Savonnieres

Directly on the side of the river Cher we park our van. This is not a popular aire but it is very beautiful. €10 but you have to pay to use the services which are an extra €2. It is on grass but that is fine at this time of year, the only downside was that the service point was at the entrance of the campsite next door which was about 5 mins walk away. (service point = daily toilet empty). One of the big name chateau, Chateau Villandry was 3k walk away. Villandry has massive formal gardens of box hedges, everything in incredible precision. It’s fascinating to walk around and a good first chateau to see. On the way back we popped into the petrifying caves for a tour. Typical tour where as the foreigners you are given a card to follow and then ignored for the rest of the guided tour. There must be a more welcoming way to do it. I always like a cave. The next day we cycled to Tours. If only the UK would have such nice cycle paths. Even in Tours city the cycle paths were good. A lot of Tours was destroyed in the war, but some of the old town remains and this has nice timber framed buildings and importantly a nice square in which to sit and drink beer, very close to the university so the beer is cheap! The cathedral was very narrow which made it seem really tall, the stained glass was extensive and made the space seem dark. Our final day here we decided to cycle around 3 chateaus, Langeais, Chateau d’Islette and Azay-le-Rideau At just over €10 each entrance, this could have been an expensive day, our budget simply doesn’t run to that so 2 out of 3 were viewed from outside the walls. Langeais is in the middle of the town and is very imposing towering above all the houses that encircle it. Chateau d’Islette was in the middle of nowhere and wasn’t very commercial. The third, Azay-le-Rideau, opened its gardens for free in the last hour of the day, very nice gardens they were as well. It amazes me how many of these are built in the middle of fast flowing rivers, how do they damp proof these castles? There are 300 chateaus open to the public in the Loire Valley! I doubt we will do them all. When you are away for a while you will always have something to sort out. On the bike ride going down hill my bike brakes fell off! I couldn’t find the split pin that holds them in. I’d just had them replaced by a professional prior to coming away, but as the saying goes, if you want a job doing right, do it yourself.