La Vie à Quatre Roues! Jour 14

Château de Chambord, Loire Valley

Up bright and early, as usual, on what turned out to be another beautiful hot and sunny day. Leaving Blois, to M’s delight, we stumbled upon an enormous Brocante – a very French affair that’s hard to explain, the closest I can get is a cross between a car boot sale and an antiques market. We must have spent nearly two hours there, and M came away armed with all sorts of rustic French bric-a-brac. I was more restrained and picked up a few books, an assortment of small glasses and some garlic, fresh from the garden of the gentleman in my first extra.

Arriving at Château de Chambord, we decided that it was too nice a day to be inside so instead found a shady bench in the grounds for our picnic lunch, with this stunning view of the Château. A slow amble around the grounds was followed by the inevitable café stop. Well, you’ve just got to make the most of that view, especially as this was to be our last Loire Valley experience… (another view of Chambord in extras)

Orleans was to have been our stop that night, but having rethought our plans and the practicalities of driving a vintage vehicle through a busy city, we changed route and headed north to Châteaudun. After finding ourselves a campsite for the night, we walked into the town where the impressive Château towered above the river Loir (not to be confused with the Loire!). Not on our original itinerary, Châteaudun was a pleasant surprise, though very sleepy on a late Sunday afternoon, a town with a lot of history to it. We came upon one 16th century building, La Maison de la Vierge, and couldn’t believe that it had been left to rot. (Châteaudun in last two extras)

France has so many beautiful old buildings in need of some TLC, and going for a song. Everywhere we went we stopped and looked in estate agent windows. Sadly the lotto scratch card I bought in Châteaudun came to nothing, so I guess I shall just have to keep on dreaming…

(Backblip posted on 14th September)