Back to the Loire

No internet access for 2 weeks so there will be a rush of postings.

19 July

On the way up to the Loire Valley we called into Vichy, a town favoured by Napoleon III and featuring mineral springs. The springs all have names, including Lucas, and only 2 of them may be “taken” without a doctors prescription. The doctors prescription is easily obtained – a local pharmacy will send people to a local doctor and hey presto you have your 'carte' to enter and drink water with the smell of sulphur drifting round you (GB input!). As we walked past the circular building that houses the spring outlet – glass fronted on all sides – we saw mothers with their children imbibing – supposed to cure all ills. There is a park around the area some of the springs occur with a “colonade” or covered walkway around it, but the surface of the park is mainly gravel between the trees – possibly a big petanque court? The colonade dates back to Napoleon who wanted people to walk and enjoy his park whatever the weather. Some now are fronted by shops but most is open. The buildings in the city centre that we saw were 19th-21^st century and substantial with arcades and pedestrian ways.

We wandered down to the next park along the river which was pleasant with grass, flower beds and 2 walkways along the river bank. There was what looked like a practice for a water skiing race with several high power speed boats towing skiers on single skis at high speed up and down the river. Wow – what an adrenaline rush they must have had – it was thrilling to watch – the speed just blew me (GB again) away. No-one that we saw fell off, but at the speed they were travelling it would hurt if they did.

A brief stop for lunch at a rest area on the motorway that was named “Aire du Centre France” so it probably is close to the geographical centre of the country.

We had a little problem finding our accommodation, as we only had a reference to the town. We inquired at a cafe and were sent 5km out into the country down increasingly small twisty lanes through the fields and then dense forest – the tiny road that runs between the forest whose boughs meet overhead is so beautiful and has me creating stories about the animals that must live in there - until we emerged into an open area with a 19^th century mansion and a huge church, obviously not in use as the interior was open,but largely intact with a plastic sheet roof over it. Apparently this was the Abbey Aigues-Vive which was in use from the 11^th century until the French Revolution, when the abbey was sold to a roofing contractor for salvage of the roof. Given 200 years of neglect the structure is in remarkably good condition. Anyway we found a building marked Gite du France and called in to find that we were booked into another gite that was around the corner. After 50 metres we found a crossroad with 2 lots of wheel tracks leading into the field, one apparently going to a ruined barn. We tried the other and found our host who redirected us past the ruined barn to our cottage. It is surrounded by high grass with a horse paddock on one side with views over a pond and the forest and very peaceful.There are mole hills! Our hostess has never seen a mole but the fellas are certainly here – their hills are everywhere – more power to the moles I say! (GB again)

20 July

GB here: Well! Stephen has done it again. We are buried in the country with no sounds other than those of animal or birds – no internet and limited cell phone coverage. This gite is rustic and quaint – such a comfy bed ( some beds on our travels have been lovey to look at and are hard to repose on!)

After a quick trip to the supermarket before it closed (Sunday hours) we lazed around the Gite and went for a walk around the property visiting the lake and finding 2 yurts, one is a “utility” shelter with fully equipped kitchen and bathroom. This Yurt is built entirely from local materials “with our little hands' as our hostess says. The walls seems to of hay bales to be replaced by straw and mud which will set like concrete. This 'yurt has everything you could want, fridge, stove, sink bench, dining table and chairs with an extension 'out front' of up turned logs for hanging out on and beyond the covering room a wonderful and obviously well used mud fire pit! Their son and his scoutmasters and fellow scouts use this place as do people wanting outdoor living. Right beside the pond – how cool is that. The other yurt is obviously for sleeping and probably bought for the job – but it was securely locked up. 

We also found an elderly boat which had only one paddle and that one was leaning at a precarious angle into the lake waters. Mole hills accompanied our walk! So cool to know we are not alone.

The forest here has low undergrowth, lots of ferns border the roads – some are bracken and no vines looping between trees so is quite open under the thick canopy. We think it is maintained for hunting and would be good for deer but – not on the land owned by our hosts.Matilde and her husband Monsieur Olivier are anti hunting and very green. Matilde says there are red fox here, owls – we hear them at night and they do not say 'Toowit toowoo!” and are completely unlike the cry of our gorgeous morepork, etc. Matilde is a producer of videos and works for the local zoo.Arnold aka Monsieur Olivier is a web designer and needs to live near Paris. Near Paris? Here? We could do that!

We see 4 horses from our stable door of our gite – 2 white, one gorgeous long legged brown horse – all of whom are several?? hands high - and a smaller blonder / brown horse. (Our hosts' 2 teenage children are off on summer holidays) There is another horse in / beside the barn who is on his own ( I suspect to leave the ladies alone) / or her own – stroppy mare? with a generous sized paddock to cavort in. 

The stables the other 4 horses have are generous in size but I am very uneasy about the amount of mud and dung in their stalls – not well tended but then maybe horses are used to living ankle deep in dung? I don't think so – there is a dung heap as we pass the barn – covered, kind of, with straw but there is a heap more on the floor of the stables. Having said that there is a large paddock the stables are set in that they have to hang out in. 

The hosts also have 2 dogs- one a loveable bouncy brown stray who wants to love everyone he meets – they found him abandoned and adopted him.And the other is a gorgeous well bred dude who looks a lot like a white aristocratic wolf hound!

As mentioned above we walked around the pond to the yurts and then down a lane, ending up in what Matlide calls the 'village' – just the few dwelling we encountered as we drove in. BUT – we explored the abandoned Abbey – found the out door chapel commemorating St Giles. His statue depicts and man warmly and protectively holding a deer. The legend has it that St Giles hated hunting of any animal. One day, while on his usual 'rounds' he encountered a medieval hunter who had his bow and arrow set to shoot a hind – he held out his hand to stop the arrow which was pierced by the arrow and the hind was saved.

