Saturday 13th October 2012 - Home

Heavy rain overnight was followed by thunderstorms this morning. The journey to Calais was extremely wet with flooded roads and water pushing off drain covers. It was still raining hard when we got to Majestic in Calais and a targeted shop saw us on the way to the port within 20 minutes. This meant that we were early enough to be offered an earlier ferry, which we gratefully accepted. The ferry was not as smart as the Pride of Britain but was comfortable enough and we were soon at Dover.

The journey back was uneventful except for the massive (10 mile?) queue on the opposite carriageway of the M25. We felt very sorry for all of those caught up in it and were very glad that it wasn't us.

Time now to plan for the next, hopefully longer, sojourn in the Spring.

Friday 12th October 2012 - Lumbres

We are never quite convinced by Michelin's 'picturesque routes' as shown on their small scale (1:1,000,000) map of France – some are fantastic and some don't seem to justify the classification. We came across both types on today's journey. The route through Evreux and on over the river Seine to Les Andelys was generally pleasant but the 'picturesque' parts were not prettier than the other and actually included a highly industrialised area. However, much later, the D316 (not the D49) from Aumale down to the A28 near Blangy-sur-Brestle was lovely. This is the valley of the river Brestle and the road, running above the river, gave lovely views of the surrounding hills and down into the many lakes in the valley.

Having missed out on a restaurant meal last night, we decided to try to find one of the many restaurants that offer midday special menus. We were approaching Formerie at the right time for lunch and headed for the town centre, parking in the main square. On the way in we noticed an hotel and restaurant that appeared to be quite popular. Walking back to it we found that the Hotel Saint Pierre was offering a €12 (£9.60), 3-course menu and the restaurant looked busy. The food was excellent and there was plenty of it – two choices for both the starter and main course and four choices for desert with the option of cheese instead. Excellent food, good portions and excellent value for money – we have noted it as a stopping point for future trips.

The morning journey was in bright sunshine but heavy showers interrupted the sunshine in the afternoon. They say that every cloud has a silver lining and we were rewarded by a succession of rainbows that painted our journey.

Arriving at the Leclerc in Lumbres we parked up in our usual position with the view over the countryside and set off to buy all of the goodies to take back to England.

Photos: The Hotel Saint Pierre in Formerie – highly recommended for its lunch menu.

Thursday 11th October 2012 - Rugles

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 12^th 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 16^th 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.

Wednesday 10th October 2012 - Turquant

We headed back to the Loire valley today but planned to call in at a couple of sites shown on the AA map. However, there were no road signs to the dolmen that we were looking for and likewise there were no signs to the 'Pigeonnier Souterrain' (an underground pigeon coup – I kid you not!), so we carried on north.

After two 'Route Barree' (closed roads – the French have loads of them!) and one that should have been closed (we had to squeeze between a ditch and an aggregate lorry after a long wait), we arrived at the Loire past large vineyards of the Saumur region. We drove along to the small village of Turquant famous for its wine, mushrooms, dried apples, tufa stone and troglodytic houses and took the last place in the aire. The tufa stone, a free limestone, is very soft, easy to extract and easy to carve. It makes an excellent building stone and was mined in the 11^th and 12^th centuries from the cliffs along the edge of the river. This left holes that were ideal for habitation and, given that the area was unstable, it provided a safe and free place to live. In fact, it was possible to extract the stone and sell it whilst building your house. Later, as the area became safer, the residents started building houses outside the caves but still leaving the caves as part of their homes. Many of these semi-troglodytic houses still exist and we saw a selection of them as we took a marked walk around the village. The walk also included long views north over the Loire and many wine producers with signs offering tasting and sales. Having seen grapes being mechanically picked earlier in the day, here we saw them being picked by hand and the smell of fermentation hung over the village.

The village caves are also used for the production and storage of wine, the growing of mushrooms (producing 1,000 tonnes a month in 30 kilometres of the ex-quarry tunnels) and for drying apples, a traditional activity now only done for the tourists as the caves are open to the public.

Jane discovered signs for a free WiFi hotspot in a small tourist information room attached to the Mairie (mayor's house) – the first opportunity for WiFi that we had found this holiday. Unfortunately, when I took the computer over there was no sign of the wireless network.

Photos: The Welcome to Turquant stresses the wine producing and just to the right (out of shot) was a stone mason producing fireplaces from the local tufa rock; One of the wine producers based in the cave – wine production was in full swing inside; A semi-troglodytic dwelling; There has been a distinct lack of wildlife in my photographs this holiday – Jane discovered this specimen when we went for a short walk late in the evening. We then nearly stood on a tiny frog hopping along the pavement. The rest of the walk was spent looking down, watching our feet!

