visiting Ille de Re in the summer, so will keep an eye out for your posts whilst visiting there.

 

[laneside]

Hey by Saturday you may not be far from us, we are heading up to spend the night ar Briare so that we are ready to pick our Border Terrier pup up on Sunday

 

[DBK]

Hey by Saturday you may not be far from us, we are heading up to spend the night ar Briare so that we are ready to pick our Border Terrier pup up on Sunday

We are certainly heading that way - is there a good place to stay at Briare? Being a weekend we will find a campsite so we (!) can do the laundry.

 

[DBK]

We are staying one night at Camping l'île d'Auger at Chinon which is only about 20km from our stop last night and given Chinon isn't actually on the Loire (it lies the Vienne) the Loire is less than 10km away so it almost counts as the Loire valley, especially as the Vienne is a tributary of it.
As we arrived early there was time to explore on foot before lunch.

The campsite is on the opposite side of the river from the town and easy to find. Drive south over the bridge and take the first right, the campsite is a few hundred yards down this road, on the right. As it's not in the ACSI book or CamperContact it might be worth recording the location:
N 47.16521° E 000.235°
Chinon is famous for its fortress, now mostly in ruins which sits above the town below it, which is hidden behind the trees in the shot below.

The town is full of interesting old buildings and more restaurants with outdoor tables than you can shake the proverbial stick at. In "le saison" it must be heaving with people but we found it delightfully quiet.

The main square.

Chinon is well known for its red wine but they do produce a small amount of rosé and white. I was surprised the town wasn't full of shops selling wine but we did find one little place where I bought one white and one rose - which is very nice and at €7.80 so it should be.

While wandering the streets Charlie suddenly stopped dead at one point - paws pushed out in front of him as if he was doing an emergency stop. The reason was a sign in the street which was slowly rocking backwards and forwards.

I couldn't get him to accept it was just a bit of metal - he was terrified of it. You may just be able to see him in the background in the photograph, very concerned as I approach the monster.

 

[DBK]

Another shot of Chinon, taken this evening.

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[Baileysbus]

Another shot of Chinon, taken this evening.

View attachment 163221

Take another photo just after 10pm

 

[laneside]

We are certainly heading that way - is there a good place to stay at Briare? Being a weekend we will find a campsite so we (!) can do the laundry.

There are three aires, one of which seems to be camp site like at 7 euros per night, possibly a n ex municiple site the other two aires are free according to camper contact.

 

[DBK]

Take another photo just after 10pm

Like this?

 

[Lenny HB]

Another place well worth a visit is Leonardo da Vinci's house in Amboise, back of the nice new car park is an Aire a bit expensive €1 for 24 hours (well it was a couple of years ago).

 

[DBK]

Another place well worth a visit is Leonardo da Vinci's house in Amboise, back of the nice new car park is an Aire a bit expensive €1 for 24 hours (well it was a couple of years ago).

That's in the area, we should be stopping next. Thanks for the suggestion.

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[Wildbill]

us three will be off on a junt during the mid term holiday then wer off for nine weeks during the summer holidays yes the we man gets nine weeks off
so span her we come
bill

 

[Baileysbus]

Like this?

View attachment 163257

That's the one

 

[DBK]

Our travels in the Loire valley continue. Leaving Chinon this morning we have now reached Civray de Touraine. We took a route using minor roads to the south of Tours through places like Saché, Monts and Montbazon. It wasn't a quick leg as traffic calming chicanes are clearly breeding in the villages which combined with raised 30kph sections reached by a ramp made for slow progress. But we were in no hurry.

We are staying at a France Passion site, Caves du Père Auguste. It isn't the prettiest place and has no water supply or waste disposal facilities but we expected that. The first FP place we used, in Provence, was like a proper aire with everything you need but this is unusual I believe.

Fortunately, we are on hard standing as it has now started to rain.

Still in the same family, now in the 6th generation, the first of the caves was dug into the limestone rock by the eponymous Père Augustine in 1875 and it was in his first chamber we had our tasting of their wines.

I was delighted to see there was nothing over €10 a bottle.

We bought two bottles each (all whites) of Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and two bottle of a sparkling wine. The latter were the most expensive at €6.20 each and the total price was €39.20 which I thought was very reasonable. The lady in the picture above spoke quite good English and so we were able to learn something about the wines. Will we remember what she said? Will we be able to resist opening the half case before we get home? No to both questions I think.

If things go to plan tomorrow we will visit the château at Chenonceaux, which is the famous one built over a river and which is just a few kilometres away from here.

