Eleanor, Day 11

Sunday again, and we were due to head south to Rocamadour, where Eleanor and Henry had been on pilgrimage. From the atlas, it was going to be a dull old drive, motorway all the way.  But by going a few miles out of our way, we could drive down through the Limousin and end up at the Dordogne, so that is what we did. A very lovely drive, past woods and pastures, lots of the eponymous cattle, rivers and lakes and pretty little towns. And so to Beaulieu sur Dordogne, which was lovely!

We walked round the town and watched the world go by on the river for a bit, and then drive on, now leaving Limousin for Midi-Pyrenées, and Corrèze for Lot.  We haven't quite got to Rocamadour, as this campsite is on the near side of it, but will tomorrow.  Meanwhile, free WiFi! I have gone back and uploaded a couple of pictures on to each blog entry, and of course all of them, to date, are now on Facebook.  

This campsite would be very nice if it wasn't for the flies!

Eleanor, Day 10

So after posting Friday's update, we returned to Nouaillé-Malpertuis to find the car park, which we had left empty, absolutely full! Luckily there was one space left, which we grabbed and went to bed. When we woke up, it was empty again, but that didn't last long, as it soon filled up again, this time for a funeral in the church next door, which is in the grounds of a former Abbey, and rather lovely.  We couldn't go inside, of course, because of the funeral, but we had a good walk round the grounds - now the Mairie and private housing.

Then we set off for Limoges. It was the loveliest drive through wonderful countryside, very autumnal. Even nicer once we'd stopped to shed a few layers - mornings here are very cold, but it soon warms up.

We liked Limoges, too. It felt as though we were quite in the South of France, although of course we aren't. A lovely Cathedral, pleasant Old Town, and delicious ham and butter sandwich!

We moved on to this little town on the outskirts of Limoges to spend the night, but discovered we have an adapter missing from the new gas thing. We think we can get, or contrive, one, but not on a Saturday night - we must have driven 20 miles round the various hypermarkets, looking! I was not impressed. Anyway, we got back here and there was enough gas to cook supper, although we are not having showers this morning, just in case.....

Then, when we got back to the car park, it was as bright as day with a floodlit football match going on!  They turned the floodlights and the car park lights off at about 22:30, so that was all right - but they came on again at 06:00, waking me out of a sound sleep!  Oh well, I soon dozed off again.

Eleanor, day 9

Today was Poitiers, which we thought was going to be a bust, as we couldn't find anywhere to park, but then we did and had a lovely walk through the city centre to see the palace (now law courts) and the churches associated with the Plantagenets.

Then lunch, then we drive down to a place called Nouaillé-Malpertuis where we are going to spend the night. The SW went for a walk, while I read, and then we drove back nearly to Poitiers to have dinner in a Buffalo Grill to take advantage of the free WiFi and upload photos.

Eleanor, day 8

Today we visited both Fontévraud Abbey and the Forteresse de Chinon. It is both possible and easy to do them both in one day, but I'd strongly suggest, if you do, doing then the other way round, as Fontévraud is marvellous and Chinon rather disappointing.

Instead of playing up the really fabulous architecture and telling us about the buildings and so on, they have a series of very dull films inside, about the various royals who lived there and only a very little about the building, and outside they have decided that King Arthur had links with the place so it is all about the Knights of the Round Table. As if! Everybody knows that was Winchester, where Alfred still waits to drop his sword in shock when a virgin walks by! And the Round Table is there and visible to all! Chinon, forsooth!

So we came away and went to the supermarket before coming to this camp site. We really didn't feel we had learnt anything from our visit, except perhaps that Joan of Arc came here, but that was all.

But Fontévraud, by contrast, was totally magical. The huge church, with the effigies of three of my many-times-great grandparents and Richard the Lionheart. 

The cloisters, the refectory, the dormitories... Many of the areas are used for concerts and so on, it's very well used. One cloister is used for conferences, and I think there was one going on.

