The Pig Yard

Our holiday in the Loire Valley was intended to be a balloon flying holiday but because our connection with the ballooning fraternity was severed we left the balloon trailer at home and headed south for a relaxing week. We had plenty of books and magazines to read

Nick & Val had done most of the preparation, booking the Gite, the ferry crossing and planning the route south through the many toll roads.

After some detours to avoid queues on the M1 we arrived at Dover with plenty of time to catch the ferry to Dunkirk. For us this was the first ferry crossing for over twenty years, mainly because it is so cheap and easy to fly to mainland Europe and hire a car.

The sun was shining and the prospect was for some high temperatures.

Another first for us - taking a car onto the ferry. Nick & Val are regular booze cruisers to pick up cases of Bacardi and Nick's pipe tobacco from hypermarkets close to the French ports.

The sailing took just two hours and the ship was clean and comfortable - similar to a well run motorway service area, with similar prices.

Once into France the interminable miles were soon eaten up and we arrived at our hotel in Rouen by early evening.

The IBIS hotel in Rouen was ready for us and this was our first attempt at speaking French since our visit to the South of France in May 2003.

Rouen is the main town of Normandy and is very historic with some ancient buildings, a superb cathedral and the site of where Joan D' Arc was burnt at the stake by the English. Happy days...

The hotel was close to the centre of the city and we were able to walk to the centre and out long into the evening being entertained by a witty waiter.

There was a special light show scheduled to start after 23:00 and so we hung around the centre until it began. The projection was set to music and was representing the work of Monet who stayed opposite the cathedral, sketching and painting it on a number of occasions.

The show was magnificent and this photograph doesn't do the whole scene justice. For more information click here.

This is our Gite. It was part of a courtyard with the main house at 90 degrees to the right and similar cottages facing ours.

The accommodation was comfortable however we spend most of the time in the walled garden at the rear.

We ate outside most evenings once the heat of the day had gone and usually had salads because it was too hot for anything else.

Our first visit to a major chateau and this is Chambord, north east of Blois. It was free to park and enter the the gardens which was excellent value for money. We walked around the grounds, taking pictures before stopping for a bite of lunch.

The water in the foreground is not a moat but the Loire. There were parts of the building which looked like the tower Max Escher used for his drawing of people walking ever upwards.

The chateau also has a connection with Leonardo da Vinci who briefly stayed during its construction and added some design embellishments.

The structure, containing 440 rooms,  365 fireplace, 13 great staircases, and stables to accommodate 1200 horses, stands in a park surrounded by a wall of 22 miles  in circumference.  1800 men worked on it.

Mid week and we revisited Blois for Jane to have a swim. After so much travelling around in the car she desperately needed to get some exercise.

The magic house in the centre of the city was recommended to us. The dragons appear every hour, on the hour during the day and the cavort to the sound of an eerie "Dr Who" style of music.

We sat outside drinking long cold drinks whilst we watched the dragons cavort before they went back inside the house.

After her swim, hair still wet but time in a dried up fountain and cuddle up to a cat head.

The temperatures at this time, as for most of the week were in the mid 30 degrees Celsius. We weren't use to it but we were grateful to able to wear t shirts and shorts - anything else would've been unbearable.

At least Jane's wet hair kept her cool for a little while.

Blois is an interesting city to the North of where we were staying. The Loire river flows slowly along the southern edge of the city and the old bridge is magnificent in its style.

The cobbled road along the edge is now used for parking but at one time would have been a main thoroughfare for vehicles.

Another French town, this time St Aignan, and another chateau.

This is next to the river Cher which is like the Loire - a wide, slow moving river.

We wandered around and took time out to enjoy a coffee at a table on a quiet street. It turned out the waitress was Rumanian who learnt her French and English by watching Satellite TV. That night we tried watching "Who wants to be a millionaire" on TV in French and we didn't do too badly.

For more information on this pleasant town click here.

Another day, another chateau. This time it was Chenonceau which sits astride the Cher river.

This is fairy tale stuff - Nick and Val are living the dream.

