8 September 2022 – On the banks of the Loire

Miles driven today = 139

Total Miles to date = 506

Our decision last night to give the Chartres illuminations a miss turned out to be a wise one.  By the time we went to bed it was bucketing down again and I was a bit concerned that having it battering against the roof some 3 feet above our heads would keep us awake.  But in fact it became surprisingly soporific and we were fast asleep by the time it ceased at some point during the night.

First stop today before leaving Chartres was Intermarche to pick up a few supplies.  I’m deeply impressed with the way the French prioritise their shopping experience.  This was the first thing that greeted us as we walked through the door and probably represents about half of their total wine offerings.

Shopping stowed, we set up Google Maps to head us in the direction of Tours.  After a quick double back when our data signal had a bit of a wobble, and a few rat runs which were single track at best, we were zooming south again on the N10.  At midday we were still a fair way short of Tours so we decided to find a pull in to scoff our baguette with some recently acquired camembert. But try as we might there was simply nowhere to stop other than the occasional retail park which we didn’t really fancy. 

Finally at Chateau Renault, and shortly after we veered onto the D910, 3 massive litter strewn lay-bys appeared.  That’ll do!  So we screeched to a halt and tucked in.  Suffice to say every mile thereafter presented itself with tidy little picnic areas.  The Law of Sod strikes again it seems.

I had Tours pencilled in as a possible stopover point but there aren’t too many places near the city centre to park up a 7.4 metre motorhome and the main attractions are (you guessed it) the Cathedral and some squares surrounded by old timber framed buildings.  Well, after Rouen and Chartres, even I’m starting to tire of these for a while, so we decided to head west along the Loire valley for a change of scenery.

We reset our destination for the town of Saumur.  It has a pretty cool looking castle and is partially located on an island in the middle of the river.  It also has another ACSI campsite on the island but when we pulled up there it was already full.  The aire next door had a handful of places spare but you need a specific card to access this, which we don’t have, so we moved on in the hope that we can maybe find somewhere to park up for a look around the town in the morning before we continue our journey. 

I’m seriously amazed at how many motorhomes are out there on French roads at the moment.  I was led to believe that once September rolled around the campsites would be virtually empty.  But that’s 3 nights out of 4 now that we have not been able to stay at our first choice campsite.  I guess motorhomers are generally, like us, of a certain vintage, and are all coming out to play now that those pesky kids are all back at school.

We’ve actually ended up at a charming aire a few kilometres back up river on the south bank of the Loire with loads of mature trees.   There’s no hook up but all other services are available and it’s only €6 a night, although nobody has actually been round to collect this yet.

We’ve had another couple of impressive downpours today.  One of which was so heavy that even with wipers going full bore I had to pull over for a few minutes to wait for it to ease off.  Then we had another shortly after we had parked up here while we were enjoying a well earned brew.

But the skies then cleared and we took ourselves for a stroll along the cycle path which leads back towards Saumur and along the river bank.  The river here is actually a shallow stream between the bank and the nearest island.

Even with the torrential downpours we have had in recent days there were places the stream almost completely disappeared into the sandbanks.

After a while the cycle path turned away from the river bank so we went a little off piste and followed a footpath which continued to follow the bank until we could see the main span of the river, complete with swans, ducks and herons of both grey and white varieties.

The rain has also brought about a spurt in fungi growth.  Lisa is a prodigious forager and to a lesser extent I’ve also caught the bug over the last couple of years.  However, we’ve only realised today that the most vital thing that we appear to have left at home is Lisa’s Roger Phillips “Mushroom” bible, so we might struggle to identify a few varieties which may otherwise have been destined for our dinner plates.

I hope that all makes sense.  I’ve become reacquainted with an old friend this evening.  I used to buy a lot of Jenlain way back in the early 90’s when “France for a pound” booze cruises to Calais (remember them?) were a thing.  I’d forgotten all about it until I spotted some in Intermarche earlier.  It’s 6.8% and comes in 75cl bottles for €3.09.  How could I possibly resist?!

9 September 2022 - Saumur