FUN IN THE SUN

3-5.06.2015

Vallee des Vignes at Concourson sur Layon was a disappointment. Nowhere near the Loire or its cycle routes and the river Layon  was a stream hard to find.
English run and nothing but UK visitors, including another C&CC rally run by the same stewards as ran the one at Cheverny and hard to avoid.  We had been seduced by promises of cycle paths which failed to materialise , only quiet and not so quiet local roads, hard to navigate without a local map, so we just roamed around the villages trying to find one with a bar or cafe which was more difficult than one might imagine.........
Anyway, we soon ran out of options and decided that staying any longer was not a great prospect so sent a text to D&M suggesting another site on the Loire between Angers and Saumur which turned out to be a gem. On a hillside among vines and wonderful views over the river valley and along to Saumur. Lovely staff who went beyond the call of duty to get us tickets for Puy de Fou where I am now sitting in the rain.
And it was hot.
D&M arrived soon after us to much hugging and kissing .....
the GF entertained for dinner and a lovely time had by all...

Nantes Machines

And it's hot

4th June 2015

After leaving Nantes,we headed back along the Loire to a pretty little village called Bouchemaine, about 10km south of Angers.  Nice commercial aire on the banks of the Maine or Sarthe depending on which map you read, but probably the Maine now I look at the village's name (doh!)
Cycle path along river to Angers  but for various reasons we didn't get round to it apart from an hours walk. Would like to go back and do it....nice spot.
Then on Wednesday to Concourse sur Layon where we hope to meet up with D&M

Temperature at 5pm is 31c and tomorrow  forecast 33.
According to my weather App the highest temp  recorded here is 28c in 2011so a bit of a heatwave.
Oh..,and my hayfever has been horrendous for 3 weeks and my usual pills are sending me to sleep for some reason, as they never used to.

I LIKE NANTES

However the blog app doesn't as I lost a second posting after 20mins and I'm sick of it. I did put an emoticon in the title of each which I've never done  before so maybe..

So I liked Nantes,top city,a view not altogether shared by the GF (and we seldom disagree on these matters,but she  failed to succomb  to its charms)especially  when we discovered after we had left that 2 large bathtowels had been stolen overnight,having been left to dry on the wing mirrors as usual. Never had anything  stolen before so were aggrieved  and violated.
Anyway I have written  a lot about Nantes twice  and I'm not doing it again,just a summary.
1.Great campsite despite towel thieves, close to city centre. Neat,tidy,clean & handy for
2. Great tram service stopped outside door and
3. 480 kms of cycle paths/lanes which work and have good priority.
Bikes,trams,walkers and then cars.
4. Easy city to navigate,wide boulevards great for cycling.
5. At least 3 rivers Loire,Cher,Erdre all with cycle paths.
6. A least 2 lovely gardens....One Japanese.
7.Some great architecture.
8. An interesting history,built on the profits of ship building and the slave trade. And a very moving and informative  monument and permanent  exhibition to the slave trade past.
9. Finally,The Machines on the Iles  des Machines.  An excellent place to spend a day ..........

Sod it

I've  just lost an hours blog about Nantes as the blogger app threw  a wobbly. I can't be arsed to do it again.

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.