Eleanor, Day 18

The antepenultimate night of our holiday finds us at Vouvray, where they make my favourite sparkling wine. And yes, we have has a tasting, and may have another in the morning if we're not away before they open.

Last night's parking, in Niort, was super. We were supposed to pay €7.70 for it, and would gladly have done so, as it included electricity as well as services, but nobody came and asked us for it. They are supposed to send people round, but.....

We came upon a supermarket that was open - unusually, as it turned out, because there was a half-marathon in the town, though quite why that meant it had to open I'm not sure. But I was glad it did, as it meant I could spend €0.86 on a baguette for lunch and a bottle of water. And the good citizens of Niort certainly appreciated it!  Very busy, it was.

Then we drove on N roads as far as Poitiers, and then on the motorway to Tours, where we parked up near the hotel we'd stayed at during the Coupe des Druides a couple of years ago. We had quite a pleasant walk, sad to see that a restaurant where we had enjoyed a meal was in the process of changing hands, but another one was still there and flourishing.

The Cathedral was a bit far away, though, so we went back to the van and headed off to Amboise, going on the South back of the Loire, which may have been a mistake as the best view of the Castle was as we were driving away, having investigated the aire, which was a bust as it wanted about €24 for the night, and for that price we'd want WiFi, at the very least.

So we drove on to Vouvray, and found the aire quite passable (free, but you pay for services, fair enough), and have parked up here. The wine merchants are all open on Sundays, so we bought half a dozen bottles of a nice one for my father for Christmas.  We should have bought some for us.... Maybe we will....