France 65- Poitiers closed but that's not such a shame as Amboise is open

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It's Monday and we only have another few days here. Quick phone call to the Eurotunnel office to change our train home from Tuesday next week to Friday this week. Five house viewings arranged and an offer put in on a bungalow pending inspection. How mad is that?

The weather has cooled off significantly. From 33 degrees in Portugal it is now around 17 overnight and a little over 22 in the day. The mornings are misty although the sun does burn through by mid morning. Our plan to drive to Poitiers a city I have always wanted to see and in particular its cathedral. We had found a site near to Futuroscope which hopefully would be open and would have a bus into the city. Our journey was pretty boring along the way. And to make things worse the campsite when we arrived looked very firmly closed. Reception looked empty, there were no cars or movements inside so it was back to the drawing board and moving on to find another perhaps better campground. There didnt look much sign of a bus stop and Poitiers looked a long way away.

We got back on the road and found a laybye to have some dinner. Left over chicken from yesterday and a crusty baguette. The second campsite was even further out so it looked like Poitiers would have to wait for another trip.

Poitiers loss though was to be Amboise's gain. We drove along the Loire river a pretty part of France with more than its fair share of chateaux along its route. Our destination for two nights the Municipal camp du L'il which stands on an island in the middle of the river. As it was coming to the end of the season with only a few nights left when the camp would be open most of the facilities were closed. Only one toilet block was open. There was no hardstandings only grass so it is understandable why they planned to close. It would be difficult to get off the grass when it was wet. We were given a pitch but this was under a tree of which there were many and we asked to move. We joined an English couple who also had moved due to the darkness of the pitch under the trees. I also got talking to another couple in a VW camper who later used our laptops as they had forgotten their booking numbers to go home. Our good deed for the day done.

In the evening we walked up to the town which was only minutes away across a bridge. We ate in the sight of the castle in a small but packed restaurant. Wine, water, a mixed salad and two pizzas.

The site was a little noisy at night. Noise from the train line across the river and noise from some noisy campers. We moved the next morning to another spot nearer the barrier and the road out of the campsite.

Our plan for the day was to walk into the town, have a coffee and visit both the castle and the house of Leonardo da Vinci who worked on the castle. There was a flurry of activity between 9 and 9.30 as motorhomes queued up to empty their grey and black water. We put our heating on whilst we waited and managed to blow the fuse in the fuse box. 5 amps not enough power to power up the heating then.

The town is mainly one tourist street off which radiates the more workaday streets and lanes. Less salubrious, less touristy and less tat for sale. Airplanes swing low over the river and balloons drift along the Loire. It's a lovely place to stay. We called in the chateau first and it was fairly busy even at this late point in the season. The palace was built during the Renaissance a symbol of the kings power and a centre for political, economic and artistic activity. Entrance fee was 10 euros 50 each with no reduction for over 65's. France doesnt do reductions for pensioners.

We walked to St Huberts Chapel which is dedicated to the patron saint of hunters and is built in a flamboyant Gothic style constructed in 1493 as the personal private chapel of the sovereign. It is the last resting place of Leonardo da Vinci who died in Amboise in 1519. The rest of the internal rooms comprised of the Gothic Lodge Guards Room, the guards made up of Swiss and Scottish companies and latterly french musketeers. There were beautiful ribbed ceilings and a sentries walk where we stood for a while overlooking the river. On to the Noble Guardsmans Room and by this time we had joined the back of a German guided tour. Time to get past as the crowds got in the way, the guides voice rumbling on and on. Constant chattering and stopping. We moved quickly on to the Drummers Room, the Kings Dressing Room , the council chamber a lovely room with brick walls and intricately designed fireplaces. Then to Henry II' s chamber with its tapestries, door curtains and large bed. During the French revolution much of the chateau was demolished or left to rot. Only 1/5th of the building remained unscathed. Rooms with red flocked wallpaper, a music room with piano and harp. The cavalier ramp were horses and coaches could ride up to reach the inner sanctum of the castle.

Outside were formal Renaissance gardens with vines, green oak and box hedging clipped into rounds. Flower beds full fo verbena, Begonias, bedding herbs, rosemary and sage.

After our tour of the castle we walked back down the town and sat in Cafe Bigot drinking American Coffee, Capaccino and eating cakes made out of raspberries, meringues and pastry. The cafe/chocolate shop has been in existence since 1913 and was in its 100th year as a family concern. We left clutching marzipan sweets shaped like vegetables, pear and chocolate cakes.

We walked up to Clos Luce which was the home of Leonardo whilst he worked on the chateau. It was a long walk out of town and when we got there the entrance fee was 23 euros for the two of us. A bit too expensive for our liking so we looked and walked back into town. It did look nice but we have started to be selective in what we see and this didnt warrant the price they wanted for entry.

When we got back to the site we had to move again as a group of young lads turned up in three VW's and transit vans. They looked like scouts and were noisy kicking cans around the paths. We moved again to another quieter part of the site.

Another reasonable night quieter than it could have been. We took our leave of Amboise with a short drive taken us ever closer to home.

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Photos

Amboise
Leonardos tomb

Amboise
A water height mark in the wall at the house of Leonardo