Day 7 -
Well we very reluctantly left
Kathy & Dave’s but we knew if we didn’t go today we’d still be there in two
weeks! The plan was to travel up to
Amboise to a site called Camping I’lle d’Or – another municipal site. Now and I repeat NOW, if anyone of you are
planning on going to this site using your SatNav then please note that as you
cross the bridge and turn right DO NOT take the next right as the SatNav tells
you! We did and had to back out with
the help of a very friendly French man and his son. BTW – there’s also a sign that says not
suitable for campers..... oops!
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| Happy Birthday Del!!!!!!!! |
By the main entrance (you need a security number to get in and out of the site) there is a very nice bar/restaurant – we ate there several times and the food was very good and very reasonable.
After visiting the Chateau we sat with a beer and watched the world go by. There was a group of young lads playing/busking some French jazz - they were really good and everyone was enjoying listening to them, until the local gendarmarie came along and moved them :-(
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| Chateau Amboise |
Day 10 –
Today we moved across to the east
a little more. First stop Chateau
Chambord www.chambord.org phew! – this
place is just A..mazing! Once the home
of Henry II and also several other aristocrats – the architecture was just
beautiful, there are 365 chimneys – Del was happy because it was asymmetrical –
there were four spiral staircases that led you to each floor and then out on to
the ramparts. It was definitely more
of an ‘up-market’ Chateau as you had to pay for parking and it seemed to have its
own mounted police force. If you had
trouble walking there were golf buggies for hire.
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| Chateau Chambord |
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| One of the 4 spiral staircases |
Once my legs were two inches shorter (through all the walking) we jumped back into Deedee and made the short journey up to Cheverny to a lovely campsite Camping Les Saules www.camping-cheverny.com . Now this has to be glamping – covered swimming pool, restaurant, bar – really really nice and to top it all the people are so very friendly. Shame it’s raining....
Day 11 –
And so it rained... we did get a brief sunny
spell for the morning and decided to do some washing 4 euros a load and 3 euros
to dry. We stayed put all day, it just
rained and rained and because we were in a forest even when it stopped it still
rained off the trees and it was so cold – June was not a happy bunny... Lots of very miserable campers and parents
desperately trying to dry off wet bedding.
Thank goodness we had a box set of Only Fools and Horses!
Now one could say that watching the silvery rain fall through the beautiful silver birch trees and listening to the tinkling of rain on Deedee's roof was poetic, but to be honest it was bloomin well pouring and damn cold!!!!!!!
Day 12 –
Decided to get out of here and head
back west towards Chenonceau – I’d been waiting to see this chateau more than
all the Maltesers in the World!
Fabulous campsite, Le Moulin Fort at Chisseaux www.lemoulinfort.com, ran
by a British couple, swimming pool, bar, restaurant. We found a lovely spot where we could see
the river and just sat and enjoyed the sunshine for the rest of the day. In the evening the camp owners were holding a
barbeque with live French jazz music, masses to eat for 11 euros each. Fabulous evening, sitting in the late evening
sunshine listening to the jazz watching the hot air balloons sailing past so
low we could wave at the passengers!
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| Breakfast al fresco |
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Chateau Chenonceau
Day 13 –
Up and out early(ish) today –
which later proved to be fortunate – we decided to go to Chateau Chenonceau,
the chateau built across the river le Cher. But first, we had a continental
breakfast in the sunshine – un pain, comfiture and French coffee.
Anyway, I digress, for those of you who have legs that work it’s just 1.5 miles from the campsite, but mine don’t, so we drove. There was a small queue to get a ticket and then you walk through the avenue of trees towards the chateau, where there was another small queue to get inside. Breathtaking isn’t the word, my camera was working overtime – stunningly beautiful and so very very clever to think that they had the knowledge in the 16th century to build foundations deep enough to take such a structure. We had a lovely lunch in the restaurant – more queuing. There is so much to see but no way could we get it all in just one day. 
When we got back to the car park
it was wall to wall campervans, GB, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Luxembourg
and surprisingly so a large contingent from Ireland who had made the long sea
journey (about 17.5 hours). Everyone at
the campsites has been very nice, but to be honest the nicest have been the
British and the Irish who are always smiley and will pass the time of day.
