France 171 - Cheverny - A visit to Mr Le Clerc/the fridge is full/here comes the rain again /Captain Haddocks house /Huge sequoia trees

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The plan today had been to head to Le Mans but with the awful wet weather we felt we had no desire to walk in the rain . Le Mans could wait . We needed to fill the fridge and do a shop. Last night through the mist and rain we had spotted a very large Le Clerc supermarket and petrol station so that was the first plan of the day. We headed for Attin. The petrol station was a no go for us as it was unmanned and we still were unsure if our UK cards would be successful . I do love large french supermarket . The choice of products is enormous . Wine - reasonable enough to drink at 2 euros a bottle. The trolley was filled with roasted chicken, roast potatoes , fresh fruit and desserts and anything else I could lay my hands on .

After unloading the trolley we headed for our first real stop of the trip -Blois . We had targetted an aire close enough to walk into the town . Silly Sat Nag had other ideas. She had been having a hissy fit last night and this continued this morning . I don't know if there were problems with the atmospherics, the satelittes or if she was just being plain stupid . But whatever was happening we realised she had chosen us a route through Paris rather than round it . We always try to avoid Paris like the plague . Been there, done it , worn the T shirt . Really did not want to wear it today. Things went from bad to worse as we tried to re-programme here to take us round . She switched herself off . She recalculated so many times we felt like throwing her through the window. The road was blocked due to an accident . Silly tried all ways to divert us back to the blockage in the road . We felt we would never get out of Paris alive . We were in the dark driving on instinct most of the time . We seemed to be going round and round and the city was coming towards us . We just had to keep trying to get through. We were in a hurry to get to Blois as we needed a phone shop and time was ticking away.

Eventually we do escape the madness of Paris and find ourselves heading for Dreux and south . We had Blois in our sights . There is no way to say this . But ..........we started to have misgivings . It seems that the area near to the aire was full of caravans . They may have been travellers but we were soon to find out that the fair was in town . And of course it was on our aire . We might have been able to stop to in all honesty we were not guarenteed a quiet night so hurredly got out the Camperstop book to find somewhere to stay the night . Not too far from Blois .

We came up with Cheverny. Two sites . We chose the free one provided by the local chateau. The village before Cheverny had everything you could wish for . From phone shops to florists . From pattisseries to boucheries . You wanted for nothing . The pretty houses were cream and red brickwork . The streaky bacon look . Our aire was P3 . Just a few minutes from the chateau . I took a walk in the early evening . So many empty and open fields . A road with sequoia trees hundreds of feet tall . The usual village cross . This one neatly carved with roses and rose leaves . Painted pink and green . I walked to the chateau gates hoping for a photograph . Sadly although I could see the chateau in the distance and the sculpture of a very large white dog I found it impossible to photograph due to pale green netting attached to the gate to protect the owners from prying eyes. The Domaine de Cheverny is the property of the Hurault de Vibraye family . A family of bankers and financiers . The gardens boast thousands and thousands of tulips. A collection of eggs decorating the trees and an exhibition to Captain Haddock and Tin Tin .

The chateau was open every day with the exception of a Tuesday which was the day the owners mother had tea with her friends . I would have liked to have seen inside but time was not on our side as we had a date with a minotaur in Toulouse on Friday . The village had a plain church with an elaborate porch shaped like a french lavoir - a washhouse . I stood inside tried the door but found no-one in so had little idea how old the church was .

The houses again were cream and brick and there was a massive school of the same design . A boys entrance and a separate girls entrance . I had no idea if the school was still open as it boasted it was the Dance Hall and the Hall of the Seniors .

The night was spent quietly with three other vans . Two appeared to be hire models and I wondered if motorhome was going the same way as in the UK . Everyone wanting to staycation and motorhoming was the key. Everyone wanting to try motorhoming out before buying . We were still not quite feeling in a holiday mood . The weather needed to pick up. We were heading slowly south so hopefully tomorrow it will begin to bet better . .

And of yes there were the usual spring flowers - tulips , daisies , blue forget me nots . But then there were the pink forget me nots . Remind me to buy some seeds when I get home

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