 

[DBK]

We were lucky with the weather today, sun and blue sky would have been nice but at least it didn't start raining heavily until late morning, by which time we had just completed our visit to the Château Chenonceau.
The château is probably one of the most famous of the Loire valley, though it sites astride the river Cher which joins the Loire at Tours about 25km away. The key word there is astride because unlike other château of the region this one isn't beside the river but much of it sits above it. Note the drawbridge in the photo below.

There was a medieval fortress originally on the site and the tower on the right is what remains of it but sadly it doesn't seem to be open to the public.
The château today was started by Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henri II who was gave it to her as a gift - though technically it wasn't his to give away which left a loophole later for his widow, Catherine de Medici to turf her out* when the king died. But before her eviction Diane had the bridge built and started the gardens. Catherine raised the height of the building on the bridge and together these ladies created the unique look of the château. This was all around the middle of the 16th century.
Subsequently, the châteaux had an interesting history, and in more recent times it was a hospital in WW1 and in WW2 it was used as a route by the Resistance to pass from Vichy France into the German occupied region to the north as the Cher was the boundary between the two zones.

The formal gardens.

The interior is typical of the period before the creation of companies like DFS and IKEA.

In the grounds there is also a maze which is very easy to find the centre of as you can see over the hedges to plot your route.

The damp conditions suited the hedge trimmers.

Minutes after leaving the châteaux heavy rain started to fall and kept falling continuously for several hours. It is now intermittent but more is expected as we sit a few metres above the Loire on the aire** at La Chapelle St Mesmin on the outskirts of Orleans.

The château Chenonceau is well worth a visit, €13 to get in, more if you want the audio guide (we didn't) but take a boat if you want to take the best photographs of it.

*You wouldn't mess with a Medici would you?
**CC42563

 

[Taran_Las]

Consider yourselves lucky weatherwise. Here at Pau it's rained continually for 24 hours. It's also only 13 degrees

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[DBK]

Consider yourselves lucky weatherwise. Here at Pau it's rained continually for 24 hours. It's also only 13 degrees

12°C now but the rain held off long enough for a quick dog walk. Unfortunately, we are beneath trees so it continues to drip noisily on the roof lights.

 

[DBK]

The aire at La Chapelle St Mesmin (CC42563) where we stayed last night is a former municipal campsite. There are hard standing pitches for the MHs now but in the grassy (dog walking ) bits I found little blocks of concrete set into the ground with numbers on them. This archaeological discovery revealed these as pitch markers from its days as a campsite. All those hours watching Time Team on More4 were clearly not wasted on me.
The site is a bit odd but €5 for 24 hrs including electricity is good value. The waste water disposal is separate from the toilet emptying bit and a lack of signage doesn't make identifying what goes where easy.
It also has a strong WiFi signal but we didn't use it as I didn't have any WiFi login details. We found these pinned to a tree next to our pitch when we left the next morning.
Fortunately, we did leave successfully as I had been a bit worried a man hovering around the barrier when we arrived might have managed to get a glimpse of my ticket code. The machine at the barrier dispenses a slip of paper with an 8 digit number on it. This number when entered into the keypad on the barrier will open it if you are close enough to the barrier for it to detect your vehicle. The same code then opens the barrier when you leave. If you overstay your alloted time the barrier won't open but if you can get someone else's code you can leave using their number and leave them trapped inside. It happens apparently but not in this case so perhaps the bloke was just being helpful. Putting my thumb over the code while he tried to explain something about the system probably helped too.
Leaving the next morning we had a good drive through Orléans when we really could just follow the river as the road ran alongside or very close to it for several miles.
We followed the D960 along the river, crossing it at Sully sur Loire then following the opposite bank for most of the remainder of the journey.
There was plenty to see. Here the chateau in the middle of Gien.

At Briare the "canal lateral à la Loire" crosses over the Loire on a bridge built at the end of the 19th century - a time when in the UK canal building had finished, eclipsed by the railway. Not so in France apparently.

And still being used!

We have stopped as is customary for us at a campsite for the weekend. The ACSI site listed under Cosny Cours sur Loire but in reality on the outskirts of Sancerre in the village of St Satur. Number 1951, the year I was born though the ACSI numbers change every year so the number isn't much use as a reference in the long term.
Tomorrow we will visit Sancerre, a medieval hilltop town which we glimpsed as we approached the campsite from an unplanned direction having been thrown off the planned course by a "route barré" sign. Hopefully we can find a shop selling the local wine a bit cheaper than that offered in the camp shop.

