Fantastic Caves and an empty river

 Tuesday 20 September 2022

Nido's parked up on an aire in Dampierre-sur-Loire.  It used to be a municipal campsite, so there are no pitches, just park where you like, under the trees or in the sunshine.  Its €6 per night including services (no electricity); the servicing point to empty the loo and grey tank and fill up with fresh can be accessed without entering the aire.  It's about a mile east of the town of Saumur.

The last couple of days have been fairly quiet, with short hops to the next park upa.  Sunday was admin day.  Before we left Romagne Cathy emptied out the mats and covers and gave the van a really good clean, while I did the emptying and filling when we moved over to the service point. We found a Super U with a laundrette to do our fortnightly (and last of this trip) laundry session.  What should have taken about an hour took three times as long though! It's great having so many outdoor launderettes in France, many available 24/7.  The downside is they all seem to have their own, unique complex instructions as to how they work!  This wasn't helped by my thinking the 18kg washing machine was a dryer, so we sat there for half an hour waiting for the other washing machine to finish.  Once I'd worked this out I then realised these machines were cash only payment.  So we had to drive off to find an ATM!  Luckily there was one just around the corner so, once the instructions had been translated , we fed our €10 note into the machine, received our change and all was good.  Forty minutes later, the washing was in the dryer and turning.  I'd pressed the button for medium heat, but it took a couple of drying sessions to finally work out there was a particular sequence for selecting the heat, which entailed starting the dryer first, then stopping, then selecting the heat!  But three hours later the washing was all done, folded and put away.  

Sunday night was spent on a free aire at Saint Loup-sur-Thouet. It was a good spot in a long grassy field, but with some road noise, which died off later.  The next morning Cathy and I had a walk around the town and its medieval buildings and narrow lanes, before he moved on.  The plan was to spend the next night in the town of Thouars and explore the medieval walls and centre, but Salty was starting to get a bit freaked out by the noise of the vehicles (he pretends to be tough with other dogs but really is a bit of a softy!), so we opted for a much quieter stop in the countryside at Le Coudray-Macouard, parked up amongst the trees.  We've actually stayed here before - back in October 2014.  

After lunch and a snooze we all went for a walk, along some lanes then into explore the village.  This is another lovely place to wander around, with honey-coloured sandstone buildings, narrow lanes and high walls.  Some of the houses even have caves underneath.  Back at the van we ate and spent a quiet night, waking to a chilly morning but again with clear blue skies and the promise of a warm, sunny day.

This morning we stopped off at a Decathlon store.  We'd never been in but had heard good reports from others using them in Europe.  This was a large store that had pretty much everything you need for outdoor life - clothing, boots, climbing, kayaking and canoeing, cycling.  We've been looking for some outdoor and walking clothing for some time and found everything we needed at a reasonable price - think Go Outdoor prices but much better quality.  Cathy prefer to buy men's tops and jackets as they're longer in the body and have loads of pockets!  A huge Le Clerc hypermarket in Saumur - within a big shopping centre - was next door so I popped in for a couple of things.  It also had a Culturel Centre (technology stuff) and, if we've been at the start of the trip, I'd have bought a REGLO data sim to go in the Mifi - 120 Gb for €15.99.  We're getting by on the SMARTY SIM with 12Gb per month (plus our Tesco phones with 12Gb each) but are having to watch our usage and we have no capacity to catch up on our favourite YouTube channels.  I've had a couple of online meetings with Môn SAR and Cathy has two online Welsh lessons before we go home  We should have enough data, but some additional interweb juice would have made life a bit simpler.

After lunch we took a walk along the cycle path that runs alongside the Loire, heading east towards Saumur.  It was quite shocking to see how low the river is.  On the section by the path it was completely dry and we were able to walk on the riverbed which, in normal times, would have been 6 - 8 feet underwater.  Even the navigable section of the Loire looked very low.  Worrying times in this year of drought and a further indication of climate breakdown.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading and snoozing, watching the tree creeper birds and a couple of lively horses in the field next to us.   We enjoyed a lazy dinner tonight will be halloumi burgers, sauté potatoes and green beans.  We still have a craving for pizza and/or chips; we're still looking for the next pizza machine!  We'll also be tucking into moules-frites when we get to the Normandy coast in a week or so. 

Our evening walk took us in the opposite direction to this afternoon's along the cycle path running adjacent to the road.  There was a low wall that dropped down about 20 feet, with steps down at regular intervals. It was clear this was once the original quayside with ships tied up alongside and the steps down to lighters to move goods around.  The houses on the opposite side of the road were made mainly of sandstone and some were built into the cliffs and caves.  We took one path up and disappeared into an amazing maze of cave tunnels, with houses tucked away, the path slowly making its way up until we came out on a huge vista of vines as far as we could see.  As the sun started to set, we stood and soaked in the atmosphere. We had no idea these paths and caves were here; sometimes it's good just to follow your nose.

