Yesterday afternoon we saw huge cumulus
clouds billowing up into the sky and, coupled with the high humidity
and lack of breeze, we expected a storm. There was however no rain
over night until just before the alarm went at 07:00 – just a few
heavy drops to start with and then it really got going. We opened the
blinds to let the lightning in and even at 09:00 this was the only
light, so dark were the skies. It continued to rain for the rest of
the morning, with showers in the afternoon.
We were heading back to Calais but, in
our normal manner, plotted a route across country taking in any
points of interest that we could find.
Crossing the Loire we left the Saumur
wine area and entered the Touraine area and drove through many miles
of vines where grapes were being picked in the heavy rain – not a
pleasant job! Leaving Touraine we followed rivers for many miles,
first the confusingly named Le Loir and then the Braye. Apart from
many minor châteaux, our major target on the route was the 'Ancienne
Commandarie des Templiers' at Arville. We knew nothing about it
except that it was shown on the AA map as a point of interest. We
arrived at lunch time and finished eating in time for the reopening
of the sites at 13:30. The Knights Templar built the fortified
building in the 12th century and used it as a base for the
Crusades. After the Knights Templar fell out in a major fashion with
the Roman Catholic church, during which many were tortured and
executed in very nasty ways, the buildings were taken over by the
Knights Hospitalier. We have to confess that we didn't know the
difference between the two groups but it appears that the
Hospitaliers were less militaristic and removed the defensive aspects
of the building.
Apart from the buildings themselves,
there is a museum that tells the history of the Templars.
Fortunately, we were able to pay a little extra for audio guides as
there were no English translations of the information boards. The
Templar church was particularly interesting, being unadorned but
beautifully constructed with a rounded wooden roof in the style of an
upturned boat keel. The exterior of the church showed aspects of
southern France and Italian architecture, influenced by sights that
the Templars had seen on the Crusades.
We drove up through the national park
'Parc Naturel Regional du Perche' just to the east of
Nogent-le-Rotrou but, apart from the preponderance of manor houses
shown on the map, didn't find it any more beautiful than the very
pretty landscape that we have driven through in the morning.
North then to Rugles where we stopped
at an aire marked in our 'All the Aires of France' book with an
asterisk denoting “a very nice site”. It is in a pleasant
position but no more so than many others that we have stayed at.
However it does have free electricity, which was very useful.
The aires book also said that there
were many restaurants in the town and we had decided to have a last
meal out in France before the end of the holiday. We walked into the
town past two old watermills and toured the town looking for
restaurants. We found one closed restaurant, a 'restaurant snack'
that we didn't fancy and a pizza restaurant, which looked pleasant
but didn't serve the French food that we wanted. We returned to the
van to have Cassoulet a la Tin followed by a gorgeous crème brulee
that we bought from a bakers in the town.
Photos: The Templar's building in
Arville; We didn't have time to stop for the night but decided to
check that all was well at our French second home (the 16th
Century Manoir de la Moussetiere); Rugles very close to the aire with
the water mill on the right and the town's public washing place
('Lavoir') on the left.
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