 

[laneside]

We are now parked within two minutes walk from that viaduct at Briare, the aire itself is not the nicest one we have stayed on but twenty odd vans seem happy enough to be here.

Just put our next stop into sat. nav. and we are just 53 Km from where our new puppy is.

 

[kcy]

Hey by Saturday you may not be far from us, we are heading up to spend the night ar Briare so that we are ready to pick our Border Terrier pup up on Sunday

Will you be bringing your new pup to Pedros next time? Ebony will look forward to meeting him/her.

 

[laneside]

Will you be bringing your new pup to Pedros next time? Ebony will look forward to meeting him/her.

Well if it is anything like Lilly in our avatar, that we sadly lost to the big C last November, then wherever we go she will go.

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[DBK]

We are now parked within two minutes walk from that viaduct at Briare, the aire itself is not the nicest one we have stayed on but twenty odd vans seem happy enough to be here.

Just put our next stop into sat. nav. and we are just 53 Km from where our new puppy is.

Hope all goes well for the puppy handover.

 

[DBK]

Chronological correction to post #74 above, the Château Chenonceau was built around the middle of the 17th century not the 16th. Getting my sixteen hundreds muddled with my fifteen hundreds.

 

[DBK]

We visited Sancerre this morning and I was a bit unsure before we arrived if we would find anywhere to park. I needn't have worried, the place was virtually deserted. I had read there was a market on Saturdays, and there was - with all of three stalls!

So we dutifully visited the church. Which had its own ghost resembling Mrs DBK.

Inspected an early rocket building attempt.

We then bought two bottles of local wine, a Sancerre and a Pouilly Fumé and two goats' cheeses, the local "crottin de chavignol". We will test and report on these later.

But the high point of the day was an event going on at the canal next to the campsite. It started with children taking part then adults.

Water jousting using wooden "steeds" powered by a 6 HP Honda outboard. The "knight" or "lance operative" to be more PC stood on a raised platform at the stern of the boat and attempted to un-boat his or her (there were mixed teams) opponent.

I've no idea of the history behind the event, I was on the wrong side of things to ask anyone - but it was carried out with great humour and sportsmanship.

If you are able to alter the quality of the video, crank it up to 1080p if at all possible.

 

[DBK]

By lucky coincidence our afternoon stroll by the canal coincided with the final of the water jousting. This video is the very end of the final, if you watch to the end the two opponents make it up in typically French fashion.



And after a boozy weekend we decided we preferred the Pouilly Fumé to the Sancerre. The latter was nice, delicate I suppose but for mouth grabbing taste the PF was the winner.

We ate one of the "crottin de chavignol" goat cheeses for lunch, spreading chunks over a mixed leaf salad with bits of salami. With lots of olive oil and crusty bread is was very pleasant. The cheese was creamy and quite "goaty" but not unpleasantly so. We tend to like these cheeses soft in the middle and toasted but this one was firmer, but not crumbly. A bit like a Brie - with added goat. We had the white cheese but they also do a blue version which we must try some time.

 

[Taran_Las]

Please be aware Thursday is a bank holiday. Ascension day.

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[DBK]

Please be aware Thursday is a bank holiday. Ascension day.

Thank you for that. We shall plan around it.

 

[DBK]

We are bedded down for the night at an excellent free aire next to the Loire canal. And I do mean next to it.

It is at the Base Nautique, Gannay sur Loire, CC 13861 and as you can see it is also an "aire" for boats. In theory, there is free electricity from sockets provided for the boats but we don't need it and I suspect it is stretching things a bit to use them. There are no signs about MHs here so it isn't a recognised aire in that sense but nothing says we can't stay here.

Here being here, at the sign of the Blue Blob.

 

[DBK]

We must be getting near the source of the Loire because we crossed over it today on a bridge and it was noticeably smaller - down to the width of a football pitch now.

Tonight's halt is a belter, the aire at the Lac de Villerest, CC2162.

We are fairly well south now but can still get BBC - Chelsea flower show at the moment.

The views are excellent and this has been the warmest evening to sit outside in the evening so far.

The lake below is a modern thing, previously this was a gorge with the Loire running through it.
If all goes to plan we will visit the source of the Loire in a day or so.

 

[FIDGET]

Lovely aire , we were there last sept, on the recommendations of @Jenben .
Enjoy

 

[DBK]

Lovely aire , we were there last sept, on the recommendations of @Jenben .
Enjoy

If you can be up and away by 08:30 it is free, the French van beside us has already gone otherwise it's a knock on the door and a request for "huit euros". It is a good aire and at €8 a night I think the owners (the municipality I think) know it.

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