Tuesday 9th October 2012 - Vasle

The weather has been very unsettled over the past few days, warm, especially at night, with a mixture of light rain, sharp showers and bright, hot sunshine. Last night was especially warm with the outside temperature at 07:00 this morning, just before dawn, being 17°C.

We arrived at the Tumulus of Bourgon at 10:00 when it opened and started our visit by walking to the collection of five tumuli. On the way we passed excellent installations showing the latest ideas as to how the tumuli were constructed. Four stages had been reconstructed showing the placing of the initial stones for the wall of the burial chamber; placing the large capstone on the chamber; the completed tumulus prior to it being covered by the mound; the dolmen of today – the tumulus after the effects of erosion and human activity over the millennia.

We then passed a reconstruction of an enormous 3^rd millennium BC communal thatched building before we arrived at the cemetery. The tumuli were intriguing – different shapes and sizes, reused in different periods and then there was an enigmatic low bank (a tumulus without burials?) that separated the cemetery into two parts. It was possible to enter the burial chambers of most of the tumuli – some had more than one. The tumuli date from approx. 4700 to 3500 BC, a period of nearly 2,000 years. This makes it one of the most ancient and important example of funerary architecture in the world.

Many tumuli in England were plundered in Victorian times when it became fashionable for land owners to take their family and friends to these ancient cemeteries and, while the family enjoyed a picnic, the workers dug down through the centre of the tumuli to find the burial at the centre. This was generally done in a very unscientific manner, so no records were kept and the finds lost. At Bourgon however it was different. Initially investigated by interested amateurs in 1840, it was purchased by the local authority in 1873 to ensure that it was protected for the future. They have done a very good job!

On the way back to the museum we passed an installation showing ideas of how megaliths were moved by the ancients. Experimental archaeology was performed using a 32 tonne block and logs. It took 200 people to pull the bock over the logs but when levers were used to turn the logs under the block (there is no evidence that the ancients used this technique), they were able to move the block with just 15 people.

We had been provided with an English language audio guide that was extremely useful as we went around the external exhibits and it also covered the museum exhibits. There were extensive exhibits on general prehistoric archaeology, specific sites in France and world-wide, films (our audio guide gave us real-time translations to the commentary), and finds from the Bourgon site. It was very good, the only niggle being that there was very little audio commentary about the Bourgon finds.

We had spent nearly three hours at Bourgon and were very glad that we had decided to come back today.

We drove on to the ravine that we intended to visit yesterday, Puits d'Enfer (The Well of Hell). When we arrived at this popular beauty spot it started to pour with rain – we decided that we weren't that keen to see a small waterfall in a gorge!

Next on the list was the Gallo-Roman remains near Sanxay (Ruines Gallo-Roman d'Herbord). An umbrella was required as it was drizzling at times but we went to inspect the theatre, baths and temple. We have seen a few Roman theatres and this one was fairly run-of-the-mill but the baths and temple were impressive. We found out later from the curator that this is one of the best preserved Roman bathhouses in France. Walls stood to a great height and it was easy to see the construction of the different pools – Roman concrete supported remnants of the flooring that clearly showed the imprint of the tiles that lined the pools. In the hot pools, this floor was suspended 1.5 metres above the ground surface. This is where columns would have supported the pool allowing the hot air from the furnaces to circulate and heat the water above.

The temple complex consists of a large open area surrounded by a colonnaded terrace and with a 1^st Century BC temple at its centre. This is of Celtic design and is thought to have been built over an earlier Gaulish shrine. Four arms protrude from the octagonal centre below which there is a sacred spring. The Romans adopted the site (they liked to convert existing religious sites) and dedicated the temple to Apollo and Mercury. It appears to have become an important site for the Romans who came to be cured by its therapeutic waters.

Jane had spotted an aire in the 'All the Aires of France' book that said Vasles was a “sheep village; lots of items celebrating sheep”. We were both intrigued by this and many miles away we saw road signs directing the way to 'Vasles – Mouton Village'. We decided to make that our overnight stop.

I must say that it was disappointing. The aire was good but the town is uninteresting unless you want to visit the Mouton Village that has sheep from all around the world, including Scotland but, strangely, not Wales.

Photos: Bourgon - Building a tumulus, here showing how the walls of the burial chamber were constructed; Tumulus F at Bourgon that has three separate burial chambers; Inside the burial chamber of Tumulus A; The Roman Temple at Sanxay.

Monday 8th October 2012 - Pamproux

We thought about going into Poitiers today but decided to leave that for another year. Vivonne is an excellent location to visit Poitiers by public transport as there is a main TGV railway line and a good bus service into the town. The railway station, where the buses also stop, is just 200 metres from the motorhome aire.

When touring, it is important to keep an open mind. We plan roughly what we are going to do that day but are always willing to change our mind. Today was one of those days where we ending up doing none of what we had planned.

