We spent most of our second day driving south, through Alençon, around Le Mans and then down to Angers. We stopped at Camping d’Angers in Lac de Maine on the outskirts of the city. 

The following morning we caught a bus from outside the campsite into the city centre and paid a visit to the very impressive Angers Chateau – a huge fortress built in the 13th century to protect the city. The walls are almost half a kilometre long housing 17 towers each about 30 metres high. Inside the walls there is an impressive royal residence and chapel and the moat has been converted to some attractive formal gardens. The biggest draw in the Chateau however is the Apocalypse tapestry, commissioned in 1375 by Louis I, Duke of Anjou. It is 100 metres long and 6 metres high and tells the story of the Book of Revelations, the last text of the New Testament. In 1996 it was rehoused in a new gallery in the Chateau and we would certainly recommend a visit.

After a very pleasant lunch in a restaurant in the centre we took the bus back to the campsite, packed up the van and headed south to Saintes, stopping at the municipal campsite for 2 nights.