The Loire 2017

Discussion in 'France' started by jonspadge, Aug 18, 2017.

  1. Thought I'd just put a few pics up from the recent trip to France. Not been abroad in the bus for a couple of years so decided to head over on the Eurotunnel to France and head down to the Loire. We used the old Tesco club card points to get the tunnel trip for free and decided to stop about 100 miles down from Calais to break up the journey. We stayed in Verneuil-sur-Avre in a Chamber D'hote. A nice place...

    [​IMG]Loire - 1 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 3 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 2 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    Had a nice meal in the town and a bit of a mooch about before we headed on the next day for a couple of hundred miles drive South to Saumur. On the way down during a lunch stop we met a nice Swiss guy who wanted to come and take pics of the bus. He was driving this nice 1972 Porsche. 2.2 ltr. On his way back from the West coast heading home to Geneva, he had his wife and two kids in that thing.Bit too cramped for me!

    [​IMG]Loire - 4 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    Not long after the lunch stop we got to our campsite. We were staying on the I'le de Offard which is in the middle of the river and about 3km long. You can walk across the bridge into the town centre in the evening so if you want to hit the Bistro's and bars its only about a 10 minute walk. Pitched up and settled in...

    [​IMG]Loire - 5 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    Saumur is a pretty cool town with a great (amazing) tank museum and castle overlooking the river, all of which were visible from the campsite and swimming pool. We used the bar and restaurant and walked over a few times while we were there as well as visiting a really cool Chateau nearby called Breze. The Chateau had an underground Troglodyte labyrinth which we loved looking around.

    [​IMG]Loire - 6 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 8 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 7 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 10 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 9 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr
     
    lost-en-france and Flakey like this.
  2. Saumur is also famous for its Cavalry school and sparkling wine. So one day we went off to the school and watched an amazing dressage show and looked around. I was not able to take pictures of the actual show but did catch one of the horses as it was being taken back to its stable. Immaculately turned out.

    [​IMG]Loire - 16 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 15 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    Following a spot of lunch we went down to the Ackermans cave to look around and taste some of the wines.

    [​IMG]Loire - 18 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 17 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    We also visited a town about 10km down the river called Montsoreau which has a really cool food and antiques market once a month. We were lucky it was on while we were there so we wandered around the market, had a coffee then ate lunch in a really cool open air restaurant overlooking the Chateau.

    [​IMG]Loire - 12 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 11 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 13 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 14 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    We spent a few more days lazing around the campsite and barbecuing. We got buzzed by hot air balloons, gyrocopters, hang gliders and light aircraft (all in one day) and drank lots of nice wine. I took a few shots of the Chateau at night then it was time to head back North.

    [​IMG]Loire - 20 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    [​IMG]Loire - 21 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    Soon enough it was time to head back laden with lots of nice wine and cheese! The trip was also broken up with an overnight stop south of Abbeville in a nice B&B run but a retired British lady who used to be a wine merchant. She cooked us a really nice evening meal and made a fuss of the boys - the placemats on the table were made from the ends of old wine cases. I asked her about them and she and her husband had drunk them all. One was a Chateau Laffite 1982 Bordeaux. I googled it - $3,400 a bottle - nice taste!
     
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  3. Last shot before we headed home...

    [​IMG]Loire - 22 by Jon McKellar, on Flickr

    Then onto the Eurotunnel and home. All in around 850 miles over nine days. The bus performed perfectly although I had to fiddle around with he slider a few times as it was a little temperamental. I'll have to look into that.

    The campsite was stayed at was

    http://en.flowercampings.com/campsite-loire-valley-central-france/camping-l-ile-d-offard

    It was a pretty good site with its location being the best thing about it. Restaurant was excellent and reasonably priced although the toilet blocks could have been better. You could order bread for pickup in the mornings and the bar was pretty good. All in I'd stay there again. Anyway - hope you enjoy the pics and the info is useful. Cheers, Jon
     
    wendygun and Flakey like this.
  4. Flakey

    Flakey Supporter

    Looks great trip but that Porsche is just about perfect :thumbsup:
     

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