So quiet – so serene

21 July:

Today we went to Chateu de Chenonceau – on the Cher river. This stunningly beautiful chateau is the result of what women can do …. In 1515 Tomas Bohier manage to acquire the existing medieval building from the owners the Marques by calling in their debts to the king. He was a court minister to Charles VIII. However it was his wife Katherine Briconnet who oversaw most of the excavation of the Marques site – leaving only the keep and the forecourt, and their subsequent building endeavours.

The interior of the Chateau still has much evidence of the Bohiress building and their motto –that goes something like this' If I complete this building I will be remembered' – yes, he got that right!

Nothing lasts for ever and the Bohires got into financial strife for one reason or another - c'est histoire – and it was about to go onto the market as there were several enthusiastic bidders but NON! The then king's favourite lady , one Diane de Poitiers decided she wanted it and what she wanted she got form Henry II. She set to and added gardens, mulberry trees for silk worms etc and a bridge over the Cher attached to the Chateau etc.

Twenty years senior to her King, Diane is described as one cool, calculating woman who spent a lot of time and effort on 'preserving' her body... daily baths in the cold Cher river and she provided huge support to the cosmetic industry in France in her investments in products to extend her youth...

The happy couple met originally when she, as a 27 year old woman , and wee 7 year old Henry VII were both sent as hostages in a political maneuver – in lieu of the King of France. Wee Henry was distressed and apparently she gave him a comforting kiss – which he never forgot! Fast forward several years and we have Diane ensconced in this gorgeous chateau to which we read Henry's wife ( Catherine De Midci ) was forced to visit. Ouch! When Henry died from a splinter of lance ( he had been jousting) in his eye Catherine's comment was “ he has been the source of all my agony” - they did manage to produce 5 children however. 

There is one room called the bedroom of the 5 queens. Mary Stuart was one of these – she was married to Francois I! Apparently she spoke of her happy times in the Loire valley once incarcerated by her cousin ER I

So what next – well, Diane left pretty quick smart – Catherine claimed Chenonceau for her own and Diane exchanged it for Chaumont sur Loire – less grand but actually it had more land! Ever the business woman.

There is still so much more to tell – in the booklet and in our heads.Fascinating people – they intrigue us both.

BUT -let's not forget Madame Louise Dupin who was a very intelligent (and good to look at also) woman who managed to keep the marauding hordes of revoloutionaires out of the chateau by convincing them that no royalty had ever resided there(Hmm) – just to make sure she had covered all her bases she filled the chapel with fire wood. She was good and gracious woman who the villagers loved and they backed her to the hilt – what a woman! Oh yes and she was a great patron for the arts- painters, philosphers etc. ( she the grandmother of George Sands – pen name of a woman writer)

OK – a quick lunch of lovely local salads in a cafe in the lovely grounds and then on to look at the carriages – mostly those used by local villagers and then through the vegetable and flower gardens – which are extensive.They supply flowers for the Chateau- as you wander through the Chateau you are aware of the massive vases of fragant smelling bouquets that are obviously all fresh,delicate fragrances as they would have been historically. The variety of vegetables were also stunning – we have never seen such a variety of aubergines, silver beet ( some with bright red steams and others with bright yellow!)

Finally we plodded back to the car and decided to drive to Amboise and see what we would see.

What a lovely medieval centre of town – it reminded us of Chinon in a more modest way – we looked at the Chateau, wandered the streets to Clos de Luce, a grand manor house, where Leonardo da Vinci was invited by King Francois I (on the advice of his sister) in 1516 to live and carry on his inventions, explorations and paintings ( he bought the Mona Lisa with him from Italy as he traveled on a mule) He ended the last 3 years of his life as the grace and favour guest of the king . There after the king set up his mistress in Clos de Luce and then it became a house for ladies of easy virtue!

Currently the garden and the Clos de Luce houses replicas and life size reproductions of LvD – we have seen many of these already in Europe. Stephen's comment as we left was that LvD provided the basic ideas, sketches and material that was built on and developed further by many people. His sketches and note books were in code – so no one really knows what his intentions were – e.g the sketches for the helicopter may be accurately interpreted or may well have been for something completely different.

We wandered back down into the centre d'Amboise – feasting our eyes again on the chateau that towers above the streets and shops – had a wee glass of vino and then drove to our gite - picking up ingredients for the gorgeous dinner Stephen cooked for us.

Stephen has just returned from talking to Matilde re the zoo ( tomorrow's adventure) and found out the following:

The couple bought this site 14 years ago. Prior to that they were in the south of france working the Olivier family vine yard. When the family sold it they moved up to the Loire. Arnold is a web designer and needs to live near Paris . This would explain the somewhat overgrown nature of the property!! Limited time to tend the fields.

The gite we are in was the cottage for the game keeper for the nearby mansion and the property of our hosts was originally that of the gardener – they have added to the property since they took possession. In the original house though there are large windows through which the gardener took the orange plants inside in winter! Hence the name of their property! ( It is all falling into place!)

So – tonight for diner:

Our starters were a pate de foie porc – ohh! On fresh baguette Yumm. And a tomato and basil buschetta I made using local ingredients and suggestions, served on miniature lovely crisp toast breads

Stephen cooked chicken breasts stuffed with local ham and cheeses – and new potatoes with butter and parsley!

My turn tomorrow night using a Loire Valley recipe!

(Later – not my best effort! Needed a larger chunk of lamb and had to used dried thyme as no fresh available. The Thyme was too strongly flavoured – I will do it again in NZ where the kitchen is wide enough to bend over to the oven!)