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Published: October 22nd 2017
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Geo: 47.0746, -0.41011
After such a pleasant day on Friday and despite a fabulous sunset, the weather went decidedly downhill from then on with rain over the weekend. Had the weather been kinder there would have been some biking excursions to explore this green and pleasant area that has been nicknamed 'Little England' but under the circumstances there was nothing to keep us occupied other than a drive out to Saint Junien for groceries and an indulgent chocolate overload at one of the specialist confectioners in the main street. I say 'overload' since not only did we have a scrummy, very chocolatey cake, we also had it in a cup since we generally find the French coffee, even with 'au lait' bitter to our taste.
So, yesterday morning we left Limousin in a northerly direction once again - destination Camping Le Serpolin, between Saumur and Cholet in the Loire. Our route for once did not include any motorways but we made good time, encountering few holdups - the main city on our journey, Poitiers, having a good ring road. By this stage, the scenery had changed from the lush, rolling landscape grazed by the lovely golden brown cattle to wide, flat expanses under intense agriculture (maize, sunflowers and vines) similar to those we have encountered in northern France, and acres of those vineyards. Yes - I can sense another wine experience is looming!
Other than stopping to buy the daily baguette at a small town (the car park also conveniently had a loo in the absence of service areas which we would normally use on motorway journeys), rather than stop for lunch, we grazed on snacks and pulled into the site near the small village of Cheres-sur-Layon just before 1pm. There was no-one around but since I had emailed to check availability, we chose a hard standing pitch and we were setting up in the sunshine as the owner drove in.
British couple, Theresa and Adam, run this small 8-pitch site with additional gite/B&B accommodation and judging by the number of caravans in storage, it is a popular location. However, at this time of the year it is just us and one other couple, so as Theresa showed us around the amenities, she told us that their family would be setting off on their own holiday early the following morning to find sunshine and relaxation in Egypt, with the home, pet Boxer and the business left in the care of friends. For them and their two teenage kids this would be welcome 'quality' time together, she explained, since after a career break of four years Adam had returned to work as a police officer in London specialising in fire arms with the anti-terrorist squad on the lead up to the Olympics, working a 10-days on, 10-days off schedule, dividing time between UK and France. What interesting people we have met along our journey these last five months.
This morning, rain moved in as expected though by Thursday we should be in for more settled conditions. In the meantime, we really must think about our way home!
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