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Motorhome touring in the Loire Valley

Since picking up our motorhome in August it was only a matter of weeks before we were touring the Loire valley. It was on a visit to The Yorkshire Motorhome Show on 25th March 2017 that it all began and we took the plunge and bought ourselves a motorhome.

The one we chose was a Hobby T65 GE Optima Deluxe as it suited the motorhome layout that we required. After picking up our new motorhome in mid-August we set off for a trip to Scotland to test out the features and learn how everything worked. It was a steep learning curve (a really steep one) and we were also able to fix a couple of minor problems with our motorhome before our planned trip to France. So, as I sit here on Day 69 of our motorhome adventure typing this, it seems a long time ago.

Visiting Amboise

We are currently staying on the Amboise motorhome Aire on the River Loire, within 10 minutes walk of the beautiful town and Chateau. The Amboise Sunday morning market here is great and runs from 8am until 2pm every Sunday. It’s advertised as the largest in the area and it’s like a huge outdoors supermarket selling fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese and every other imaginable kind of food as well as clothing, leather goods, beds and furniture. Everything you could possibly need and a lot you don’t!

Our stop in Amboise is part of a short tour of the Loire area famous, of course, for historical and charming chateaux, and wine. The chateau at Amboise is well worth a visit. It was the 15th century residence of king Charles VIII and Amboise town is full of charming restaurants, cafes and shops.

Until today, 22nd October 2017, I have worn shorts every day since we arrived in France on 25th September. The weather has been mostly sunny and warm but now it’s Autumn it looks like the weather is changing so I’m looking forward to heading further south into Spain.

Visiting Saumur

We started our tour of The Loire Valley in the town of Saumur and we stayed for the night at the motorhome Aire at a cost of 12.80 Euros per night, which is only a short walk from the town centre. The leaves were falling from the trees and we awoke the next morning with a roof piled high with dead leaves and the problem of how to get the leaves off the roof. The answer? Drive as fast as the speed limit allows so that all the leaves blow off your motorhome roof!

Visiting Chinon

Our next stop was the campsite at the fortress town of Chinon costing 15 Euros per night and only a short walk across the bridge to the town centre. Chinon has a very impressive fortress that you access via a free lift from the town centre. We spent a couple of hours at Chinon Fortress which we really enjoyed. Standing on the fortress walls, as did Richard the Lionheart in the 12th century, I tried to imagine what it would be like being under siege for a year, which is what happened several times in Medieval times. We decided to spend 2 nights at Chinon so that we could take advantage of the washing machines at the campsite.

Chinon fortress. Part of touring the Loire valley
The historic Chinon fortress

After leaving Chinon we stopped to visit the chateau at Usse, famous for being the inspiration for the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty.

Visiting Azay le Rideau

Our next stop for the night was at the pretty village of Azay-le-Rideau where we stayed at the village camping cars Aire costing 9.80 Euros. The beauty of French Aires is that they are usually situated at the edge of a small town or village so that you can walk in to do you food shopping and to sightsee. The more parking that is provided near towns and villages, the better in my view. After all good parking encourages more people to visit and to spend their money!

One of the things we have noticed about the French villages we have seen so far in the Loire region is how nicely they are landscaped and also how they put the pedestrian first. Many villages have traffic calming with a maximum speed of 20km/h, although the locals seem to ignore this.

Visiting Villandry

The chateau at Villandry, our next stop, proved to be one of our favourites due to its beautiful colourful gardens. Again, we stayed at the Aire about 300 metres from the village and this is where we encountered our first vegetable vending machine. Put your money in and out pops a cauliflower. Ingenious!

Villandry
Villandry

Motorhoming is a fantastic way to see many places. Wake up with a different view everyday. What could be better but what happens when you have a problem and you are in a foreign country and don’t speak the language. We had discovered a minor water leak from our shower so we located the nearest Hobby dealer and turned up just as they were closing for their 2 hour lunchbreak. No need to worry when you are in a motorhome because we opened the fridge, made lunch and waited 2 hours until they opened. Google Translate came in very useful in trying to explain to the very nice reception lady that we had water leaking from our shower and could they fix it under warranty! Two hours later we drove off after they had re-sealed the shower tray around its edges and they had said that will solve the problem but don’t use it for 24 hours.

It was time to check in to a campsite so we could wash our bedding so a quick look online and we had found one 8km away in the suburbs of the city of Tours. We caught the bus into the city and had a nice lunch and a look around the old town before heading back to use the campsite washing machine.

Visiting Blois

The final stop on our motorhome tour of The Loire was Blois but this is where we had planned to meet up with our good friends Lynne and Mark and stay in a hotel for 2 nights. Parking up at the Logis Auberge de la Caillere it felt strange that we would be staying in a building rather than a motorhome. Real food rather than camp cooking was appreciated before we headed south through France on our way to Spain. This motorhome life is a good one and we are excited about the next stage of our motorhome adventure!

Meeting good friends Lynne and Mark at Chaumont sur Loire
Chaumont sur Loire chateau

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