Saint Loup sur Thouet

A long-closed boulangerie

Dampierre sur Loire

There should be about 6 ft of water in there

Even the main Loire channel is well down

Now I know why the people in Le Courdray-Macouard are so happy!

We found these amazing caves on our evening walk from Dampierre

House with a pool and caves!

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Troglodytes in Turquant

Wednesday 7 March 2018 - Day 3

We slept well.  I tapped in the co-ordinates for Niort, to give us somewhere to aim for and we left in cold rain.  Today was about getting much further south to reach the kinder weather, although I think it might take a few days to get to it.  So it was a fairly uneventful journey, stopping off on the way for some lunch, opposite a roadside restaurant and watching the French 'white van' men pile in for the 'menu du jour'. Being British, we of course had ham butties with a packet of crisps and a cup of tea!  

No dry cheese butties for these French workmen!

We covered more ground than expected, so south of Le Mans I pulled over to see where we could spend the night.  Just south of Angers and in the region of the town of Saumur, there were a few aires dotted along the river Seine.  I picked one - Dampierre sur Loire - and we drove to it, but it looked a little unloved, surrounded by wheelie bins.  So on to the next one about 3km along the river - Parnay - but a similar feel.  With it being out of season, many of the aires have the water and electricity (if provided) switched off, so they do look a bit unkempt.  I decided to head for an aire we'd stayed on before outside the castle walls of Thouars, which was about an hour away.  Not long after moving off, we looked over and saw a number of cave houses built into the hillside.  They seemed an interesting place to explore, so I turned into the village - Turquant - and pulled over to find somewhere to park....right in the aire!  We were the only ones here initially, although now there are five vans packed in to a fairly small place.  The Camperstops book says it can take 20 vans - that would be very cosy.  I watched a van pull up and fill with fresh water (many aires have the water switched off in the cold months), so I walked over to the local bar across the road to get a jeton (token) for the water meter.  After dinner we had a walk around the village, nosying at some of the lovely modern houses built into the caves.  This is a wine region - Anjou bordering on Touraine - so a number of local wine makers were advertising from their cave homes.   We enjoyed the leg stretch and some evening sunshine with birdsong. It feels much more like Spring here.  We just made it back to the van before the rain. Tomorrow we'll make the short hop to Niort, so we can spend most of the day exploring its medieval streets.

Some thoughts on finding places to stay. Data roaming has been really useful, allowing me to check where we are on Google maps.  I've been using the Camperstops book to spot possible aires from their map in the book, then going online to use the Campercontact app to check it out and read the reviews.  The app data is naturally more up to date than the book and the reviews of those who have visited before have been especially useful.  I also have most of the aires loaded as POI on my Garmin satnav, along with wild camping spots provided by Our Tour and Our Bumble - thanks guys.  I've also referred to the 'All the Aires France' books.  However, they're now in two large A4 publications and take up a lot of space, so I don't think I'll buy those again.  Camperstops is my book of choice (they also have an app), combined with the Campercontact and Park4Night apps.  With it being out of season most of the aires are quiet, although this one is busy tonight.

Windmill in Turquant, vines in foreground

Etang de la Fonderie

Wednesday 8 July 2015

We're on a lovely free aire near at Etang de la Fonderie, near Jublains in the departément of Mayenne. This is a rural peaceful spot, next to a boating, swimming and fishing lake. The pitches are mainly on grass, the pitch areas broken up by tall hedgerows.  There's room for about 50 vans, but there are only 3 of us here at the moment.

We were woken early at Thouars by the bin men at about 0500 and the builders, working on rebuilding the city walls at about 0630.  It started grey but was clear blue sky as we set off.  Breakfasted, waste dumped and topped up with fresh water, we continued our journey north.  The clouds built and it turned windy, with the temperature struggling to hit 18'C, chilly after the last week or so of 25-30'C, but still OK to stay in shorts.   We stopped off at an Intermarché to buy some lunch - whole cooked prawns and bread, plus dinner - duck breast, haricot beans and carrots.  The journey was mainly on flat roads, the first half cheered up by fields of tournesols (sunflowers) and vines, with mainly family run Domaines along the route, the second half was mainly wheat and cattle farms.

