{"id":4272,"date":"2023-06-29T18:46:48","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T18:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4272"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:28:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:28:03","slug":"11-the-cher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4272","title":{"rendered":"11. THE CHER"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trip northwards from the Lot valley was fairly uneventful.\u00a0 Long, but uneventful.\u00a0 No “Routes Barr\u00e9es”.\u00a0 No low bridges.\u00a0 Just six hours driving.\u00a0 There was one brief “moment” when a passing driver was waving frantically at us and pointing to our roof.\u00a0 Just for a moment it brought back memories of the attempted hijack last year in Spain.\u00a0 However, this was a British caravanner who we had just parked beside in a rest area.\u00a0 One of our roof lights had slipped off its catch and was flapping about in the breeze.\u00a0 No problem.\u00a0 Soon fixed!<\/p>\n

Camping Les Cochards is located on the banks of the River Cher, just outside the village of St. Aignan.<\/p>\n

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Early morning tea as the mist clears…<\/p>\n

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… and as the sun sets…<\/p>\n

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It’s very peaceful here (if we discount our neighbours’ young boy who doesn’t talk, he just shouts.)\u00a0 However, on our third day here the local council decides to start clearing water-weed from the river just upstream of the campsite.\u00a0 They have two amphibious vehicles.<\/p>\n

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… and they start at 6.00 am.\u00a0 … and they are quite noisy!\u00a0 Still, the main reason for coming to this area was to visit Chateau Chaumont and the International Garden Festival.\u00a0 Cunningly, we chose the only really wet day to go.\u00a0 The advantages of this were that the gardens looked very “fresh” in the wet – and the showers had a distinctly discouraging effect on the groups of children visiting.\u00a0 The disadvantage was that we too got a bit wet despite two umbrellas and waterproofs!<\/p>\n

Ironically, the gardens this year were reflecting the need for “resilient”, drought-tolerant plantings.\u00a0 One thing that was noticeably absent was a grass lawn.\u00a0 Not a one in sight!\u00a0 However, a frequently occuring feature was water.\u00a0 Ponds, drainage arrangements, fountains and streams – although some of these were just dry rocky channels.\u00a0 A number of the gardens were apparently recovering from forest fires with charred trunks standing in what looked like coal.\u00a0 A few gardens seemed not to be following the brief and had wonderful displays of “cottage garden” plants.<\/p>\n

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And the use of mirrors gave the opportunity for the occasional selfie!<\/p>\n

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To us, the gardens seemed more subdued than on our previous visit, five years ago.\u00a0 The artistic installations were more or less unchanged – impressive, but unchanged.\u00a0 One huge “curtain\/mural” some 25 x 4 metres hung in one of the outbuildings…<\/p>\n

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… it was made of pull rings from drink cans!<\/p>\n

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Somebody has clearly got a drinking disorder!<\/p>\n

The chateau itself was typically grand…<\/p>\n

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With an internal courtyard…<\/p>\n

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… from which there was a superb, panoramic view of the Loire (with the occasional gabarre) …<\/p>\n

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We’ve ordered one of these beds for the caravan.\u00a0 Hope it comes flat-packed!<\/p>\n

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In the attic there was a multi-scteen exhibition of images based on flowers but with all the pixels mixed up in a dynamic, moving display on four massive, floor-to-ceiling screens.<\/p>\n

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Sounds odd.\u00a0 But it was rather good, actually.\u00a0 We watched it for ages.\u00a0 The artist is Davide Quayola.\u00a0 I’m sure his stuff can be seen on-line if you are interested.<\/p>\n

Talking of “pixels” and “mixed up” reminds me of an old veterinary friend in Helston.\u00a0 Noel always used the word “pixelated” to describe one’s condition after a night in the Blue Anchor drinking Spingo!<\/p>\n

Last time we were in Amboise we didn’t get to see much of the town.\u00a0 A quick walk beside the Loire. \u00a0A long-range photo of the chateau and we had to leave in a hurry.\u00a0 Circumstances!\u00a0 This time we went on my birthday and Glenda chose the restaurant for my birthday party!\u00a0 Restaurante L’Il\u00f4t.\u00a0 It gets five stars and is described as providing “Inventive gourmet plates prepared in a down-to-earth restaurant with an open kitchen.”\u00a0 It also provides very limited choices.\u00a0 Like it or lump it!\u00a0 We decided to like it – and we did an “Uncle Ed” with respect to parking.\u00a0 The narrow back streets of Amboise were absolutely jammed with cars (often apparently abandoned) in ALL available spaces.\u00a0 All except the one slot immediately<\/strong> outside the restaurant!\u00a0 Thank you Edwin!<\/p>\n

After lunch we ambled around the streets of the old town …<\/p>\n

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… where there were all sorts of low-to-minimal-calorie items for sale…<\/p>\n

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… and under the walls of the chateau …<\/p>\n

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… we found the loos publiques.\u00a0 That’s one thing French towns and villages do very well.\u00a0 At least the provision is good.\u00a0 Sometimes what is provided is “interesting “!\u00a0 So loos and free parking have been well catered for everywhere we’ve been.\u00a0 In major cities, things are probably rather different.<\/div>\n
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We enjoyed a visit to Montrichard, especially the Cheval Blanc and just aimlessly walking round the streets.\u00a0 And on the eve of my birthday,\u00a0 we hit Blois – the biggest town we’ve seen in recent weeks.\u00a0 Every year Blois puts on an evening of music, song and dance to celebrate my special day.\u00a0 Avignon does it too even in my absence!<\/div>\n
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Actually, as Glenda has pointed out, the Festival\u00a0 of Music occurs all across France on this date.\u00a0 A happy coincidence!<\/p>\n

Anyway this stay on the banks of the Cher has been another delightful experience!\u00a0 And, after a week, it’s time to head further north to Brittany.\u00a0 But I’ve just notced that the timeliness of this post is a little distorted.\u00a0 I must be pixellated!<\/p>\n

TBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The trip northwards from the Lot valley was fairly uneventful.\u00a0 Long, but uneventful.\u00a0 No “Routes Barr\u00e9es”.\u00a0 No low bridges.\u00a0 Just six hours driving.\u00a0 There was one brief “moment” when a passing driver was waving frantically at us and pointing to… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-and-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4272"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4340,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4272\/revisions\/4340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}