Getting old and damp

Today Andy is officially old, so after years of practising he's now allowed at 40 to be the grumpy old man he's been training for over all these years :o)

We left the lovely village of Montreuil-Bellay on Thursday after having a cracking one-pan cooked fish dish Chris pulled together on the Wednesday night (and yes, again we had a bottle of a local wine which was, as expected, superb) on course for Chris's birthday present to Andy which is a two night stay at a marvellous chataeu in Noizay. And what a place it is too. So we pull up outside and park the Bongo, right next to one of those new four seater Aston Martins. Excellent. A man appeared (probably trying to work out if we should actually be there) and welcomed us to the hotel. So we settled and we have like a big bed and space, two concepts that we've not been used to over the last couple of weeks or so. A wee wander about, followed by a bath (another luxury) and then down to dinner. In case you didn't know the French can cook. Very well. Very, very well in fact. The chateau also of course has got good local vintage wines so that helped too! A wee gin and tonic to see us past midnight and into Andy's birthday and a great day was complete.

This morning we woke up and had an energy providing omlette each for breakfast (yes, Chris had one too!) and Andy couldn't think of anything better to do on his birthday than go for a run. Chris retrieved her bike from the back of the Bongo (again, next to the Aston!) and we set off on a rycle. The heavens then opened, ensuring that some downhills and flat were as wet as could be, with the sun coming out to provide imposing heat once we were climbing on the way back just to rub it in. We managed a ittle over ten miles at fast (for Andy) marathon race pace. Once back Chris put a few more miles in on the bike before joining Andy down by the pool. Tough way to spend your 40th, isn't it?

Next we are going for a wee walk to get a bite to eat for lunch, then an easy afternoon before another great meal in prospect. We think we'll probably try their tasting menu, though whatever we choose I'm sure it will be excellent again. Tomorrow we will leave here and pack ourselves back into the van which may come as a bit of a culture shock! We've not booked any campsites but we have a couple in mind, not too far from Blois.