Really lovely day exploring medieval Royal City of Loches

---

Much better weather today. Checked the forecast via my trusty laptop and the campsite somewhat intermittent wifi and found only 10% chance of ‘precipitation’. We took the umbrella all the same but didn’t need it as it was lovely and sunny all day.
Had a really lovely day. Walked along the river from the campsite into the town and climbed up to the medieval centre which looks out over the Indre river and the rest of the town. We can see the turrets of the castle and the spires of the church from Tandy on our campsite below.
The heart of this Royal City is the chateau, church and fortress tower (donjon). We entered through the main gate, the Porte Royale, and paid a very reasonable entrance fee of €7 for an exceptionally interesting few hours of exploration. First of all the collegiate church which has two little pointy towers on the nave which are totally unique, and a fantastically decorated front door covered in carvings of creatures of the forest. The ashes of Agnes Sorel, mistress of Charles Vll are interred in the church. Then to the palace or Logis Royal which was built for the King’s pleasure in the 1500s and has several decorations relating to Agnes Sorel. This palace was built to replace the tower as the royal residence and the tower was then used as a prison.
The third collection of buildings is the oldest, the tower built in the 11th century. Had a wonderful walk round here. The museum displays are very well done and show how the buildings used to be without attempting to restore them to their former state.
Lots of steps and spiral staircases later our knees did begin to show the strain. We went up the tower, Bob to the very high top but not me. Then we went underground to where they used to dig out the soft stone which was used in this Loire valley area for building.
The Royal City is beautifully displayed with some superb floral decorations to set it off. The church was being decorated for a wedding as we left and we saw several guests in their finery climbing the hill to the church once we had returned to the town at the foot of the hill.
Had a very pleasant wander round the pretty streets and had salad lunches before walking back to the campsite for a swim in the pool. We are extremely pleased with this campsite, Le Citadelle. Cannot fault it in anyway and have rated it 9.5 out of 10 which is praise indeed.

---

Photos

Twin conical towers of the church
a unique architectural feature

The Royal Logis or Chateau of Loches
An elegant building

Prison cage
Once in there there is little chance of getting out hence the bucket. For food, toilet or both ?

High tower.
Bob went to the top. ~I did not

The Royal City dominates the sky line
Pretty scene on the walk back to the campsite along the river