Some people get all the luck! This geezer has long flowing locks AND an angel hanging on his shoulder.
(I have the angel but just lack the hair!) His mate, immediately to his left, however, looks desperately ill!
We are in L’Église Saint Martial de Chateauneuf-sur-Loire. The well nourished gentleman was Louis Phélypeaux de La Vrillière. A politician, who served as Secretary of State for Protestant Affairs from 1629 until his death in 1681. That’s 52 years in the job! We’ve moved on in the UK. Now we can easily get through three ministers a month! (I’m still not sure who his skeletal friend was!)
Just down the road from the church, we found another nice restaurant, La Gabare (The Barge). Understandable, we are very close to the river here. It’s crowded with locals, so it’s probably good…
… and back on the street re-nourished, a real first for us – a “cat café “!!! To get in, humans have to pass through a cat-lock, two separate doors with a hand wash station between. Stops the residents catching bugs off our hands or getting loose in town!
There were cat exploring stations, and walkways high up on the walls and suspended from the ceiling. To be fair all the cats were asleep! Never seen anything like it before! BYOC.
The modern-day version of the market “halle” makes a great place to park out of the sun which is getting hotter by the day.
A few kilometres downstream we find the town of Jargeau and immediately stumble on a statue of Joan of Arc.
Apparently, in 1429 she delivered this “city” from the English (with a little help from her colleagues!). I hadn’t realised she only lived for 19 years (1412-1431). Today, she would still be at college amassing a huge debt and looking forward to not getting a job in the army!
There are hundreds of really old houses in this area. In fact, all over France. The old parts of French towns often do look REALLY old. Sometimes, almost derelict. It’s something only rarely seen in the UK.
The riverside walk takes us past two gabares of restaurant fame.
They must be touristified. I can’t imagine any commercial function these flat-bottomed barges of yesteryear would serve in the 21st century.
Driving north from our campsite we happened on the town of Lorris. And the Hotel du Point du Jour. There was a gaggle of tables laid out under the trees in the park opposite the hotel. People at most of them. Eating. They just had to be joined!
Super lunch – we made plans on the spot to return for Sunday lunch in a couple of days’ time.
We just hope madame la hostess will still be alive. Although there are no moving cars in the photo, quite a few pass. All service involves crossing the road. It is an accident waiting to happen!
Le Halles de Lorris.
The tourist board description, loosely translated says:
“With its admirable oak frame, the old market hall of Lorris, which dates back to the Middle Ages, has survived the centuries and remains today the beating heart of the town.”
Whatever, it looks REALLY ancient – and I bet any money that the modern-day equivalents, like that in Chateauneuf-sur-Loire pictured above, will be total wrecks in 50-100 years’ time!
We are falling well behind our three miles (at least) a day, walking target. So we need a nice level place to do a bit of catching up! A canal towpath would fit the bill!
The Canal d’Orléans. A 74 km waterway with 28 locks of which only seven are operational. It was closed in 1954 although the towpath is maintained as a cycle way. The resident catfish population seems happy not to be disturbed.
It’s still getting hotter each day. We started in Brittany with daytime temperatures in single digits (down to 2°C one night!). Then we had a cloudy, slightly wet phase for a week. Now we are facing temperatures well into the 30s. There was some talk of 37°C, certainly we had 33° for several days. And our caravan has almost no shade through the hottest part of the day.
But still we battle on, although the three mile canal-side walk transmogrified into a 1.5 mile dash between shady sections of the towpath!
Another day saw a visit to Bellegarde. The restoration of the magnificent chateau and surrounding gardens has literally just been completed. The Café du Chateau had a number of customers out the front with a superb view – of the street. We requested to be allowed to sit on a deserted terrace out the back door which had an even better view – that of the chateau and gardens – uninterrupted! “Why? OK, if you insist!”
The compulsory Hotel de Ville …
… much more interestingly though, round the corner, a man in a space suit trying to deal with a swarm of bees in someone’s roof space!
Route barrée par abeilles! You didn’t know this was going to be a remote learning exercise, did you!
Now for our next excursion from this campsite. To Montargis. “Venice of the Gâtinais.” So called because of the multitude of canals and waterways running through the town. There are, allegedly, 132 bridges in Montargis. I managed to cross twenty of them. Some, several times.
You wouldn’t want to walk down this pavement during heavy rain, what with all those extended gargoyles above!
The best-known legend of Montargis is that of the “Dog of Montargis.” In the story, Aubry de Montdidier, a courtier of King Charles V of France, was murdered around 1400 in a forest near Montargis by Robert Macaire, an envious knight. After his death, Mondidier’s dog showed a remarkable hostility to Macaire. King Charles decreed a trial by combat in the town between the dog and Macaire, who was armed with only a cudgel. After the dog won the battle, Macaire confessed to the crime and was hanged. I could have made that up myself!
Sunday, our last day in the area. The promised luxurious lunch in Lorris …
… followed by a restorative, if excessively hot, walk around the lake, L’Etang des Bois.
In fact, the path got progressively more overgrown and in the end we decided at the half way point that enough was enough and retraced our steps to a very hot car and then home!
Just so you know roughly where we are, I’ve included a map of France. The red pin is our campsite at St-Père-sur-Loire and the blue marker is us in real time at Autun. After the fridge tragedy!
Lovely photos of rural France and very interesting tales to accompany them . I have visited Colmar and it is amazing. You step back into history just as you are doing. Safe travels.