6 September - St Emilion

On the Saturday we decided we really ought to move south so headed off towards the only campsite near St Emilion. No wrong turns, no being followed by police and good navigation from Chris got us there in good time. It has to be said the scenery as we got within around 30k or so of the site was just brilliant, with vineyard after vineyard and cracking chateaux (mostly metaphorically, some literally) everywhere and undulating land meant for some great vistas.

The site is somewhat bigger than the last, though we had been a little spoilt by the last place. We got in, pitched the Uno tent quickly and headed off to Libourne to one of the biggest supermarkets we've ever seen. Supplies bought we then lurked suspiciously outside the nearby McDonalds to pick up email and went back to the site for a well earned lie by the pool. Andy thought he'd practice for Italy by making a Bolognese though of course a nice St Emilion to go with it balanced things nicely.

Morning broke and both Andy and Chris went out for a run before breakfast, Andy going just a little further into St Emilion itself and came back with glowing reports of the small town. After breakfast we both went up to St Emilion to try and find the alleged Sunday morning market and for a general look around. We found the market but it was, how best to say, limited in choice. We decided to give it a miss and wandered around St Emilion itself. It has small, medieval winding streets, old ramparts, quirky wee shops and courtyards, wine for sale everywhere and loads of choice for food. We meandered around for a good while, deciding to come back and do some serious tasting etc. on Monday. Back to the campsite to bob about on a canoe on the lake for a while before more pool time. Boy was it hot.

So Monday broke and so did the weather to begin with. Spots of rain were falling as we both went for pre-breakfast runs, then some very short bursts of big rain drops accompanied by some rumbles of thunder, before getting ready for the two mile walk back up to the town (and finding the power had gone off in the surrounding area, almost reminding of us of home). By the time we got up there and walked around for a while it was time for lunch (with a miniscule glass of wine) before a wander around the Maison du Vin and a trip past tourist information where we saw we could do a beginners wine tasting course (starting in about 25 mins) so we thought "why not?" and went and bought ice cream as good preparation. The course was really interesting and good fun, helped by being run by an amusing Frenchman with a dry and self-effacing sense of humour, although it has probably done more to convince both of us that the only thing we really knew about wine at all was that we liked some of it. Now armed with our new-found knowledge we resolved to keep practicing the tasting, though we have taken tonight off wine to build up to it!

The weather had picked up enough through the day, though is meant to deteriorate a little over the next two days, but we like the area so much we'll stick around for another three nights at least. Tomorrow we will use some new found information about local cycle routes that take in some pretty cool vineyards for Andy to get a long run in, though Chris will be using Andy's bike due to ongoing puncture problems (long story) with her bike. We may search out a nice Grand Cru Classe while we're at it too...

Friday 3rd September (delayed)

We awoke on the 2nd to another lovely day with the intent of leaving pretty early. So at about midday we fonally left the area near Amboise...

We left the Loire are to head south, well southish after Andy helpfully went the wrong way on a toll road (only addedanother 55k and 8 Euros or so... on towards St Emillion. We pulled over after a toll to get a snack at which point two plicemen on motorbikes pulled up behind us. Queue brown trowsers for us both! Chris panicked that her French really wasn't up to this but luckily they were going to the van behind us. We then left pretty quickly!

We decided to break the journey up with a one night stop on the way and Chris chose one she'd found the previous evning called L'Etang, a wee place run by a Dutch couple with the catch line "tres tranquil, confort" and how right that was too. The pitches were huge, all surrounsed by woodland and peaceful. Helped alot by the fact that there wer eonly two other pitches being used when we got there! We felt relaxed from the start and decided to eat there as it was far too hot to do any cooking :-) The food was fab and the Dutch owner only spoke English back to us even when we spoke French and the English waitress spoke French to us all the time (unless we needed help) which all in all led to a great evening, overlooking the lake.

We awoke next day to mist. Not what we expected! We picked up Andy's pain au chocolat and mulled over what to do. You see, we really liked it in the site and quite fancied a chill out day just relaxong but we needed sun for that. After breakfast we patched Chris's tyre (the original patch was fine, it looked like we pinched the tube when putting it back on) and then the sun broke through.

Decision made we diceded to stay for another night so Chris went for a run and Andy, er, looked after the van. He did that by sitting on the sand next to hte lake and reading a book. Tough work. So after lunch we sat by the lake and had a beer, lay by the lake, had a beer, well you get the picture.

After repatching the innner tube we had a great Italian style dish cooked by Chris with one of the wines we bought from the vineyard a couple of days previously and a proper relaxing day was done.
We currently intend to head south in the morning, though time will tell...

Bike rides, Chateaux and a flat tyre

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.

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.

25th August

No, our laptop hasn't died (touch wood), we've just not been blogging! We have been round the chateau, which was very impressive. After another failed attempt at getting into the restaurant serving Moules Frites on Sunday night we finally managed it, third time lucky, on Monday evening (after a couple of free glasses of locally made sparkling wine at the wine tasting - yes, we did say free, happy days!) and they were absolutely fantastic. The first ones in Honfleur were very nice, but not a patch in comparison to these.

On Tuesday we saddled up and went on our bikes to Saumur. We were merrily following a walkway, but it ended at one point and we did our regular thing and got lost. However, we found our way again and made it to the town. We went up to the chateau first at the top of the hill and had lunch sitting on the grass admiring the view. We then went into the town centre for a pleasant bit of wandering around, before cycling back. Approximately 28 miles of cycling - not too bad. We made dinner in the van again, washed down with another nice bottle of Saumur wine (for info, all the wines from this region have been lovely!).

Today was supposed to be very hot, but hasn't turned out that way. We live in hope, but in the meantime, Andy is off for a run that will be a lot cooler than the last few.

Thunder and Lightning!

