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Tuesday 27th May La Fleche sur Le Loir
Small things make all the difference and on this campsite not only did they provide free Wi-Fi but the washing machines worked really well with no powder stains, holes in favourite tee-shirts and stains removed. See what an exciting time we are having. We have managed to buy a French mobile broadband USB stick so regular internet access is now possible which should keep us in touch a bit better.
The area around La Fleche is very pleasant with riverside walks and well signed cycle paths of the type Liz prefers I.E. flat, hard surfaced and relatively quiet. We cycled 15kms with Bran running alongside and even then he was not really tired in any way, he has also developed a habit of swimming after ducks in the mistaken (probably) belief that he can catch them. Given the profusion of weirs, bank side fishermen and other hazards, this is not a habit we are encouraging. La Fleche had a market one morning which sold everything from live chickens (Liz thinks they would do the dirty deed there and then) through to spider crabs that crawled around the counter. We settled on
a nice piece of cod! It was also good to see a real profusion of locally grown seasonal food a la a giant farmers market.
Moving on from La Fleche we went to an Aire in the small village of Villeveque, where the bishops of Angers had their summer retreat or did you already know that? I don’t think we have ever seen a prettier place, again by the river Loir with great walks and cycle paths. Very typically French as we had a coffee in the sunshine I asked the Café owner for a croissant to which she responded by pointing at the Boulangerie across the road and gave me a look as if to say “stupid Brit” or something like that. Anyway I took the hint ordered the coffee, went and brought back a croissant and enjoyed them both very much. The highpoint of the Aire in Villveque for me was the fact that it was free which is astonishing coming from our island where notices reading “please use all our first class facilities to your hearts content for no charge” are not terribly common. For Liz though it was the addition of one of the space
age French toilets, you know the ones that automatically flush when you go in and out, wash the seat and floor etc. French toilets have moved on a lot in the last 20 years but it is still common to be faced with what amounts to a hole in the ground and not much else. We had a decent meal out at a restaurant in Villveque where all the interaction had been in our best French, we were doing so well until the waiter spoke to Liz in a complimentary manner with words that baffled us only for the waiter to say in English how good our French was, what a laugh we had at that!
After Villveque we went to another Aire in Bouchemaine which was pretty much full with 35 motorhomes and again right by the river. The weather turned a bit wet so it was reading books and dodging the showers, although we did manage a decent cycle ride which ended in the best of all places, a riverside bar. We left the Aire at the crack of 11.30 am and were only the second last vehicle to exit, we no longer do early.
As
I write we have spent a couple of pleasant days in the village of Tourquant which is in the centre of Anjou wine making and is the 3rd biggest mushroom producer in the world, or did you already know that? Liz has had a sore back so it has just been me and Bran on the long walks, but she seems much improved so we could be back on the bikes tomorrow with a bit of luck. The area has unusual geography with a series of limestone bluffs sitting above the Loire River in which have been excavated a great many caves now being used for wine storage, drying apples, growing mushrooms and for housing. In places it is a bit like a set from Lord of the Rings, part Hobbiton/ part Osgilioth for the aficionados.
Sunday 6th June
We have just spent several pleasant days in a picturesque village beside the ‘Loire’, at Montsoreau. We were able to take several decent cycle rides along my favourite type of cycle track, flat, along the ‘Loire’. Bran even managed a 12km run into Fontevrand, however as it was very hot we didn’t stay long as we were concerned it
Villeveque
Mill on the Loir would get too hot to come back (30 degrees). On one eventful cycle run we encountered a small adder on the track, as I was in front I shouted to Alan ‘snake’ which he avoided running over, but Bran who was running into heel beside him doesn’t understand the word for ‘snake’, so he promptly trod on it. I screeched to a halt shouting to Alan that the dog had stood on the snake, which was disappearing fast, while Alan ran into the back of me. Any road up (as Andy would say), the dog had not been bitten, the bikes were okay, and I was not as traumatised as I thought I would have been having encountered a snake, must be getting desensitised having seen so many now.
Following a local thunderstorm which woke us at 5am, Alan whom cares about these things, jumped up and rescued all our equipment that we had left outside being to lazy the night before to clear up properly. I was concerned that all the people in tents would be cursing him for making a noise, but however the noise of the storm camouflaged the noise he was making so we took
Cycle path?
First time we had to take a boat on the cycle route advantage of that!
We are currently at a small village called Azay-le-Rideau (N47˚15.555’ -E0˚28.164’) which has a pretty chateau in the centre. As we are on a tight budget we are going to select one or two chateaux to visit (those allowing dogs stand a much better chance) otherwise we would spend a fortune. After our trip to Italy where both Alan and I feel that we are now completely culturally fulfilled and walking around the outside, in the grounds, will suffice.
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