Loire, Part 2

14th September, 1999

With the weather forecast to be mixed, we decided to start our Loire expedition and re-jigged our car for touring sans caravan.   This is a bit of a pain and involves removing the roof rack and all the junk we are carrying in the back seats and the boot and stowing it in the caravan.   After chats with our neighbours, who were also departing before our return, we set off for Angers.    More by luck than judgement, we arrived in front of the Cathedral of St. Maurice where, by pure good luck, we found an empty parking spot.   This was the only significant cathedral since Bayeux that had not been damaged in the war or by arsenals exploding and, although showing signs of its age, and bedecked by scaffolding, is a remarkable sight.   It has some of the oldest stained glass in the world.

The main entrance to the cathedral is shown on the left and a view of the cathedral, looking up the flights of steps from the modern fountain. Angers is important because it was the seat of the Plantagenets who, at their height, ruled from the Pyrenees to Scotland.

We next visited the castle in Angers, which is in good condition, although having had its towers decapitated to make it more effective in the age of gunpowder.

In a purpose built gallery, the castle houses its famous (but we had not heard of it before) tapestry of the Apocalypse, dating from 1375, one scene of which is shown above right.   In its scale, the work is somewhat overwhelming and we wondered if it was Anjou having to keep up with the Joneses of Normandy who, at that time, would have had the biggest tapestry in the world.   Unlike that of Bayeux, this tapestry illustrates scenes from the Book of Revelations.

We left Angers and headed along the Loire to Saumur, arriving just before the Tourist Office closed.  We had read that one needs to book hotels in Saumur, but as our wanderings are entirely unscheduled this was not practical.    It is, however, so and we were amazed to find, on a dull week day in September, that there was not a room to be had.

Fearing the worst, we set off in the direction of Doué in search of an hotel.   The Campanile on the outskirts was displaying 'Complet' and a navigational error put us on the road to Montreuil-Bellay, where again luck favoured the bold.  We found the Hostellerie de Presle at the roundabout near Distre, which was picturesque, quiet, run by a charming lady and her husband and has an excellent restaurant.  She should have been full, but one booking had not shown up.    In between serving diners she made a phone call and gave us the room.  A view of the restaurant is shown below left.

15th September, 1999 The castle at Saumur, is shown above centre, with a view from it above right.    The castle, like so much of what we had seen, is bedecked with scaffolding, but is nevertheless very interesting and, although in no way similar, had some of the feel of Neuschwanstein in that it was the home of wealthy royalty.   The castle has interesting collections of earthenware, porcelain and, in a separate area, equestrian paraphernalia.

After Saumur, we went further east along the north bank of  the Loire, crossing at Port Boulet, to have a look at the Forêt de Chinon where we stopped briefly at a very old, long disused church at Rigny where archaeological excavation was in progress, revealing even older walls beneath what was in part the graveyard.     We were a little shocked to see large numbers of what were obviously human bones including skulls poking out from the edges of the excavation.    Clearly new burials had taken place over old ones over centuries.     Apart from a couple of buildings nearby there was no sign of the thriving community that must have once supported this church. 

We drove on to Chinon with its ruined castle and stopped briefly at the car park next to the castle along side which is a picturesque vineyard for which the area is so well known.      In  the castle Joan of Arc is said to have persuaded the king of France to let her lead the army that eventually thrashed us and ended English rule over most of France.    We decided that since so little of  the castle was left we could manage without the tour and drove down to park on the river bank below.

We thought we would see if the La Poste had an internet terminal but on our way to it we found, to our surprise, a shop selling cellphones and internet access so we dived in and read our mail.  After taking a final look across the Loire at the castle we left Chinon.

We were of two minds whether to continue our digression into the Loire but decided to head back to camp which proved to be a big mistake as our French neighbours had decided contrary to camp etiquette to throw a party till half three in the morning.     And then turn the tele on for the next half hour!

16th September, 1999

After a much disturbed night and a bit of a lay in we decided that since we had seen no one using the fine cycle lanes on the road outside our camp we would try them.    We went for a pleasant ride along the banks of the Erdre but could not say that of the roads.   While the world is busy greening itself it does seem to ignore the realities.    Bicycles and cars are poor road companions and the worse for complicated road layouts and high traffic densities.   The addition of trams into the equation means you have to be young and brave to want to cycle.     This is a university campus and the students do seem to make up most of the cycling community here as in many other places.

Last updated:  18/03/01