Rivers and chateaux

Le Chateau de Montsoreau

Well it is near the end of the holiday and we are slowing making our way back to Calais. We are spending the last week in the Loire valley; the land of rivers and chateaux. The village of Montsoreau is about 12 km east of Saumur and we are camped right on the edge of the great Loire river itself. The river is literally 10m from where I am writing this. There are actually two rivers here. Just on the other side of the village the Vienne joins the Loire. The village is very pretty and built from the very white, soft stone of the area which which I think they call tofa. The whole south bank of the river has troglodyte houses dug out of the cliff side. I have a lazy routine of walking to the cafe in the village after breakfast, buying a french paper and sit reading it with a grand creme. Not a bad life!

The Chateau de Montsoreau was an excellent visit. The displays explaining the castle and the way of life in the middle ages and the renaissance on the Loire are really well done with lots of son et lumiere. The Chateau is the setting of an Alexander Dumas novel, "Chateau de la Dame de Montsoreau". I found it in a book shop in Saumur and it is in two volumes and I don't think it is my type of book.

A street in Montsoreau

Yesterday, we took the local bus to Saumur and it is a beautiful little town. Of course it has its own chateau which we didn't bother with. We wandered around and drank coffee and then wandered some more. As the local bus didn't run very often we had to do some more wandering and drink more coffee and eat icecreams. All very tiring!

The Chateau in Saumur

We are moving on Saturday morning and we are going to try and stay in a vineyard. There is a camping scheme called "French Passion" and for a small annual fee you can stay free of charge on farms and vineyards listed in the book. There are no electricity points or facilities, but you can only stay one night before moving on. We have picked out a wine place on the other side of the river not very far from here and we are going to give it a try on Saturday night. Although there is no charge, you are expeceted to buy some of their produce. I wanted to chose a farm where we could buy some eggs and butter, but Chris insisted on the vineyard. Oh well! After that, we have another camp site further west along the river before heading for Calais.