France - The Loire

29 June – 1 July

The Old Castle

First stop on the Loire was the delightful town of Chinon.  We stayed at Camping de l’Ile Auger just ten minutes’ walk from town and, if you picked the right pitch, with a view of the fortress.

The weather had become less extreme, just settled into fairly frequent showery rain from the grey sky, so we didn’t see it anything at its best, but despite that, we enjoyed the visit to the castle, which is a combination of restored fortress and exhibition hall.  The ticket price included a brief guide book, which also doubled as a trigger for the scanners dotted around the place to give you more detailed commentaries.  All sorts of other media provided even more information.  Highly recommended to anyone with even the slightest interest in history.

Having picked up a map from Tourist Information, we followed the suggested walk around the old town, which led us through quaint streets of medieval buildings, stone and half-timbered.

From Chinon it was just 40 miles to Villandry, where we parked at the aire de camping car and walked to the chateau. This was a complete contrast to the Chinon fortress and is the last of the great Renaissance Chateaux built on the banks of the Loire.  Each room has been carefully decorated and furnished by its current owner.  From most rooms in the chateau you get views of the six individual gardens; decorative kitchen garden, ornamental garden, water garden, herb garden, sun garden and the maze.

It was then time to head north for an overnight stop on our way to Normandy.