We set off west from Vivonne heading for a ravine shown as a point of interest on the AA map but came across a tourist sign to the Tumulus of Bourgon. We had seen this on the map but hadn't noticed that there was also a museum. On a whim, I turned off the main road and followed the signs. Monday is the day when many museums and sites are closed and many sites are not open in low season. Sure enough, the museum was closed but we had a look at the outside and that was enough to convince us that this was a major site and well worth a visit. Establishing that it was open tomorrow, we decided that we would return in the morning. Now we had to decide what we were going to do for the rest of the day.

There are ancient silver mines in Melle and, given that we were now not far away, we decided to investigate. We arrived to find two coaches of school children there – it was open! However, it turned out that it was only open for schools during the week at this time of the year and we couldn't wait until the weekend to see it. We headed out to the abbey at Celles-sur-Belle when Jane had noticed that there was an aire where we could have lunch.

The aire is in a fantastic position next to the very attractive abbey. We met another British couple there – Eli and Maureen were on their way to Spain for six months and we stood chatting with them in the hot sun for ages until we decided that we really had to investigate the village. It was possible to walk around the grounds of the abbey where there was a huge and intriguing 'Insect Garden'. The abbey church was lovely with a simple interior and elegant columns towering up to the roof.

We pottered back to Pamproux, close to the Tumulus of Bougon and found the aire on the edge of the village. It seemed like a peaceful location but then the lorries started driving past. Half of the French army were being transported past our aire. When I checked our map, I found a military area just east of the village and, judging by how quickly the lorries were turned around, that was their destination. Fortunately, the lorries stopped by about 22:00 and we were able to get a good night's sleep.

Photos: The Celles-sur-Belle abbey and the lovely doorway and soaring columns of the abbey church.

Sunday 7th October 2012 - Vivonne

We were off early to walk to the banks of the Loire where we joined many other people at the very large market. The market is held on Fridays and Sundays and is well worth a visit. Everything is there, from plants to ironmongery, double-glazing to clothes and, of course, large number of food stalls covering meat, fish, shellfish (including Breton mussels and oysters), cheese and vegetables. My favourite was the bread stall exhibiting beautiful breads cooked in a wood-fired oven. We were modest in our purchases – four saucissons, a French salami (I chose duck, wild mushroom, smoked and choriso); a wooden pestle to replace my broken one and one of those lovely loaves.

Jane had taken a fancy to the area around Poitiers and the AA France map showed some interesting historical and archaeological sites there so we set off across country. The Amboise aire has no water or dumping facilities so our first port of call was the aire at Athee-sur-Cher where we were able to fill our fresh water tank and empty our waste water.

There were scattered vineyards in the gently rolling countryside on most of our journey but not the vaste areas that we have seen in the major wine-producing areas. There were many very small ones, perhaps only four or five rows of vines alongside large fields of sunflowers or maize, obviously these were the farmers personal vines.

We arrived at the very pretty river La Vienne and drove south alongside it, passing the impressive Château de Tauffou on the opposite bank, until we crossed the river to the village of Civaux. The map showed a Gallo-Roman Cemetery here, what it didn't show was that it was in the shadow of the enormous cooling towers of an EDF power station. The cemetery however was well worth the visit. Stone flags formed the perimeter and inside were hundreds of sarcophagi, half-burried, laying on the surface or propped up against the walls. It soon became clear that the stone wall was actually made entirely of the lids of sarcophagi. The cemetery started life in Roman times and continued to be used after the Roman times, right up to current times with the latest inscription that we saw dating to 2012. Some of the sarcophagi have been dated to the 6^th to 8^th century AD and some have re-used ancient (Roman?) columns and stele (gravestones). Fascinating – we have certainly never seen anything like it before.

Travelling west, we came to Château-Larcher were the map marked a Lanterne des Morts (a lantern of the dead). The map showed a number of these from here to the coast and we were intrigued to find out what they were. Following signs, we passed the Mediaeval château that gave the village its name. Houses have been built against the extant parts of the castle whilst other parts are in ruins. The castle chapel was turned into the village church in the 12^th Century with a new, impressive entrance created in the castle walls. We were able to park a few metres further on and walk to the cemetery where we found the elegant, slim structure of the Lanterne des Morts. Fortunately, an extensive information board was attached to the cemetery gates and, with our limited grasp of French, we were able to establish that there are 30 such structures in the area and that they were built in the 10^th Century. The Château-Larcher Lanterne des Morts is a particularly good example in excellent condition. A lamp was put into the hollow structure through a door at the base and this produced a light through the openings at the top.

On then to Vivonne and the aire in the centre of the village next to the Tourist Information Office.

Photos: The Amboise market – bread cooked in a wood-fired oven; The cemetery in Civaux – the wall that surrounds the cemetery is made entirely of the lids of the ancient sarcophagi; The Lanterne des Morts at rench -Larcher.