In the gardens to the right of the chateau was a large fountain pumping water 3 metres into the air. It was so hot that Nick and Jane went and stood under the cascading water, getting very wet in the process but feeling much cooler.

This is the picture that most people see of the chateau. With the river flowing beneath the building it makes you think rising damp maybe a problem.

For more information click here.

We had to travel a couple of miles down an unmade road to get to this point.

Water and castles - a wonderful combination. The reflection of towers in the Cher is really superb.

This pagoda was originally a folly in the grounds of another chateau but the grand building had been demolished to leave the folly.

The Chinese theme was enhanced by a series of games that originated in China. We had great fun playing with the large wooden games from bagatelle to towers of Hanoi.

Like the tower of Pisa this also appeared to lean a little.

Access to the top started up solid stone steps with an iron railing but as we went higher so the stone gave way to wooden steps and a wooden handrail.

In terms of health and safety this building should have been roped off but we were pleased that it wasn't. The views from around the top plinth were magnificent. It was difficult to make out where the chateau used to be because it is now surrounded by woods and farmland.

There were a series of these characters standing by the side of the footpath. No doubt of Chinese origin it's possible to see how you could write a children's story featuring all of these strange characters.

Better than having gnomes in your garden.

Amboise is a pretty medieval town on the banks of the Loire and dominated by the remains of the large chateau. The narrow streets contain some good examples of timbered housing. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court.

Leonardo Da Vinci lived at the Clos Lucé in the town for the last three years of his life.

On a bend at the edge of the town there was this very old bicycle with flowers growing from the front basket. Jane would've just loved to jump on it and ride alongside the river but it wasn't to be.

The weather wasn't as kind as it had been. We'd got some food together to eat as a mini picnic by the river. It was OK but it did start to rain a little. We were distracted by watching some ducklings struggling with the flow of the river and therefore didn't notice the rain.

A visit to the region wouldn't have been complete without visiting a wine cellar.

We stopped here because there was a chap bottling as we passed the door and his young son gave us the the impromptu guided tour. Neither could speak any English and so this was a true test of our French. Nick ventured into discussing different cap technologies, especially for the sparkling wines made "in the style of" champagne.

We estimated there was 5 million bottles of wind in this cellar which was cut into the rock which formed the high banks of the Loire river.

After days of touring in the cat we decided to have a day without driving. Nick & Val headed off to Tours and we set out to walk to nearby Montrichard woodland.

After about an hour it started to rain a little but we were so hot it didn't matter. In the woods we were dry and before long the sun was out again and with it came clouds of fresh butterflies. This was a beautiful day. The woodland reminded us of how woods in Northamptonshire used to be twenty years ago.

Cheverny is famous for its hunting hounds. There is a note on the wall which effectively says let sleeping dogs lie. There are so many together that it's difficult to know where one stops and another starts.

At 5 pm every day the hounds are fed and they sit around waiting for this highlight. The master of hounds has superb control and no dog stepped out of line whilst he was in the pen with them. Feeding time was very animal and the pack instinct took over with an evident pecking order amongst the dogs.

The chateau featured as the backdrop for Herges adventures of Tin Tin.

We are not great fans so we didn't bother with a visit to the Tin Tin museum.

For the first time we did venture into a house. It was so ornate, gold leaf everywhere and leather on the walls. A bit too garish for our simple liking.

For more information click here.

The rear of the property is possibly it's best side and with the arched ironwork it's a great setting.

We're quite keen on getting something similar in our back garden - it would have to be a bit smaller of course.

On the final evening of the holiday we went in search of balloons. After all we were in the region because we were hoping to fly our own balloon.

We found the crew and asked if Thierry was the pilot because Dave had told us he was a nice guy. We chased it until it landed and then introduced ourselves to Thierry and sent Dave's regards.

Jane developed a fetish for French water towers. There were a variety of designs, of different heights. This is one of the more attractive, taller types.

On occasions we travelled out of our way to get a picture of a tower that looked interesting.

Jane looked particularly cool and French like on the steps of the tower at Chenonceau.

It was approaching the end of the day, most of the visitors had gone home and so a bit of touristy posing was acceptable.

Her French matelot stripes were very in keeping with the moment.