We arrived at the aire at about 1245, found a pitch on the grass and sheltered from the wind and sat outside for lunch.  We had a walk around the lake which had a couple of quieter, wilder areas.  Back at the van I grabbed my fishing tackle and with my limited bait (cheese and bacon!) spent a couple of hours drowning it - not a single bite!  Cathy had a snooze and when I returned to the van I did similar - a welcome, lazy afternoon.  We enjoyed a brew sat outside, then I prepared dinner: first the carrots were cut in half lengthways, marinated in salt, pepper and olive oil, and set to cook in the roasting tray on the Cadac BBQ.  After a few turns and the lid on, the duck breasts were added, skin down to allow it to crisp and the fat to escape, the turned and lid on to replicate a few minutes in a hot oven.  In the meantime the haricot beans were flashed boiled, then drained and I added a knob of butter, garlic and lemon juice.  Whilst this cooked we had a G&T apéro, sat outside.  It was a delicious dinner, enjoyed with a bottle of Samur sparkling wine and in isolation, as we had the whole 55 pitch aire to ourselves! We washed up outside then had a walk into the barley fields to catch the last of the sunlight, before returning to the van for some hot chocolate.  With a relatively short drive it's been a lazy day today, just chilling out, relaxing and sleeping (oh - and eating good food!).  

Tomorrow we have a short 1.5 hour hop to Argentan, which is on the Tour Stage 7 route.  From there I'll drive up the route towards Livarot, to find a suitable spot to park up for the night, ready for the great Tour de France spectacle on Friday.  Until then, the complete silence here is making my ears ring, plus with no light pollution we should sleep well.  For the first time since we left Normandy we've put the quilt back on the bed.  Let's hope tomorrow brings more sunshine.

Nice lake, but I didn't catch anything

We had a 55-pitch aire all to ourselves

Quiet night in Thouars

Tuesday 7 July 2015

We're on an aire in Thouars, a typical small medieval town in middle Poitou, with a monastery, several churches, castle walls and tiny streets.  It sounded good in the guide book, whereas I think it's been hit hard by the credit crunch, with lots of empty shops and closed down bars.  The aire is at the foot of the town walls and has 8 very narrow pitches - there are six vans on it, with three others spread around the car park.  But I don't think the local council will complain, they really need the tourist income!  

We both slept well and I was awake at about 0800.  I walked the short distance to the Boulangerie for two baguettes and two croissants.  We had breakfast outside, then packed up ready to leave.  According to our book, this aire was €9 per night plus €4 for water, and that someone would come and collect this.  Well, nobody came.  We didn't need any more water, although I did empty the toilet cassette, but what does that cost?  So it was another free night.  I punched in the coordinates for the Le Clerc to fill up with diesel.  It was a hypermarket, so we popped in to buy some more water, a stool and a dress for Cathy.  We hit the road and finally left Ile d'Oleron after a great week of sun and sea.  Our route took us North, through Rochefort and Niort.  I'd set the Satnav to,get us to the Tour de France route on Friday, so the plan was to drive for about 3 hours then find somewhere to spend the night.  At about 1230 we pulled in to a picnic site for lunch and sat outside at a large wooden table to enjoy our lunch.  However, we saw a few men pull up in cars, mooch about and the disappear into the bushes -  another strange French lunchtime occupation! 

Lunch done we headed for Thouars, about an hour away, but pulled off on the way at Airvault, which looked like it had an interesting town centre; it also had a free aire.  We parked at the aire them walked into town.  It had some small, medieval streets, but was quiet and rather run down, so we decided not to stay.  But we took the opportunity to empty grey waste and top up the fresh.  Back in the road we continued to Thouras, doing a circuit of the narrow, one way streets before finding the aire.  I manoeuvred into the end pitch so we had room to open the sliding door and sit outside, with jasmine and honeysuckle for our little garden.  After a brew we walked into the town.  It took us a while to find anything interesting.  We eventually made our way down to the river, where we came across over 80 'jardins famlieux' (allotments) leading down to the water's edge.  Each was unique but lovely, with veg and flower beds, most with a little 'tacky shack' down near the water.  We walked up into the town and I found the Tourist Office.  They could do little but offer me a map!  We were looking for a bar to quench our thirst but found not one open in this large town!  So one baguette purchase later, we were back at the van for a beer apéro, sat on the car park bench like a couple of winos!  Dinner was bacon, onion and garlic omelette, with a bottle of rosé, eaten in our little courtyard garden just outside the van.  Washing up done, showered and after a brew, we're ready for sleep. 

As I finish typing I can hear the swallows calling and flying overhead around the castle ramparts surrounding us (one of my favourite sounds in France), something which probably hasn't changed for hundreds of years.  Tomorrow we continue our journey north.  We'll look to stay somewhere about 3 hours away, which will leave us a short journey on Thursday to find our pitch to watch the Tour on my birthday - can't wait! 

Thouars aire - room for a little one!

So we sat on the bench drinking - does that make us bad people!?

Lovely family 'allotments' down by the river

Cozy spot to eat outside