I’ve been nibbled. Badly.
I awoke just before dawn with a really itchy foot and found at least three little bumps. I reached for my antihistamine cream which I had cleverly stored in the cubby hole in the back door, exactly for this purpose and promptly dropped it. Of course, it found the only gap between the back door and the mattress and fell with a clunk into the garage below.
With the sky lightening, I watched the wispy cloud surreptitiously turn into a larger darker cloud before the rising sun dispersed it back again, in a vain attempt to distract from my itchy foot. We got up and made a brew, while I counted my bites (quite a few as this foot had been quite exposed outside the duvet) – the Pup threw up for some unknown reason and then I went off to have a really nice hot shower, which was marred by the French insistence of installing those push buttons that let the water run for about 15 seconds. I’m all for saving water, but come on, a minute at least so I can have time to shampoo my hair and not constantly and blindly stabbing for the knob!
So we headed off and slipped into the Loire Department. It has been very dry here during the summer, the ground rock hard. All our grass camping pitches on this trip have been dry and dusty, with just a hint of green pushing through from recent rains. It was 26 degrees already today.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO
We passed through towns and villages with tall and dominant churches, their spires piercing the sky. France was once very much Catholic country, hence the cathedral size places of worship, but is now more secular. The churches were stunning and seemed to sit in a prominent position in the centre of town – dominating the end of a street, making you feel guilty for ignoring it. You could see why everybody in town went to church!
We stopped at the town of Oudon on the banks of the River Loire, after finding a large campervan car park – more like an aire – which was free, grassy and under trees. We walked up the road and had a wander – up to the impressive chateau (sadly closed today) by the little tributary river, the Vallee du Havre. We felt a little peckish so walked back down to a little cafe sitting on the roundabout on the sunny side of the street and found a table outside – we ordered coffees and asked if there was a menu. The woman who served us, indicated that you had to eat inside for a meal – we pointed to the Pup (et le chien?). She pulled a face of maybe, but probably not, so we just ordered coffees, trying to figure the logic which there was none. The woman gave us a Gallic shrug and went off to get our drinks.
https://www.bienvenue-pays-ancenis.com/en/discover/essential/oudon
Still hungry, we wandered back up to the Vallee du Havre where there was another little restaurant and asked for a table (in French). The waitress launched into a frenzy of French and spotting my bewildered face, asked if English was better. (Oui, we replied). So we sat on a shady wooden terrace looking over the little waterway and looked at the set menu – the main course was very carnivore heavy, but bless her, the waitress offered me the option of two veggie entrees – one as a starter and one as a main. She also imparted with a little bit of advice – instead of ordering cafe au lait and want it large, ask for a Grande crème – she then presented us with a big milky coffee. Et voila!
Afterwards, we decided to walk off our lunch by walking down to the Loire river – we crossed over the road, dropping down to the bank of the Vallee du Havre, wandered across to the railway station, ducked under a bridge and came across the shores of River Loire, wide and edged with woodland. There was a little sandy bank and we let the Pup off the leash – she dived straight into river and had a swim, she was so happy. We spent about 20 minutes, letting our hound burn off some pent up energy, spotting shoals of little fish darting around.
We retraced our steps back to the Van, stopping briefly at a patisserie to purchase a baguette and a can of apple juice (3 euros!). Once back at the Van, the Pup decided to celebrate with some high speed zoomies, circling the Van – she certainly was full of beans. We dried her off as best we could and headed to Montsoreau where we would spend the night.
It took a couple of hours as we took the country roads rather the motorway – passing through pretty towns and villages, all devoid of life. Where do French people go, there’s not a soul about. Chatgpt gave us a few answers to muse over as we crossed this little corner of France – sometimes we got a ridge, allowing long distance panoramic views and then the vineyards started making an appearance! Wine country!
We arrived in Montsoreau nestling on the banks of the River Loire and eventually found the L’Isle Verte campsite, after a brief tour of town courtesy of the satnav. We had taken a chance as we hadn’t booked this one in advance this morning and just rocked up. Again, my hesitant French gave the game away and the guy dropped into English, (though I like to persist in French). Yes, there was room and we were soon booked in (though they wanted to know a lot about us including Pup’s microchip number). We found pitch No 8 looking across the River Loire, looking low after the long hot summer. We set up shop, had a chill, made tea and took Pup on a stroll around the site where she was admired by a Dutch couple and played with a little poodle. There were about five other British campers and a few Dutch. We were going to walk into town, but decided that we would book another night here and leisurely check out the town tomorrow. Slightly paranoid about gnats and other bitey bugs, we headed indoors and chilled. It was still quite warm (it hit 28 degrees this afternnon according to the Van) and one weather app was predicting a storm. Rain was forecast over night which would lower temperatures tomorrow.
https://www.ot-saumur.fr/en/arts-and-history/towns-and-villages/montsoreau
Montsoreau is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in this area, has Troglodyte dwellings in the cliffs (we saw some during our campsite walk) and of course the eponymous Chateau. There was a lot to discover tomorrow!
