 |
| Leaving St. Leonard - half of the viaduct - it follows the meander of the river |
A bit more travelling north-wards this morning and it's good to be on a non-peage autoroute! The most difficult part about the journey was finding room on an aire to have our lunch. At the first 2 all the longer parking spaces were full (often with cars - grrr) and at the third we lined up behind another car and caravan on the sliproad coming away from the aire back onto the motorway! We worked out that it was busier just because there were no toll charges.
Something interesting en route - between Junctions 21 and 20, before Argenton-sur-Creuse - we clocked up our first 10,000 miles in the van. No not on this trip - since May 2015 when it was new.
After Chateauroux, we left the autoroute and came north on the D956 - what a delightful road, with very attractive villages and towns along the way. This chateau is at Valencay.
We reached Cheverny, just south of the River Loire, during the afternoon and settled on a campsite that we stayed at many years ago. It's set in a forest of very tall trees with mistletoe and has a pool with water warm enough to persuade John to get in!
Saturday 26th August
The days are starting off a little cooler now, but by about 10am, the sun is as hot as ever. Today it was 30deg. But despite the heat, we really wanted to go for a bike ride. This area is geared for cyclists and routes are mapped out and signed well, taking in villages and chateaux along the way. We have visited many of the chateaux before, including Cheverny, so didn't go in. But because we didn't go in, I didn't manage to take a photo, but it is stunning and well worth a visit.
Wanting to find somewhere cool and shady to eat our lunch, we went into the village of Cellettes and found a pretty park beside the river.
The route was lovely, with some beautiful houses, gardens with flowers and veg (one had tomatoes the size of melons!), fields of crops from sweetcorn and barley to Christmas trees. We came across quite a few different fauna too - hundreds of black chickens huddled under trees at one farm, horses, donkeys and sheep. Two beautiful young deer were beside one road, but ran for it when they saw me reach for my camera!
Today the usual routine of swim, shower, get dinner was changed to swim, shower, walk to the restaurant! And very good it was too - needed to put the photos on the blog as this may have to be our last meal out this trip.
Hi
ReplyDeleteGood to read that you are still finding interesting places to visit on the journey home.
You'll be glad to hear our weather has finally caught up with yours, hottest August Bank Holiday for fifty years. The good news is that it's going to be just as warm tomorrow ( we won't spoil the mood by mentioning Wednesday)
Sad to report that far from making the best of the weather today, we have spent it on the M25 and in a car dealership in West Malling! Hence the very smart black Audi A5 on our driveway...
A call from Craig last night, his car now with 200,000 plus on the clock and starting to leak coolant. He had seen an Audi online that he was interested in, how did we feel about a drive to West Malling on the Bank Holiday? The rest is history, as they say, next challenge is getting it off the driveway and to Saltash!
Enjoy your last day, we're looking forward to welcoming you back to Horsham( though you might not be quite so happy to be home!)