The picture is of me in the campsite next to the Vienne river with the chateau in the background. I did enjoy Chinon with its cobbled lanes and ancient houses. Even had a tasty plat du jour of beef goulash in the main square. The tourist office have a map of a suggested walking route which I did. It was sunny and hot. I walked the long way round up to the chateau and found an obscure path which ended with me and Sacha climbing between a wire fence to pop out i...

I had planned to stay at Chinon and have peaceful lazy day as the campsite was so nice. However at 9am the sound of amplified music with heavy bass drifted across. Apparently a festival would be going to go on all day. I'm sure that if I weren't feeling so tired I could have joined in and enjoyed it. So I packed up and headed for Saumur. It is only 30kms away but a supermarket stop and some road closures along the way had me arguing with Ms Sat Nav. I had bee...

Left Amboise and drove to Loches about an hour away. Stopped just outside Amboise for a quick look at the pagoda at Chanteloup. This reminds me that the Russian word 'pagoda' means 'weather'. Medieval Loches has a feudal chateau where Joan of Arc persuaded Charles VII to march north to be crowned. Subsequently the royal court that was established there was notorious for wild banquets. The kings mistress Agnes Sorel was officially recognised and died at the ag...

Heavy rain in the night. It stopped at 5am and I was wide awake and couldn't get back to sleep. Visited the royal chateau of Amboise. Very royal it truly is. So much history. I had decided to go to Tours by train It was very hot and I walked back to the van to get Sacha and I walked a couple of kms to the station in the sunshine. Then suddenly the heavens opened and the biggest drops of rain fell. Didn't know they could be that big. Chatted to a French lady,...

The picture is of the royal chateau of Amboise taken just before my campsite. Great spot! Breakfast of Verapamil tablet, bread, goat's cheese and a couple of juicy nectarines. Went to do a big wash. Bundled it all into the big pillowcase. Got the tokens ready and adaptor to recharge the electric toothbrush. Cycled onehandedly to the other side of the campsite only to be told a big Non! By the cleaning lady. Come back in 2 hours. It is a municipal site after all...