A beautifully clear day started off as a very clear, although hardly quiet, night. There was a wedding reception in the bar, and they can show the Scots a thing or two about how to celebrate a wedding, judging from the noise, and the hour it went on to (well past 2am). Funnily, sometime after midnight the traditional dancing must have been going on as, as when we both went to the loo, we could hear accordions, and the muted sounds sounded so like a ceilidh. Whilst we couldn't hear the party from our van, we could, however, hear a bunch of folk who had been on the other side of the river going for a noisy swim, with the blokes coming over here. Ah the joys of the young (says old-age Andy, hee hee - C.).

Then, sometime in the middle of the night, we were woken by some very impressive thunder. Chris got out of the van to move the washing line a bit more under the shelter, and that's when we could also see the lightning. It was pretty impressive. It must have rained, but the trees we are under are better at shelter than we'd realised as we didn't hear it if it did.

Morning came with overcast skies tho still warm - actually very pleasant weather. A check of the weather forecasts had pessimistic BBC saying rain, and more optimistic Wunderland saying patchy sun with 20% chance of rain. So after Andy collected our bakery order, we just took our time, then went out on the bikes to see if a local supermarket was open (it wasn't, ho hum). On the way back, a detour to the restaurant with moules hoping to book (still no luck) took us past one shop which was open, so by the time we'd done all of that, it was late morning, and guess what, the sun was out. By the time we got ourselves together and left (Chris taking one route and Andy taking another), it was late morning and getting hot.

Andy's run was slow. Like real slow. He took in a nice wee village and caught a glimpse of another chateau but couldn't work out how to get there, so an out and back of just over nine miles, running past vineyard after vineyard just had to do. But it was like hot. Well hot. Like totally dripping with sweat and melting hot. So nine miles would do nicely. Once he was back and an industrial amount of water taken onboard Chris turned up from her cycle.

Chris' cycle had taken small roads toward Saumur. She didn't quite get there as we'd agreed a time to meet back at the van and she wouldn't have had time, but wasn't far off. There were some pretty, and some not so pretty, villages along the way, and LOTS of sunflower fields. And it was hot. The plus side of being on a bike tho' is going faster and generating a breeze! However, being out for another two hours has left her feeling a little saddle-sore :o( However, her journey has given us a cycle plan for the next day or two.

Another lovely Chris-in-the-Bongo cooked meal with some excellent local Saumur wine (thanks to the open supermarket we found in the morning) and all is, again, well with the world. Off to the bar to make sure the local brew is okay too.

Sunday 12st August - Very hot!

So we woke up to another beautiful day - not a hint of mist this time, and hot from the word go. Just as well there were not rycles planned for today! We set off for McDonalds and, as you can probably tell, connected to their wifi and updated our blog, amongst other things. Despite being there near lunchtime, we just had coffees and Andy managed to avoid the temptation of Le Big Mac.

On the downside, it seems that we don't get much more than two days of not travelling, and therefore not charging the battery, for the fridge to keep working. It won't have been helped by the hot weather no doubt, but it gave up during the night. Due to our variety of cables for electric hook-ups with both 2- and 3-pin connectors, Andy had come up with the idea of buying (yes, here we go again!) a small battery charger that we could connect to the electic hook-up in a campsite to charge the leisure battery for the fridge with. So we then went in search of a big enough supermarket that would stock it, eventually found one, and found a suitable battery charger. We then set off for our next campsite, but took a scenic route (deliberately!) to get more battery charging time.

On our way, we passed a wedding cavalcade. All the guests travel behind the wedding car with a flower attached to the aerial and hazard lights flashing - a really nice touch.

We got to the campsite, only to find that someone was already in the pitch earmarked for us. Chris trooped back to reception and was told to just pick another one and let them know which one (they're not packed here at the moment....) So we got a better pitch right next to a hook up with a view to the river - lovely. The battery charger works like a charm, the fridge is fridging, and having no direct neighbours we have a whole load of hook-ups to ourselves, so have one doing the battery charging and one leading to the van for the plug - perfect!

We then went on our first sojourn on the bicycles together in the VERY hot weather. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a cycle path up to the Loire itself from here (one is planned - great...), and we quickly decided the main road wouldn't be a pleasant ride. So we toured around small roads in the area, then came back to the town. The town is absolutely lovely - the chateau looks wonderful (and will be explored soon), and it seems to have the only hill in the area (which is good and bad!). After we'd almost finished the ride, we wanted to go back past a restaurant we had noticed earlier advertising moules frites (a pattern emerging, perhaps), which was, of course, up a very steep hill. So the decision was made to finally eat out for dinner. However, by the time we got back, showered, had a beer, it was pretty late. Not to worry, you would think, the continental Europeans eat late. Not so in Montreuil-Bellay it would seem. We walked back up to the restaurant to find it was full and no more food orders were being taken - queue one crestfallen Andy. So back to the van and a veggie-mexican concoction by Chris - Andy then perked up again, especially with another beer or two to wash it down. So the first bike trip was a success.

One other thing, apart from the fridge, which decided to throw a strop today was our laptop. Something dodgy seems to have happened in McDonalds this morning (not for the first time) and it wouldn't boot. It would get part way then shut down. Having finally found a way to boot in safe mode, even that wouldn't work. Dire signs. We won't bore the non-techies out there with the details, but Chris eventually found a way to turn off the auto-shut down, booted for the nth time, expecting a blue screen but at least a sign of the problem, when it decided to boot. We are now scared of shutting down..... So a note for future - if our blogs stop without any warning, it is probably due to a dead laptop!


Tomorrow, more touring of the area, a maybe our first trip around a chateau, if it's open on Sundays. Oh, and perhaps partaking in the wine tasting that is laid on here on a Sunday evening.....