What we hadn't known was that it had been, until 1963, a maximum security prison, and there was a lot about that, too.  One exhibition compared and contrasted the lives of the nuns and the prisoners. It was brilliant. And some pictures showed you what the area had been like when it was a prison, and how it had been restored. Fascinating. Definitively "worth the journey", as the guidebooks say, whereas Chinon, despite having been the seat of English government for the best part of a century, simply isn't.  One star - " interesting " at most.

Eleanor, Day 7

Gosh, is it really nearly a week since we set off - and in two weeks we will be home! But for now we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves, even if the gas igniter on the fridge has stopped. Oh well.

We were on electricity this morning, and had out showers on site - lovely and powerful. Then we went to the other side of the village to see our friends Josiane and Claude, whom we hadn't seen for far too long. After a lovely time with them, we headed on, firstly to the little supermarket in the village and then down the Loire to Saumur.

Of course, typical, most of the road that actually went beside the Loire was closed for road works, and we had to go inland a bit, but it was still a nice drive. We discovered, as we came into Saumur, that we needed diesel, and decided to buy more gas at the same time. The woman in the caisse couldn't have been more helpful, I don't know why people think the French aren't! So we have another big bottle of gas - now if only we could get the fridge to light....

We parked up by the Château de Saumur and had lunch, and then paid to go into the château.

There was a guide who told us all about its history and how Philippe Auguste stole it for France..... And then we went in and it was mostly a museum with furniture and so on. There was also a horse museum on site, and we looked at that - Saumur appears to be a major equestrian centre.

After a drink in the café, we came away and drove to Brézé to have a quick look at the château there, and so on to Fontévraud where we will spend the night and visit the Abbey tomorrow.

Eleanor, Day 6

Everything was working fine this morning! Mind you, we did wake up rather late - we had had a disturbed night with thunderstorms and so on. But once we had had breakfast, we set out to explore the Cathedral of Le Mans, and I'm so glad we did. We drove up, and the town is really lovely, even with traffic.

 The Cathedral itself is where Geoffrey of Anjou married the Empress Matilda all those years ago, and we think he is buried there, although we weren't sure whether we actually found his tomb.

Eleanor and Henry were frequent visitors, of course, and are mentioned in the panels talking of the history of the place.  I wish I had enough data to upload photos, but they'll go on Facebook as soon as I find some WiFi.

Then it was time to move on, and we stopped at a place called La Flèche to shop and have lunch, and then to Angers. We looked round the Cathedral there, but it was not as nice as the one at Le Mans, and then walked to the Castle but, disappointingly, although the town is definitely associated with Eleanor, the Castle is 100 years later.

So we came away and drove to Juigné-sur-Loire, where we are seeing friends tomorrow, and we are parked up in a vineyard, with electricity, showers and loos, and have had a wine-tasting and bought some wonderful white and rosé.

Eleanor, Day 5

It is not a plan to park up where a lighthouse is sending its beams every few seconds! I slept badly because of that, but fell asleep eventually to wake to a very wet morning and no hot water.   Turns out it needs more battery than we had available. So we ran the engine for a bit before we could have our showers. I think we will have to replace the leisure battery sooner, rather than later, as it simply isn't holding its charge.

So we left Barfleur in the rain and drove down to Caen, where we stopped to do some shopping and to have lunch in McDonald's and use their WiFi to upload photos, etc. Then a long motorway journey to Le Mans, where we now are. I fell asleep.

The rain was away when we got here, so after using the service point, we went out for a walk. Heartened by meeting another British couple who are moving to Portugal in their van, which seems every bit as temperamental as ours - we thought the fridge wouldn't turn on to run on gas, but it had!

One always thinks of Le Mans in terms of the eponymous motor race, but of course it is an essential stop on any Eleanor tour. We were too late to go into the Cathedral, but we explored the old town, known as the Cité Plantagenet, and had a wonderful walk.   All dating back to Plantagenet times. There is even a street named for Queen Berengaria, and a museum about her,

but sadly not open until tomorrow afternoon, when we shall have moved on if we want to see anything of Angers.

And so back to the van and fresh ravioli and a cherry tomato, basil, garlic and parmesan sauce, very delicious.