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Near Blois, Loire Valley, (Near Vouvray; there’s hope for someone yet!) Thursday morning 3^rd November: HE kept HER awake for much of the night with that problem which they hoped had been fixed, so an early start yesterday was not really an option. Anyway, Futuriste is reputed to have the best croissants anywhere, so that’s what THEY enjoyed for breakfast; and readers of last year’s ‘Travels With Harry’ might remember something about the excellence of the showers!

 

When ready to move we were able to manoeuvre over the drainage point – still with little wotsit behind –

Hey! Sois gentil!

Toujours! – so that we set off (11.40) with a full tank of fresh water and an empty waste tank. (Also an empty toilet, and whose job was that?) Hmmm …

North towards Tours, passing, but not stopping at ‘Antoines’ where I got my new ‘cheek’ last year –

So why didn’t you get a new tail light assembly this year?

Got to get THEM to a wedding.

Ca alors! Are they getting married?

Not THEM, Dumkopf!

 

Before Tours we got lucky and they had lunch in this perfectly delightful lay-by:

Where the only drawback was the breeze which kept trying to add some of those lovely autumn leaves and twiggy bits to their salad! Not as bad as the previous day, though, when a HUGE, heavy pine cone came down from a great height and missed HIS head by a few inches before hitting the ground at his feet with a mighty THUD! The consequences of a ‘strike’ could have been far-reaching …

However, here HE is, enjoying a little schoolboy with his coffee:

You can’t say that and put it on the internet! Explanation essential: “Petit Ecolier”, literally ‘Little Schoolboy’ is a very popular brand of chocolate-coated biscuit and we are never without them. There’s an image of a period-costumed (17^th/18^th century) schoolboy stamped in the chocolate on each biscuit. Carry on.

 

I will, but not till later in the day …

 

We used 0.90c worth of motorway to get through Tours and over the Loire:

THAT has much less water in it than when we crossed it last year – both ways! But then last October was particularly soggy! I seemed to hear some debate – discussion – disagreement, even, about where to go next, but somehow we found ourselves following the river upstream to a spot I’d heard of called Vouvray …

I was there last year! I remember; we went there while you were having your cheek done – they stopped at the same place, and came out with some heavy stuff which I had to carry. Déjà vu all over again!

Y e s … Then  they crossed the river to find a LeClerc and did some shopping, and carried on up river in the fading light, which is why there are no photos of the splendid view of Château d’Amboise across the river. This far north parking for the night is difficult – it was last year – it seemed the best thing to do was to pay for a short stretch of motorway and find an aire (service area). This was the plan, then. But at Blois-Ménars both the lorry and caravan parks were so full of lorries that finding a space seemed impossible; then as we approached the exit, a little additional parking area had a few empty spaces on the drive-in / drive-out pattern and we chose the last one. A 3 or 4 minute walk back to the shop + café found they had wi_fi! 2 coffees and a cookie and SHE settled down to a puzzle while HE looked at e-mails and just managed to get one off to Family + Friends before battery power ran out! Which is why ‘Postcard 13 arrived in 2 parts.

LeClerc had been good enough to provide a supper of Blanquette de Veau (sorry if that upsets anyone) and in spite of fairly constant traffic noise and the inevitable mass exodus of lorries at 10 past 5, 10 past 6, 10 past 7 … they had quite a good night – BUT by morning (Thurs. 3^rd) it was RAINING. Hopes that rain before 7 might mean fine before 11 proved vain and the RAIN continued for most of the day with occasional claps of thunder into the bargain and the onboard barometer showing its lowest reading EVER!

Still, the scenery was pleasant

 and there were some pretty little towns

as we made our way 153kms northwards to a campsite in the valley of the Perche, where we are installed as the only visitors. HE has cooked his special ‘Quail and Parsnips’ (there were no parsnips to be found last month!) and followed it with a bit of very silly culinary exhibitionism – Bananes Flambées à l’Armagnac – I know we’ve got a fire extinguisher above the door, but really …