Just thinking some of you might be interested in the technicalities of a trip like this.
Due to fuel prices we are driving no more than a couple hours a day so staying in northern France. A typical day has us waking at 7 ish after a good sleep. Both of us are finding we are sleeping so much better than at home, not sure if it’s the van or just that we don’t have the usual worries of our business at home.
We’ll usually breakfast and tea in the van. It does have 3 way fridge and 2 burner stove. Occasionally we’ll have a pastry we couldn’t resist bought on the previous day. We’ll dump our “po” in the “chemi” sink that most campsites have, and off we go. A couple of times a week we will dump out “grey water” and fill up our drinikning water.
We will drive, not more than 2 hours or 3 at most, to our next destination, find either a proper campground (when we want a shower or laundry). These can be 15 to 30 Euro. Similar to North America. What is wonderful here, especially in France, is Aires de Camping. These are essentially parking lots near a sports centre or park, that are designated for overnight stays. Some are only a parking lot, but many have services for campers such as water and grey water dumps. Most of these are free, but sometimes they can charge 10 or 11 Euro. We tend to use the Aires 2 out of 3 nights, and a campground for a cleanup every third night.
Lunch is usually a picnic with baguette and the amazing cheeses and sausage available everywhere. Dinner may be something cooked up in the van, or eating out. We often use the excuse of free campground to eat out. The problem in France is most restaurant don’t open til 7 pm, which is more like bed time for us! So we find a Cafe or informal eatery. Usually in bed by 9
May 27: Another day, another amazing 1000 year old cathedral surrounded by narrow streets lined with medieval houses and shops today it was Orléans, noted for its Joan of Arc history it is here that she first persuaded the Bastard of Orléans (wasn’t me who called him that!) and the Bishop, to allow her to approached the authorities with her intention to fight the English some of you may recall that we had a marvellous experience in Orléans in .January 2011 when we came across the 600th anniversary celebration of Joan’s birth. It was a huge event with a candlelit parade, and a Joan on horseback riding into a floodlit cathedral today though, we had a better look around the streets and inside the Cathedral which was too packed that last time beautiful!
After Orléans we tried to get into a riverside “Aire” but found it full due to the long weekend so we set off down the Loire to another one on our app. The one we’ve found is one of the best, alongside a riverside park in the town of Menuhin sur Loire. This town is a bit of a Loire sleeper, with a small but beautiful old 13th C church and chateau which we may check out more tomorrow
And we closed off the day with biere and at a riverside “fast food” booth. Fast food in France means a platter of five different cheeses, and a variety of charcuterie which means pâtés and sausages any one of which would be a special treat at home.
May 28: it’s getting somewhat repetitive to keep mentioning our serendipity bunny, but she just keeps striking!
We hopped on our bikes for a quick little ride to admire the morning light as we awoke here in Meung. We were drawn to a common looking little road that turned out to be the main Lorie valley bicycle tour route. So I checked Google and found that the town of Beaugency was just 7 kms downriver. I had vaguely noted earlier that Beaugency was worth a visit, so we kept riding.
Turned out to be a delightful ride through farmland, woodland, past a fishing lake and alongside the Loire.
The Google check had alerted us that Beaugency was one of the prettiest medieval towns in the region, and so it was, with an ancient bridge, a medieval castle keep and church tower, and narrow cobbled streets with timber framed buildings.
Pat was pooped out from the morning ride so I headed out alone for a 7 km ride through wheat fields to the Basilica in Clery. It was one of those funny thing where there is a huge medieval church in an insignificant little town. Louis XI built it during the Hundred Years War because his prayers to Mary won him a battle. He also got himself buried here. Quite awesome to see a pretty original 500 year old church in a low key town.
On the way home, the S bunny steered me off the road to the Jardins de Roquelins, a beautiful private garden just across the bridge from our camping spot. So I retrieved Pat and we rode back over for an hour of rose worship in the garden, accompanied by families of people, chickens, geese and peacocks, oh and a bière in the garden.
May 29: another double header day today with two more Royal chateaux. Does that make it four or five now?
We left Meung and drove down the Loire about 40 minutes to Chambord. The huge chateau here was just the country hunting cottage of Francis I in the 1500s. It is undergoing restoration at the moment, so we didn’t go in, we just rode around the grounds for a while watching some horse work buy some costumed riders.
We soon notice a lineup over near the horse stables. We had noted earlier that there is a weekend horse and burding spectacle, however we understood it wasn’t to open until June. Turns out that this was actually the spectacle and we had 15 minutes to spare before it began. We were trying to decide whether to spend €16 each to get in, but it turned out to be well worthwhile. The show was an hour long spectacle of some very good horse riding, jousting, comic acrobatics, and some birds flitting about for good measure.
We were done at Chambord by about 1 PM so we sat off for another hour long drive through the countryside to yet another Royal Castle at Amboise. This one is even older and more spectacular.
First we settled into a lovely municipal campground on the Isle d’Or, an island in the middle of the Loire. This island has amazing history of its own as it is here that Clovis, king of the franks, met with Eleric II, The Visigoths king, to determine the arrangements for the first unified portion of France in the year 490. Who knows, maybe they toasted their agreement with their goblets right under our van.
It was mid afternoon by the time we settled in so we bicycled over to the town which is nestled underneath the château, walked up through the town for a couple of kilometres admiring the mediaeval shop France and the dwellings that were embedded in caves below the château.
Although it was getting late, we decided to hike up to the Chateau. The highlight of the Château was not so much your every day run of the mill Great Halls, kings bedrooms and garderobes, but was the spectacular views in and from the garden and the ramparts.
Back to the van for supper and then a quick ride out for acfinal view of the chateau.
May 30: Some of you may be aware of that in 1986 Pat and I with kids did a one year teaching exchange with Carole and Bez Berry and their two girls, who were than about five and eight years old. We have kept in touch over the years and visited two or three times with them in England and they have visited us to three times back in Gibsons. Carol had let us know that they were going to be at a farmhouse villa on the banks of the Loire river at the end of May. So that was our goal for today, to arrive at their place late afternoon and stay the night.
Along the way, we stopped at the beautiful town of Chinon. It is a lovely little town, with many mediaeval streets and buildings nestled below a large promontory upon which is a dramatic château of the 12th C
We had the usual delightful evening with the Berrys And their daughter Alexis, now in her 40s with her husband and two lovely kids. The place they We’re renting was a 16th century farmhouse situated on the bank of the Loire, with a large garden stretching inland from the Dyck. It was a lovely relaxing spot for the night.
May 31: following breakfast and a little swim in the heated pool, we said goodbye and headed off for a 20 minute drive to Angers,, an important historical town on the confluence of the Loire river with the Maine river. We strolled down through the pedestrian mall, to a square with some very impressive mediaeval buildings, where we paused for a picnic lunch. Then stroll further down near the river, and back up to the Château. The château is a large fortress with foundations as far back as 250 A.D. in the late afternoon we set off Eastward, changing directions to head slowly back to Belgium. Our first stop was going to be the town of Saumur but we spotted a camping car sign at the town of Longué. So we have settled into a lovely free camping spot alongside a pretty little park still about 20 km short of Saumur. I suppose it’s time I sent this post because it’s getting rather lengthy.
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