We feel the need to move today but as the temperatures inland are still in the mid 30s we have driven a mere 20 minutes to an Aire outside the small town of Guérande north of Saint-Nazaire.

The centre of the town dates back to medieval times and is completely surrounded by ramparts…

The main entrance is through St-Michel Gate (sorry, couldn’t find a St Rhys Gate) and if you look closely you can just about spot a Welsh flag…..

Inside the walls are many narrow streets with many of the shops selling the produce of the local Salt Marshes……

The church at the centre of the town (St-Aubin) dates back to the 12th century but now features a fascinating art installation representing the many people of the local community who have passed away……..

….there were yet more impressive stained glass windows…

We had to finish the day with some of the local cider which, interestingly enough, was served in a cup not a glass…

Nothing much to report today, just doing our best to stay cool. We had a very nice breakfast…

….and one of us chilled out with a dip in the Atlantic (along with the seagulls!)…..

Last night was very hot with little breeze. We checked the weather forecast this morning which shows the next 3 days as even warmer with a max temperature of 36°C!

An adjustment of the plan was called for. Our original idea was to gradually work our way down the Loire Valley to the sea. The forecast for the coast seems a fair bit cooler so we have decided to reverse the plan and have spent the day driving west past Angers and Nantes stopping at a site near the beach at Le Croisic to the west of Saint-Nazaire.

There’s a bit more breeze here so we’ll stay in this area for a few days before heading back east.

As you might expect from a beach campsite it’s a bit on the commercialised side but at least we can see the sea!

We left the Amboise campsite this morning heading west alongside the Loire, skirting around Vouvray and Tours to stop at our third and last major chateau – Villandry.

This site is famous for it’s grounds – six quite different but beautifully maintained gardens….

..…and how’s this for a vegetable plot…….

We then headed a little further west stopping for night at a campsite on the river in Chinon. After another long hot day we were delighted to find a bar next door which overlooks the river and the fortress guarding over the town……

Off to Château de Chenonceau today, a quite spectacular building stretching out across the river. It has a fascinating history being given by King Henri II to his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, and then when the King died his widow, Catherine de Médici, turned up and turfed Diane out and settled in herself!

It is one of the most photogenic sites we have been to, especially the huge gallery built over the river…….

Back to the campsite for a BBQ dinner but not before a few pre-dinner drinks overlooking Amboise..

Amboise is dominated by the Chateau (also once owned by King Francois I) which overlooks the river and town.

Walking across the bridge from the campsite, we spotted one of the traditional flat bottomed Loire boats (the river can be pretty shallow)……

The town is very attractive with lots of narrow streets full of shops and restaurants (to which we returned for dinner).

Today we walked through the town to Clos Lucé, the villa where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life.  He moved there at the request of King François who was a big fan of his work! The building has been restored, with his bedroom and many workshops looking as if he had only just left.  Much of his work showing his artistic and engineering genius is on display with the gardens containing full scale models of many of his designs that were way ahead of his time – a helicopter, a tank and many others.

Oddly enough there was also a collection of Ferraris and Masseratis in the gardens on their way to Le Mans – Sue was quick to show me which one she’d like to have….

Incidentally I’m not so sure about Sue’s ideas about making earrings out of fruit – she claims it’s perfectly normal behaviour but I’ll let you be the judge of that!

So as the sun sets on another beautiful day there’s just enough time for some of the local sparkling wine……

Well after a very warm night we’re off to tour Chambord. It’s certainly over the top by any standards- begun in 1519 as a weekend hunting lodge by King Francois I it quickly snowballed into one of the most expensive projects ever – 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces and 84 staircases including the central double helix spiral staircase apparently based on a design by Leonardo  da Vinci (the King was a big fan – but more on this later…).  Strangely enough, during the total 32 years of his reign the King only stayed here for 42 days!

The first and second floors contain an assortment of recreation of the King’s apartments and various exhibitions but the roof has a amazing collections of towers and chimneys that look like some thing straight out of Hogwarts.

Mid-afternoon we drove west along the Loire to Amboise. We are staying on the campsite on an island in the river. This is the view from the site…..

Tomorrow we will amble into Amboise ……..

So this is where we are staying tonight…….

….. not too shabby but first things first……

As promised, this morning after breakfast (which featured an impressively named make of bread …)

…we walked along the river and then up some rather steep roads into the centre of Chartres

It was a very attractive walk but the town is most famous for the cathedral and the quite spectacular stained glass windows…….

After walking back to the camp site we packed up and drove south into the Loire valley itself. We arrived around 4pm at the car park at Chambord – the biggest and most spectacular of the chateaux in France. The location is well set up for Motorhomes, the section of the car park we we are in is like a basic camp site and the parking fee covers a 24 hour stay.  We can walk around the grounds at our leisure tonight and will visit the chateau itself in the morning – so more on the building tomorrow.  In the grounds we also managed to find a pretty high tech ‘cave’ offering local wine tasting – well we couldn’t say no!

Incidentally the temperature this afternoon has been high – around 30 degrees C – with the forecast showing it going even higher!

Nothing too much to record today as much of it consisted of a long drive south.

We left Montreuil mid morning and drove south, keeping well to the west of Paris.  We passed through the outskirts of Rouen before arriving at a campsite in Chartres around 5pm.

There is a very nice walk from here (about 1.5 miles) along the river into the old town. We are keen to see the very famous cathedral here but decided we were too knackered and just had a short stroll by the river ……..

……..before getting the BBQ out and having a very enjoyable meal outside the van in the warm evening light.

Hopefully we’ll get to the Cathedral in the Morning!

The van was all packed up ready to go when we hit a bit of a snag. We took the motorhome off the driveway and tried to move our Ford S-Max off the road in its place.  After multiple attempts the S-Max refused to start! With the Eurotunnel crossing booked and time running out we decided to leave the pile of **** on the road and call the RAC when we get home!

After the delayed start the drive down to Folkestone was  smooth and we had just enough time at the terminal to grab some food before we drove (carefully!) on to the train.

We headed for a first night’s stop at Montreuil, about an hour south of Calais.  Rather than just using the motorways we told the Satnav to avoid toll roads and we ended up with a nice trip through the French countryside.

At Montreuil there’s a very good (and free) aire, which unfortunately was full:

We stopped in the car park next to the aire which was fine for the night apart from having to avoid the eight(!) coaches used as school buses which turned up at 5:30pm and disappeared at 6pm.

The town is very unusual in that in is built within some old fortified walls and you can walk the entire length of the ramparts around the town.  The wall was extremely high in places with no fence between the path and edge – not a walk for those with a fear of heights.