Oldies On Tour

Monday 28th April 2025

Our timing to visit was a little unfortunate as their boiler had packed up and hot water was ‘off”; these things always happen at the wrong time and a plumber was due this morning, though time was vague so after breakfast Christine and I headed out out into their rolling countryside with the dogs.  There house is surrounded by rolling hills, fields, woodland and completely out of the way, so we could let the dogs loose and off we went.  We had been given a route to follow but missed the particular turn off and kept going until we reached a small, isolated hamlet with a small church and decided we had gone too far but found another path around the back which took us to a very small, semi abandoned holy building with a pond known as the “Fontaine Notre-Dame“; we have no idea why it was there, semi buried in undergrowth but from here we found another path running through the woods.   It was a glorious and warm day, the dogs were in haven and we were wondering where we were!!!   We eventually got back onto the original road and headed back the way we came.

Back at the house the plumber was still scratching his head as to the reason why the boiler wouldn’t work and after a couple of hours or so reached the conclusion it was beyond repair.   It turns out this was the original boiler when they moved in all that time ago, so I don’t think the boiler owes them anything!!!!!

We now headed to a small coastal town for lunch but having been held up by the plumber we were rather on the late side, lunches had finished;  France is very different to Spain regarding mealtimes, still we eventually found a place that did platters of assorted cold meats, cheeses and a selection of smoked fish, so tucked in and followed this with ice-creams, all this whilst overlooking a large beach that a bulldozer was shifting a large mountain of sand about!!

Another pleasant evening before bed, tomorrow we start the last leg of our journey, heading to Dieppe, a drive of about 5-hours, to catch the ferry

Sunday 27th April 2025

Being a Sunday, breakfast didn’t start till 0800hrs but we had asked the night before if we could start at 0730hrs, and they agreed so on the dot we walked into the breakfast room not knowing what to expect, bearing in mind our bed had no sheets!!!   But I must say we were not disappointed, there was a good “ continental” spread and the bread and croissants were just out of the oven and still hot.    Being a Sunday, we expected to be the only “early-birds”, but wrong,  everybody seemed to want to get away early; I wonder why!!!!

Back on the road again for our last long leg heading up to Brittany to visit our friends Sandy and Wendy who have lived there for 20-years plus.   Being a Sunday the traffic was light and we made good progress though being a hot day, and as we headed north the sun shone straight into the back of the car and the poor pooches were very hot.  We wound the air-con right down but this wasn’t sufficient so had to stop numerous times to let them cool, down; leaving early certainly helped.

Around mis-afternoon we arrived and it didn’t take long for the dogs to remember their “uncle” Sandy, he was the one who introduced them to “The Ball Throwing”, something they are both obsessed with.   We “Adults” just sat in the warm sun enjoying the “vino” catching up, we hadn’t seen each other since my 80th back last May.

The afternoon soon became the evening and eventually bed called; where had the time gone?

Saturday 26th April 2025

We were down for breakfast on the dot of 0730 as we had a time constraint today; the vineyard we are visiting in the Loire Valley closes around 1700hrs and if we don’t get there, “tough” as they are not open on a Sunday, hence our early start!!!

Last night’s wind had disappeared and the sun was coming through, it was a promising start to the day.    Though we are in the back-of-beyond, it wasn’t too far to pick-up the motorway; peage all the way today, my-my how the costs seem to have escalated since our last visit.

Naturally we had to stop to stretch all “12” legs a couple of times but refrained from too much lunch as we had booked a table in a small restaurant we know in the village we are staying in.

We headed straight for the vineyard, parked up and started “Degustation de vins” , didn’t want to miss out!!!    The 2022 vintage of pouilly-fume we were after had all gone🥵🥵 it was very “quaffable” too, perhaps we should have bought an extra dozen or so cases,last visit.     Oh well keep an open mind and enjoy the new vintages, which we did and eventually left with a fine selection of Loire wines.

Job done so headed to our hotel, “Le Bon Labourer” in a small village called “La Charité-sur-Loire” a couple of miles away.  We’d stayed there on a previous occasion and though not “top notch”  comfortable for one night; well it was.   Bare in mind we have two dogs so the rooms are not always the best but tonight we’d seen it all. Two singles (which we’d ordered), but no top sheets, just a blanket!   Of course we didn’t know this when we arrived as once we’d dumped our cases we went for a walk along the river.

After a wash-and-brush up, we headed into the “town”, we had booked a table at a small restaurant “The Auberge de La Poule Noire”, the day before and what a good job we did, being a Saturday night it was very busy, they were turning people away!!!   This is a very popular restaurant and highly recommended, 

Back at our hotel and now realised about the lack of sheets, but too late to do something, we went to bed, another early start tomorrow as we head to Brittany, a drive of about 6-hours plus stops.