A day of chateaux

Today, Friday, we are seeing chateaux. We were up at 7 to have breakfast before we left the hotel at 8.15 for a long drive to the Chateau de Cheverny and the Chateau de Chambord.



There has been a chateau on the site since the 13th or 14th century, but the current Chateau de Chambord, which is the largest chateau in the Loire Valley, was built in 1524-1547 as a hunting lodge for the king, François III. Leonardo da Vinci visited the site in 1516 and there are drawings of a similar building in his notebooks, so it is thought that he may have had some input into the design, although Leonardo died in the year that building started. The current chateau has been abandoned and restored several times. The last renovation took place in the 1950s and the chateau is now owned by the French state.



One of the exterior staircases linking the various levels











One of the terraces











The village of Chambord from one of the terraces









Some of the towers and below, a panorama, both from the terrace.











One of many similar carvings of the king's monogram together with the salamander of Francois 1, on the second floor.






















The grand staircase.











After lunch, we moved on to the Chateau de Cheverny, which was built in 1624-1630 and is still owned by the same family, some of whom live there. It was opened to the public 100 years ago in 2014. It is smaller than Chambord and rather easier to get around.










A detail from over the door











The formal dining room













The nursery











The family dining room












The petit salon













The armory is the largest room in the chateau.















The grand salon















The music room









Outside, and divided from the main house by an attractive section of garden is the orangery, originally used for overwintering trees, etc, it was used for the storage of art during the Second World War and it is said that the Mona Lisa was kept there. Now it is a tea room.
















Close to the house there is a large kennel which houses 70-90 hunting hounds. When we visited the dogs were high up and making a lot of noise, while their lower space was being cleaned.







The trophy room was close by.















The last stop on our visit was the kitchen garden, where flowers and vegetables for the house are grown.

Aubigny-sur-Nère and the canal of Briare

After breakfast, we set off to Aubigny-sur-Nère where we were taken around the town by a local guide.

Aubigny-sur-Nère is the town of the Stuarts, so John was wearing his Stewart tartan bow tie for the occasion. Aubigny-sur-Nère has a long Scottish tradition: John Stewart arrived in Aubigny in 1419 with a contingent of Scottish soldiers to fight with Charles 7th of France. He was rewarded with many titles and the family stayed for 400 years, and the chateau is known as Chateau Stuart.







We started by walking through the picturesque town to the church where we heard a long presentation about the town and probably the church. Unfortunately, echoes meant that neither of us could hear clearly enough and so most of the information was lost. In addition, various people were wandering around getting ready for mass, it being Ascension Thursday and a bank holiday in France.




















































The phone box seems to have been presented to Aubigny - it may be one of the few that hasn't been turned into a library.



A man in a kilt playing bagpipes on a roundabout.























After the town tour, it was time to see the castle.








The castle is now used as the Mairie (town hall), so we only saw the courtyard and the room that is used for marriages.












This has some magnificent tapestries.









and this was in the fireplace.










We returned to the hotel for lunch and then set off for a cruise down the Canal de Briare, which was built in the 17th century to link together the rivers Loire and Seine, thereby supplying Paris with food and goods.







The escalator was used to pump water up the Loire into the canal.










This is the motorway to Paris crossing the canal











We went through a lock, turned round and then went back again. This is us going down










And here we are with the water streaming in as we go back up.








In fact, there is another canal, one on each side of the Loire and these are linked by a bridge, built by Eiffel, over the Loire which links two canal networks.










Our final stop of the day was to a museum devoted to the river and the canal. Here we saw how goods were carried to Paris along the Loire, years ago and how the canals were built. The presentation was excellent and we could both understand it well, unlike the morning experience. We saw some excellent needlework there, depicting the river.

























- Pat and John on tour

To the Loire with the village choir

Each year, the village choir organises a 5 day bus trip around Ascension Thursday. This year the trip is to the Chateaux of the Loire. We were invited to join the group and so, at 0730 this morning, we joined the group on the bus for the drive up to Sainte Montaigne, west of Orleans, where we will be based.

The format of bus trips is now familiar: the meeting time is 0730, so by 0715, everyone is there, greeting each other and chatting while waiting for the bus. The instructions are that men pack the cases and women find the seats. We make several stops to pick people up and then head up the motorway towards Orleans, just as we did 4weeks ago on our way to the UK.

It's a scenic drive and all the more enjoyable for being in a bus, and therefore able to see more.

The format is similar to our trips with the 3rd age club: sweeties are distributed from time to time and, being a choir trip, there is singing with popular songs in both Spanish and French.

Views from the bus



St Laurent de Muret














Broom makes the countryside much more colourful










Viaduct de Garabit, built by Eiffel











Snow on the mountains near St Flour









Lunch break: a picnic near Lorlanges, South of Clermont Ferrand.




We arrived in the early evening at our hotel. It is Sologne, in a forest, close to many small lakes. The evening began with a quiz in the open air. The questions were delivered in very fast French with lots audience participation.




We ate with our group in the hotel restaurant and then joined many of the group to play bingo!

By the time the bingo finished, we were ready for bed.








- Pat and John on tour