Saturday October 20, Chinon

Views of Chinon tonight from our campsite...stunning.

Certainly needing to pull the duvet up in the mornings, and when we headed off on our ride this morning I needed a bit of merino! It was only about 500 metres ride from where we had overnighted to the Voie Verte. Thankfully it was a really good sealed path and we enjoyed the ride through some really beautiful rural countryside with glimpses of a few chateau in the distance. We watched the last of the maize grain harvest in a field, the rest of the land is now bare. Ended up only riding 20km as the track turned into an unsealed route but still a pleasant ride.

Popped into the local supermarket for a few supplies and fresh bread, and I found some nice minestrone soup in a tetra pak for my lunch….seems to be the weather for it. It was less than an hour drive to this site, through some great country. When you see huge old rock fences that stretch for kilometres and chateau dotted around you realise this is part of the country has a lot of history.

We are back near the Loire tonight, last year we travelled a bit further west from here to the town of Samur. We were looking forward to spending several nights at this campsite beside the Vienne River not far from where it enters the Loire. But unfortunately, the camp closes tomorrow for the season so it can only be a “one night stand”! Across the river the castle looks amazing and there is going to be a “Brocante” along the riverside, this is a second-hand outdoor market. Hopefully we can get to see a bit before midday when we have to leave. Wandered up to the bridge tonight, such great views.  

Beautiful light this morning in Lencloitre

Huge pastoral land with some chateau "popped" in!

Chinon is pretty impressive especially with late afternoon sun.

So love the window decorations.

Just watching