And so we left the comfort of the lovely Chateau Noizay. Happily, we were also now owners of an Uno drive-away awning (i.e. a very small tent with an awning cover which can connect to the van). It had arrived that morning, and although Chris had emailed the Chateau to warn them it was on its way (an email we have to assume didn't make it despite not being bounced back) and 2 birthday cards being sent to Andy at the Chateau (thanks to all concerned!), the staff had not been able to work out who it was for... So luckily we were in the middle of telling them it was on its way when the penny dropped.
We then found our way to a campsite south of the Loire, on the banks of the river Cher, just outside Chenonceau. After a wee bit of trial and error, and some head-scratching, we got the Uno set up and attached to the Bongo and were all set. We went on a relatively short rycle along the river (and went past a monk all set for a canoe trip - not something we have seen every day) the settled in for the evening, already very pleased with our Uno as we could just chuck in all the items we didn't need/want in the van overnight.
On the Sunday morning we were woken by the sound of hot air balloons taking off - not a bad thing! The view of mist rising off the river with the sun up hot air balloons taking off was fabulous, but typically the camera batteries had died! Anyway, after brekkie we drove into Amboise to walk around the Sunday market and are very glad we did! It was great, and we came back armed with some fabulous saucisson for next to nothing. Also, what is it about the French and roast chickens? there were loads of them at the market roasting away and equally big queues of folk waiting to buy them. Another big plus was the arrival of a circa 1998 TVR Chimera that burbelled past us to set up camp three plots down from us. Oh how we enjoy the sound of a large block V8!
The next day we cycled to Amboise (having missed a sign for the cycle route, we took the main road to the town - not really to be advised), this time to check out the chateau and the rest of the town. The chateau is pretty impressive (again) and contains, amongst other things, Leonardo Da Vinci's grave. How did he end up living there, we wondered. The chateau where he lived towards the end of his life was also in the town and looked very impressive, but also expensive, so we just went into the town and to the main chateau (where Leonardo is buried). Our eyes had almost popped out of our heads when we saw it on the way towards the town on Saturday, and it was just as good up close.
After some lunch, we cycled back. We went back via the cycle route which uses lots of scenic small roads and was much more enjoyable. We then went to the Chenonceau Chateau near our campsite (many chateaux in one day!). It was fabulous! Won't bore anyone with details, but what a place. Co-incidentally, it transpires that Mary, Queen of Scots, lived there for a while which was a pleasant surprise for us.
The next day started with a bike ride to Blere in the morning in order to get to their local food market. We managed somehow to find it and Chris picked up some lovely fresh scallops while Andy located some olives; always doing the important stuff! After cycling back and a spot of lunch with the demolition of the olives, some serious hard lying by the pool was required, so we did just that. A very brief wash of the pretty filthy Bongo was undertaken and then the scallops were cooked, washed down with, of course, the obligitory bottle of very nice local wine.
Wednesday was time for a few more running miles for Andy, so an earlyish start and a route following the cycle trail to Amboise was chosen. It was pretty hot again but there was a good (strong) cooling wind helped. We had chosen this route as out-and-backs really do reduce the possibility of getting lost; so far this has kept working for us but lets see as the weeks go by if this continues. We made it to near Amboise, found a great trail through a forest and had started on the return journey when Chris said "wait up, I think I've got a flat" (she didn't actually use those words, but stick with it for the Andy-style joke - Ed). Andy had considered his usual dubious humour by pointing out that she actually has a house (ok, not worth it - Ed.) but decided against it for once. So how hard can it be to fix a flat? We had about another 8 or so miles to go back to the campsite, why is it that these things happen as far away as possible. Anyhow, Chris gets the tyre levers out of her bag and struggles to get the seemingly cemented tyre off the rim. Andy helps enormously by hooking in the other lever which then usefully snapped in two. Oh. Fortunately Chris had her allen keys and we used one of them as a lever to get the tyre off the rim. Go us. The punture itself was courtesy of a wee thorn so was pretty easy to find and Chris patched it up and put the tyre back on and started to inflate the tye. The pump broke. Both of Chris' hands were still in contact with the pump, the problem being that the two ends of the pump were not in contact with each other (Chris managing to laugh rather than cry at this point, which is quite miraculous). We managed to put it all back together and continue inflating. The pump broke again. Similar to the previous breaking behaviour but a different bit this time. Eventually by holding various bits of pump together and being very gentle with the pump enough air was in the tyre for the journey to continue; it only took us 45 minutes to fix :o)
The rest of the run back was pretty dull by comparison, though fantastic scenery and good undulations made for an enjoyable 20 miles in total. Another tasty wee lunch and then we thought we should really get ourselves to a vineyard, having spent the last 2 weeks or thereabouts surrounded by them. As it was getting quite late, we thought we would cycle to the nearest one to save time. Great idea. Except, after getting the bikes unlocked, Chris then discovered the back tyre was very flat. Again. Still, at least the repair had held out long enough to get us back here - it could have been a lot worse! So we walked to the vineyard, had a few tastes, and purchased a couple of bottles of very nice wine. After stopping for a beer in Chenonceau on the way back we had a cracking steak (again courtesy of Chris) then settled up at the campsite as on Thursday we are going to head south. Still not quite sure exactly where, St Emillion is our next target but we may take in somewhere else on the way down.
No comments:
Post a Comment