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We decided when we landed here at the Chateau that today we'd leave the car alone and just take a walk around Esvres, so here we are strolling into the village in the mid-day heat. Guess it's true what they say about mad dogs and Englishmen then? It really is stifling here today, the slightest exertion has us breaking out in a sticky uncomfortable sweat. Actually, it's not the heat that's a problem so much as the intense humidity, our clothes are hanging off us like limp rags and my boxers feel like a warm wet dish cloth has been firmly lodged into parts of my anatomy normally reserved only for the eyes of my doctor. Not pleasant!  
                 

    

 Esvres

                              
     

The Indre River near Chateau de la Villaine

There's a bar in Esvres with a few tables and chairs strewn about outside, so we sit down and as if by magic a waitress appears to take our order........cold beer! The heat of the day is now becoming seriously unbearable and the cold beers are beyond welcome, they're essential.  We finish up and decide to head back to the Chateau for a siesta and I take the empty glasses back into the bar. As I walk through the door a lovely blast of cold air hits me, the place has air con!  We've been sitting outside a bar sweating our nuts off and inside it has air con!  You'd think they'd have a sign or something ?       

                           

 Unger

Unger is the Chateau dog, he's a wire haired Hungarian Viszla and is as friendly as his owners, he just  wants to be everyone's friend.  A visit to the Chateau de la Villaine is worth it just to hear him bark, it's the  daftest thing you'll ever hear - he's a real sweetheart! Wee jimmy wanted to bring him home with her

Day 5  -  Joan of Arc

Our last day here in the Loire, so I suppose we'd best go see  few bits of it, we start off in Loches  (pronounced "Losh") for no other reason than a very nice Dutch lady mentioned at breakfast that there is a market on there today - Wee Jimmy loves a market!   One positive thing I will say about the French is that they will not accept crap food. The standard of produce in their markets is astoundingly good. The fruit and veg here makes the UK offerings look decidedly sub-standard. 

We're walking past a cheese stall and the guy is trying to get us to sample his offerings. At home we get used to this in Tesco's & Asda when they're having a promo or some kind of advertising push. Usually we just ignore them because we all know they're only trying to offload some rubbish the buying dept,  bought in error months ago!  As the guy is so insistent, and he looks a nice kinda bloke, we decide to sample the cheese he's offering......... Oh Jeez! It's good - and it's not often you can say that about a bit of cheese.  Some ham from another stall and a nice bottle of Cab Sauv from another and  we 
have the makings of a nice Bohemian meal for tonight - on the balcony of our room of course!     

   Loches market - nice pair of melons there luv!     

Next port of call on our little explore of the Loire is the little town of Chinon on the banks of the Vienne River.   So far the nicest places we've seen in the Loire region aren't actually on the Loire itself but on tributaries of it, and Chinon is no exception.  Lunch here in an "Al fresco" restaurant in the town square  is good. A large Irish family sitting next to us order everything on the menu - then leave it mostly uneaten, strange!   A walk around the narrow streets here reveals a lovely little town, most of it medieval.  There is a large Chateau, built into the rock behind the town and whilst it looks spectacular from the opposite river bank, it's mostly a ruin, unlike most chateaux in this region. The difference with this one however is it's claim to fame...... it's association with Joan of Arc.  A potted history is lifted from the internet here:       

"Chinon is a picturesque and historical little town of 10,000, on the banks of the river Vienne, 45  kilometers south of Tours in the heart of Touraine, which is called the "Garden of France" and the "Cradle of the French Language". Chinon once was the residence of the King of England, Henry II Plantagenet, when that part of France was under English rule. It became the residence of Charles VII, the heir of the throne of France in the early 1400's, and was where the legendary Joan of Arc came to recognize him and raise an army to liberate the country from the English domination. Chinon is also the birthplace of François Rabelais, the renaissance man,  monk, doctor, philosopher, and writer, creator of Gargantua. Jeanne d'Arc visited the Dauphin CharlesVII in Chinon at the beginning of his reign on March 8, 1429. She recognized him hiding among his court members in spite of his disguise, which he put on to test her. She helped him reconquer his kingdom from the English invader. For almost a hundred years, Chinon profited from the fact that it had become the capital of the kingdom. The legendary Joan of Arc was later captured and burnt alive at the stake in the city of Rouen in 1431. She was barely 20 years old.  

Arriving in Chinon

 
  Chinon old town taken from the opposite bank of The River Vienne, the huge Chateau dominates the town

t's mid afternoon, doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself? We leave Chinon behind and head back towards the Chateau via a charming little village called Azay de Rideau which stands on the same river as Esvres, The Indre. Another Chateau exists here, but we are in Chateau country so I suppose it's to be expected!  This one looks rather grand, but they charge rather a lot for entry so we never bothered. We'll come back tonight and bunk over the wall!  The village itself is nice though, with some lovely old buildings, there's a wedding going on this afternoon so parking is a problem. We find a nice spot by the river and walk into the village from there

River Indre at Azay de Rideau

The Village of Azay de Rideau

Day 6 - Bye Bye Loire, Hello GPS!  

We're sad to be leaving the Chateau, we've had such a nice time here, but we have to say our goodbyes to Adrian and Joke (and Unger) and head south to the Dordogne region and La Roque Gageac where we're to spend 2 nights at the  Hôtel L'Auberge des Platanes.

It's now seriously hot again so we abandon plans for the pretty way and set the GPS to take us down  the Autoroute and past Limoges, we need some 70 mph hood down motoring to cool us off a bit.  Finding the Hotel in La Roque was easy, it's the first one we come to on entering the village.  And what a village it is, easy to see  why it's at the top of the list of most beautiful villages in France!  I'll shut up now and let the photos tell you how nice it is here.........................

The Dordogne River at beautiful La Roque Gageac

                
Our hotel at La Roque is ok, but for 2 things. Firstly, the bathroom stinks, something must have crawled in there a long long time ago, died and been rotting away ever since. It's pretty damned awful really, made worse by the intense heat. Going to the lav involves taking a deep breath going in, doing what we have to do then making a swift exit, no sitting reading motorbike mags in here. The bathroom door must be kept closed at all times!  Even the cleaning staff won't go in there apparently because we arrive home from our day out, to find the fresh towels piled up outside the door and there's no new bog roll. Being the kind of person that likes a bit of toilet tissue, Wee Jimmy goes down to reception to fetch a new one. None of the staff here speak English, so I think to myself, "This'll be good"! 

A few minutes later she's back with 2 new bog rolls in hand looking really pleased with herself, I was impressed.  I ask her what she'd asked for and she mutters something about  "papiere le bog". She then drops an empty roll on the floor! I say to her, "You took the old one and shoved it under the receptionists nose didn't you?"   She looks down at her feet, gives  a little Wee Jimmy shuffle and says, "Yes".

                                              

Our hotel, The Auberge Des l' Plantanes, La Roque Gageac

Secondly the wallpaper in the bedroom is designed to be a thing of torture. Imagine one of those "magic eye" pictures that you stare at for ages then a 3D image appears, well that was the inspiration for the wallpaper here. I say "Wallpaper" but its not actually just on the walls!  they've even put it on the ceiling so there's no escape from it even when we lie down.  Even closing my eyes doesn't help much, as it's so intense it burns the pattern into my retina - so I can still see it even with my eyes shut.

 
Terrible isn't it? Imagine a whole room covered in it, walls, ceiling - everything! people could be brought out of comas with this

Chateau de la Treyne
                                            

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