LOIRE TO VIENNE

28th.May 2015
We did Tours twice and back towards Amboise. Lovely proper cycle tracks along the rivers and exceedingly  well  used although it was a Bank Holiday weekend...lots of family groups and much picnicing on the banks. Tours is nice with a grand cathedral sporting excellent stained glass windows and an interesting old quarter....fine looking tram system through centre.
26/05/15
Left for Chatellerault which has not got a great deal going for it, with the idea of meeting Geoff  &  Caroline who were supposed to be passing through in the Cobra having been on a jaunt down south and were planning  to stop there on the way back. It turned out that they meant Chateauroux despite  insisting that the name had a double l in it and is an hours drive to the east. And anyway they were not on schedule we learnt on Thurs morning and wouldn't be there till Friday. By which time we had exhausted the delights of Chatellerault and had decided to head back to the loire and do Nantes and the giant machines.
We are staying at another Castels  chateau site which is quite delightful . The large grounds are peaceful and tranquil  with birdsong the only noise, and the owners are quite charming. We have cycled with their route maps and got hopelessly lost but the roads are fairly traffic free except at lunchtime as the french head for home or the mistress (the one going more than 50mph are doing both we decided)
We are at St Ustre and the main town is about 5 miles away and hardly worth a detour, but as the sun is shining we have had an extraordinarily pleasant stopover.
We can sit outside till 10.30 as it doesn't get dark till 11 and there is nothing better  than sitting in the grounds of a stately house with a few glasses of red watching the sun go down.

FURTHER UP THE LOIRE

23.05.2015
The days at Cheverny were spent cycling around the excellent cycle routes. We did 3 major tours of 18,20 & 25 miles all along quiet country roads and forest tracks through farms,vineyards, villages and countryside. The routes are without exception well signposted with opportunities to stop at hosteleries  for refreshments and on one occasion an excellent 3 course menu du jour for €14 (£10) including a glass of kir to start and 1/4 ltr wine. The sun continued to shine although whilst I am in shorts and shirt the GF has 3 fleeces, a black waterproof outer shell, balaclava, scarf covering mouth and nose and wrap around dark glasses, almost causing accidents at every meeting with locals who gaze in astonishment at the avenging angel of doom bearing down on them.
The rally decided to for go the quiz on saturday after we cleaned up last week ( we had decided to move on anyway) and have a whist drive. I didn't like to tell the steward that the GF would have creamed that as well so we left and went to the gardens at Chaumont.
Last there 11 years ago when we had our first trip abroad in our first motorhome so a bit of a water under the bridge moment. These gardens are still stunning with their festival and we spent 5 hours wandering through  them and could have spent another  5 if we had the stamina.
Then onto Tours where we found another site close to the river in La Ville aux Dames, which is again on the Loire au Velo  route and offers lots of opportunities for the coming week.

UP THE LOIRE WITHOUT A PADDLE

18.05.2015

Wed 13/05
After the protracted - and prolonged - celebrations of the GF's 70th. Birthday , we hit the road  for France with the intention of  finding interesting places along the Loire, as we seem to have whizzed through it for many years without stopping and now would  be a good time to revisit it and we what's new.
So over to Calais and first night at a campsite only 10 miles away instead of the usual aire on the seafront....and having passed the ' new ' Sangatte immigrant camp ( an enormous sprawling cardboard city) I think we may avoid staying in Calais for a while.
So a lovely campsite at Guines, one of the Castelets chain which have sites in the grounds of chateau which usually have a good restataurant.. And this did not disappoint. We hadn't actually intended dining out but the menu was so reasonable and mouthwatering that we looked at one another, shrugged and walked in. Very ' old rural French' with no mucking about..
Thurs 14/05
In no hurry, we meandered cross country, avoiding dual carriageways and eschewing toll roads. It would have been lovely had the early morning sun not given way to a typhoon of biblical proportions during which we had to pull off the road. This also caused a road blockage  with an overturned car that meant a 30km detour to get to our destination of Les
Andelys, a small town on the Seine south of Rouen which we have passed by many times but never stopped at. And a charming place it is too, seemingly home to many artists, judging by the number of galleries. An old castle overlooks the town, built by R-lionheart, nicely illuminated at night and the only contention being an account in the church of how the town was saved during the 100 years war when the English archers "ran away" at the last moment...... I think not ! A bit of gaellic poetic licence I suspect in historical reportage.
Anyway, a pleasant campsite on the banks of the Seine with a very nice walk/cycle path and the possibility of cycling to Giverny to see Monet's garden some 20 km away. We may well stop on the way back and explore if the weather is better.
Fri 15/05
Pleasant drive to the Loire at Blois and the sun shone as usual when we got to Chateaudun as it has done without fail since the 1960's when old Geoffrey Bowman first told us about this indisputable piece of folklore. We are stopping at Cheverny, about 10 miles south of the river on a site we picked because the C&CC are having a rally here, on the basis that they pick decent sites and this one is said to connect with 800 kms of Loire-Velo cycling tracks which sounds interesting.
Very nice site, Les Saules, about 2 miles outside the village and excellent looking Château and we found a lovely sunny pitch well away from the rally already here 2 days ago but were collared almost immediately with invitations to join any activities which may be amusing. I mustn't be too sniffy because the steward Dave did give us very good info on how to cycle to the nearby Super-U avoiding the suicidal 3mile dead  straight road that runs past the site and we would have used without prior instruction.
Site quite full with French down for the weekend.
Sat 16/05
Cycled to superU for essential wine and patisseries, a pleasant ride through the forest, 12 mile round trip in the sunshine with abundant wildlife .
Invited to join rally in bar for quiz night. Embarrassingly we won both halves quite convincingly ( I can't help knowing the names of Napoleons' and Wellingtons' horses.).....and so paid for the evenings bar bill.
Sun  17/05
Lovely sunny day. We are surrounded by birds and besieged by chaffinches hopping about for crumbs at breakfast. The site has a nice walk through woods and meadows with notes on birds to be seen and the birsongs are ever present. A very nice environment  to stay. Cycled to Cheverny  along lovely paths away from traffic just to see the lie of the land.
Boules with rally was a disaster trying to play on grass as no boules court and few people seem to have played before. Will avoid if reoccurs.
Mon 18/05
Full day cylcle back to Cheverny  to visit Château and gardens  with picnic. Most enjoyable and well worth a detour as M..Michelin used to say in his guides.
The last time we stopped to visit the Châteaux of the Loire was probably 1968/69, and Blois was an extreme disappointment as there was nothing but bare floors, no furniture and no decoration. Cheverny was a pleasure to visit and the free guide available with the very reasonable €8
entry ticket was very informative......
From the posters around, Blois is also worth a visit so hopefully a bit of restoration has been done in the last 45 years.