A star in the reasonably-priced Loire - east of Tours

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You could easily get chateau fatigue in the Loire. But like the guidebooks say, they are the highlights of the Loire - Disneyland's finest tourelles look like pallid impostors next to Ch Chambord and Ch Chenonceau. The nice thing about visiting in the off season is the slight discounts and the markedly fewer punters jostling for position in front of the smaller type face which the French use for the (surprisingly sloppily translated) English portions of the signage accompanying the various exhibits.

The chateax patrons seem characterised by two groups - well-behaved French kids and their elegantly dressed middle-class parents, and bus tours of Antipodeans in matching leisurewear. We arrived at Chambord and walked through the picque-nicque area to be greeted by the sound of mass singing. Was it drunken backpackers? Over-excited Germans? Nope - super-annunitant Aussie supporters having a mid-day chant of "... I am, you are, we are Australians." Maybe they secretly wanted touring English to come up to offer to buy their finals tickets?

There were a few touring NZers too, crowding into the house in Ambois favoured in his last days by Leonardo Da Vinci. The highlights were a few scale models of his more imaginative drawings, some of which were in fairness more imaginative than others. I might not have come up with the gyrocopter, but I think even I could have come up with the idea of bolting a few guns together in a fan shape to take out a few advancing soldiers at a time.

The roads are fairly clear of traffic jams, the weather has been pretty good and the French have been tolerant of our pidgin French and inability to get to grips with the prioritie a droit road rules, unchanged since Napoleonic times (no doubt). Based on an encounter this morning with two pleasant old ladies, I would even have said the French could be "friendly", until it became apparent that their ulterior motive was to dispose of a few Jehovah's Witness magazines, presumably so they could head back to the parlour (hair or funeral) or to get in a few discount pork filet mignons at the local Eco-Marche supermarket.

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Comments

[Graham]

Hello
Peter and Helen, great to hear from you and to read that Jehovah nearly captured again. BBC now telling the rest of GB that the game is for honour between N and S hemisphere which of course is a load of old boloney - I think it's a ploy but can't think why. I have sent details of your blog to Jim McStarkers so you may hear from him seeing as it's free. Cheers mi hearties and take good care - Graham