We head away from the Brittany province and the seaside and head inland around Nantes and start to travel alongside the Loire river. It is a long afternoon travelling and we find a free aire at Saint Georges sur Loire which is a lovely little place with very little in it really. The water is free here which saves a couple of euro in filling up our tank. We have a wander around the nearby streets and find a lovely old building which used to be the hotel de ville but now looks to be a government building. Scot is desperate for a haircut but when we ask everyone seems to be full before we even ask. I do start to wonder if they are saying no just because we dont speak French well.
The next morning before we head off to our first castle we need to find a supermarket and a laundrette. I find one at Chalonnes sur Loire and we sit for the hour and a half it takes to get sorted. The supermarkets here often have a couple of washing machines in the carpark and 1 dryer. It is quite strange really standing out in public view literally showing off your dirty laundry for all in sundry to see. Afterwards we head off to this nearby castle which wasnt actually on our list but it is close by and we are keen to start the castle viewing so we go there.
The castle is Chateau de Serrant which seems a bit expensive for what it is but we figure what the hell. The place is not well cared for and the grounds are unfortunately in need of some tlc. The inside also appears to be the same, but we hear that there is a huge difference obviously between a privately owned castle and a publicly owned one. This one is privately owned by the Prince and Princess de Merode. The interior has badly flaking paint and the items on display are quite well worn, but it gives us an idea of how it used to look.
We leave this castle and head to a close by aire right on the Loire at La Daguenniere. This is just down from Angers which seems like one of those cities you dont want to stop too close to as it seems heavily populated and not quaint and cute like some you see. On the eastern side there is a huge gypsy camp which we want to stay well away from. They have such a terrible reputation in Europe and it is irrelevant what country they are from as they could be from anywhere really.
This is a lovely little spot we stop at and it is a very warm day so since the washing has been done we take all our mattresses and bedding and sit them in the sun. We look a bit like bogans when doing this but it is necessary every few weeks. We would love a dip in the river but it is flowing a little too fast to do that. We have walked into the little village to ask the hairdresser if they have any free appointments, but for about the 5th time now its a no.
The next morning we continue following the Loire around until we reach Saumur. This place seems really lovely and the castle looks out over the entire town centre. There is a free camper park, but only for day time and it isnt a far walk into town. This castle doesnt have any grounds to speak of being on top of a hill but they are doing quite extensive renovations to it which is necessary to preserve its history.
This castle was owned by a private owner who bought the castle after he fell in love with it and wanted to preserve the history of the marriage between Anne of Bretagne and King Charles. He ended up giving the castle to the French government to keep the history alive. It was a very interesting castle and this fellow seemed to have collected items from the era including many talestries and paintings. After the castle we walked into town where we finally found a coiffure who would cut Scots hair. He walked out a new man….half his luck. The hairdresser quipped in his best English that he now looked like a teenager after cutting his hair.
It was a dreadfully hot day, probably into the 30’s. We walked around town, buying a sandwich and a beer at the carrefour before making our way up the very steep hill back to the carpark. We continue driving to another free park for the night, stopping on the way for a picture at Chateau de Ussy which was already closed for the night. We ended up in a little village called Langeais in the castle carpark all on our own.
