June 27: Saumur and Surrounds

We head to the gorgeous nearby chateau of Villandry. It is beautiful and the gardens are phenomenal. We all enjoy a few hours here wandering inside and out then visit the town boulangerie before taking lunch in our vans. The rest of the afternoon is taken with the drive south stopping only briefly for a few groceries along the way.

We stop at a free aire for the night at Oradour-sur-Glane, a town with a sad history that we take a look at tomorrow.

June 26: Cycling by the Loire

Washing day today. The camp ground has one for €3 a pop. Kay and Malcolm hire bikes and we head out for a ride along the Loire. It's a hot hot day and we are pleased to stop for lunch. First we buy bread from the best bread shop so far. A lovely woman makes lots of different breads, tarts and pastries, even gluten free maize bread for Kay. The village of St-Georges-sur-Loire is quaint and the village square is a great place for a picnic. The fountain has a large pot which fills with water, displaces it's point of balance then tips out, rumbling over the stones on the way.

On the ride home Millie and I play a game where we talk about all the beautiful things we see, hear, feel, smell and taste on the way home. It's gorgeous watching dragonflies darting, eating fresh plums fom the trees and seeing snails hiding in long grass.

On the way home we are surprised by a rapidly advancing electrical summer storm. It comes from nowhere and races us home. We arrive in the nic of time and manage to move the washing under cover before we find shelter ourselves. The rain stops long enough for us to launch the BBQ and eat before it packs in again for the night.

This is the second time I am writing this post and the poem Millie wrote about the trip home with impending storm has disappeared along with the first post. Might have to co me back and do it again later as it was a ripper.

June 25: St Georges to St Michael

A gentle walk through town for one and all then we head for the nearby city of Angers. Kay and Malcolm are so impressed with our onboard travel guides ... (funnily enough named James and Daniel just like our nephews/cousins) they decide they would like to shop for their own sat nav system. Also, we are still looking for a SIM card that will give us good internet coverage while we are on the road. At the moment we are able to get by on solar power and gas to give us everything we need in our van. The main reason we have to pay for camping ground facilities is to source wifi. We are otherwise pretty self contained.

We find a magic park for the vans right by the Maine river that runs through town. We take our picnic overlooking the city castle then discover a modern building which turns out to be the regional contemporary dance school. The building has a public lift up to the terrace which has a great outlook aver the river and castle.

It is thirty degrees but we walk into town and check out a few shops before coming to the tourist information centre. We load up on info about the region and head off along the river until we find a nice camping ground near Samur. We are unsuccessful in our mission to find a SIM card so we opt for a real camping ground where we can get wifi to skype NZ for Andrea's birthday.

It's a great spot and the sunset over the river is pretty neat.