- Oh yes, why were we fortunate to have arrived at the chateau early? As I said we had to queue to get into the chateau itself, they stagger the amount of people going in at one time, now we queued for around 5 minutes, the queue when we left was at least 30-40 minutes long, so if you’re planning on visiting go early!
Day 14 -
And so we were having a very nice time at this site, watching the comngs and goings of the river and the campsite, very relaxed and it was sunny for most of the day. UNTIL - two cars turned up in our bit of the site and parked up next to us, we should have read the signs when car number 1's registration read **8USK and car number 2 read **8USK (I won't put the full reg in). Within an hour saxophones, drums and a ukelele were belting out the first two lines of "when the saints go marching in...." over and over and over again. Several filthy looks to the adults with the kids and a worthless complaint to the management "oh they came here last year and they were really good" - yeah well they're not parked outside your bloody camper are they????? Plans were put into action to move on - hey, that's what life in a camper is all about isn't it? Stay awhile and move on.... We needed to buy a few provisions so stopped off at Super U - how's this for a bit of parking? 
Off to Saumur we headed, via Chateau Villandry which had been recommended for its spectacular gardens. Well definitely yet another OMG moment! We didn't go into the Chateau (I couldn't walk round both) but the gardens were just beeeuuutiful!
 Had a look in the Caravan Club recommended sites and found this one that seemed to suit - we were looking for a restaurant on site. http://www.saumur-camping.com/ "Flower campsite ile d'offard" is really nice. The site is made up of camping pitches, static homes and also these static homes that are raised off the ground but covered in tarpulin. The san facs are very very good - unisex - but you get used to that. High up on the hill the beautiful Chateau looks over the town and at night looks stunning all lit up. There's a very good bar restaurant here and we had some lovely food and cocktails for a reasonable price - I had the pork kebabs (twice) - Pascual the manager tells me that it is marinated in Calvados for 24 hours, very nice too. However, the roasted vegetables were really really good, we tried to get the recipe and it seems that they are mixed carrots, peppers, mushrooms in the main with fennel and pesto with garlic.  Day 15 - We lazed around today, Del did his jobs, I did the washing (5 euros here), went to the bar for lunch, talked, Del slept - just one of those days. Reluctantly we had to make plans to move on tomorrow, but where? We needed to be a lot closer to Calais to get our train on Friday - which way do we do it? Okay time to vote: Best campsite - Del & June agreed. - Flowers @ Saumur (for the restaurant, facilities etc.) whereas for peace and quiet, solitude and excellent hosting - Kathy & Dave's at La Fosse de Tigne. Best chateau - Del & June agreed - Chambord because of all the chimneys and spiral staircases and Chenonceau for sheer beauty, and Villandry for the spectacular gardens. Best san facs - Both agreed - Flowers @ Saumur and Kathy & Dave's. Best food - Both agreed - Restaurant/bar @ Amboise but special mention for the roasted vegetables at Flowers @ Saumur. Best entertainment - Both agreed - Kathy & Dave's (no competition there!) Day 16 - Long long journey - goodness me that road from Le Mans to Rouen drags on and on. We changed our mind several times about where we were heading for but ended up in Abbeville at http://www.chateaudestilleuls.com/. To be honest we've not really explored it too much, it's very much a 'towny' campsite, we're only here one night and we'll be off in the morning - not quite sure how they got there 4.5 stars though? Day 17 - We both slept well surprisingly but got woken up about 6.30 by the local farmer decided to shoot whatever farmers shoot. We got up packed up the last few things and drove via Intermarche 'Super' for the last few things. On arrival at the tunnel, there had been a train breakdown and the wait was about 1.5 hours - it was all efficiently handled, lots of information given and free water once on the train. Even the M25 behaved itself, although it's a real shock to the system getting back to English roads! So, here we are, back home in body anyway, but our heads are still in France. It has been an amazing holiday, so difficult to put into words. France is a huge country and so very beautiful and the seeing it in Deedee is by far the best way to do so - I just don't think I could sit on a beach for 2 weeks anymore. Thank you all, I hope you've enjoyed reading our story.  |
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