Monday, May 31, 2010
Woke up this morning (most mornings I do) with rain still tapping on the tent, oh sh**! Look out and only see leaden skies. Not much choice but to lie in, concoct some kind of breakfast, stale bread buttered both sides fried in a pan as a poor substitute for toast washed down with coffee. Sprint down to ablution block to do the necessary and then read all the pamphlets and look at maps. This proved to be a blessing in disguise as at least now we were kind of educated in where we were going. By 9 it eased and by 10 we decided to pack and by 11 we were on our way into town to replenish our depleted stocks. While Ellie was in the shop I chatted to a group of German tourers who were doing the Loire Valley the easy way, in ten days, staying at bed and breakfasts and having their stuff carted. Anyway, I discovered that it is way easier for me to talk German than it is to talk French.
At last we were on our way on the mostly very well signposted trail. It is a lot more rural than I had expected, the trail mostly leads through forests and farmlands and we have not seen much of the promised castles and chateaux but we did see this church:
Very pretty inside as well. Due to our late start it soon was time for lunch which we had at this idyllic place and the bread was better.
The route takes you along and then away from the Loire which gives interesting perspectives
By this stage the sun was shining and hopefully the cold front behind us, we pot-lucked a camping, sign on the office says it opened two days ago but no-one in sight so we made ourselves at home. At least the showers etc. are working and we could have sundowners in comfort
