Last Days on the Loire

Fri :  13^th June, 2014.  Our plan to make a nostalgic visit to Chambord Castle this morning was thwarted by a ‘Game Fair’ being held in the grounds.  It was a short drive to the castle but before we’d arrived, we became stuck in a traffic jam…we could just see a bit of the castle through a gap in the trees as we waited our turn at the roundabout, we could also see a number of marquees in front of the castle, a long line of traffic on our right and a longer line on our left, neither of which was moving past a crawl, so we reluctantly made the decision to give it a miss, and on reaching the roundabout, pushed our way through the traffic and exited left.  A pity, as we’d have liked to make a comparison between now and ‘then’…Chambord was the only castle we visited in 1969, mainly because by flashing our Youth Hostel cards in lieu of student cards, we were permitted to enter free of charge and as we were then on a very tight budget, free was good!  At that time, there were very few visitors, a little different from today which looked to be a nightmare in the making and best avoided!

Our next port of call was Beaugency, only 18kms or so along the road and across the river.  Boris was happy to stay in the shade of the trees down by the river while we went exploring in the town.  Mike found a lady barber and so bought a badly needed haircut, I found a bicycle shop and bought a new f.a. seat for my bike, we both had coffee in the sunshine while watching the passers-by pass by and wandered around happily enjoying this lovely old town.

The lunch stop today was 8kms along the road at Meung-Sur-Loire where we parked in the shade of a big old tree and afterwards walked to the town square, into the lovely old church and back to Boris.

On to Chateauneuf-sur-Loire where we rode the bikes through the town for a look-see, after which we found a bar near the bridge

and enjoyed a nice, cold beer.  The French couple at the next table seemed to us to be an ill matched pair…she was grey haired, wearing a t-shirt and cut-offs, a typical grandmother type…he was also grey-haired but with a pony tail, many tattoos, some of which could be seen through the rips in his jeans, and with stud and ring piercings just about everywhere imaginable.  They were both very nice, friendly people which goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover!

The last stop for today was at Sully-sur-Loire but there was no room for us at the ‘aire’ so we drove back 1.5kms to the campsite we’d noticed on the way in and booked in there.  In the morning, we will ride the bikes into the town to see the castle and have a look around.

Sat: 14^th June, 2014.  It was quite busy in Sully this morning but by 12.30pm, all was quiet, most of the shops had shut, the locals had done whatever shopping they needed to do and had gone home, leaving mostly tourists wandering around and there weren’t many of us about.  The castle is impressive

 

though we didn’t go inside, we really are all chateaud out after all the visits we’ve made this week but we enjoyed the town, so much we went back this arvo for a return visit as well as a ride along the river. 

It’s been a lovely, relaxing day.

Sun : 15^th June, 2014.  The first visit today after leaving Sully was to Briare, a pretty little town situated on the confluence of the Loire, the Canal Lateral a la Loire and the Briare Canal, in former times a major inland waterway crossroads.  We rode through the town, along the canal and across the canal bridge, nearly being blown into the water by the very strong wind, had a snack lunch near the marina and set off for Sancerre. 

The road doesn’t closely follow the Loire, so no river views as we went along, but it was a lovely drive and on arrival at the campsite at nearby St Satur, we spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing in the shade.

Mon : 16^th June, 2014.  We eagerly began the ride to Sancerre this morning but abandoned the idea shortly after leaving camp, realising how far up a steep hill we would have to pedal and decided to return to camp and allow Boris to do the hard work for us.  This he did with little trouble and we found a nice shady parking place for him to rest while we went exploring.  Sancerre’s a lovely old town, very quiet today…at least after 12 noon when most businesses close until 2 or 3pm but we enjoyed our stroll around and the magnificent views from the Fiefs’ Tower which dates from the end of the 14^th century and is the last surviving remnant of the feudal Chateau de Sancerre.  It was worth climbing the 195 steps as the tower affords wonderful views of the whole region from 40 metres above the square below.

 We stopped in St Satur on the way back to camp and walked across the impressive viaduct there.  It seems to be used only by local traffic but as the Tourist Office is open on Thursdays and Saturdays only, we could find no information about the structure, we could only take photos!

Today is our last day in the Loire Valley as tomorrow we’ll start heading north east to see what we can find in other regions.