31st July.

Early to bed, early to rise and off in to town with only the odd smoker up polluting the air. Very busy park.

Going to be a lovely day. Into town over the bridge to look for breakfast.

Watched this fellow catch a good size fish. The long pole has no reel. When he caught the fish he just pulled the pole in half way and unscrewed it chucking the butt half on the bank and then used the long landing net to bring the fish in.

This is now half his rod.

Old timber boats.

My, how the streets look better cleared of tourists.

Look at the door on this old building.

Off out of town along a few vines then into the forest. This building was in the middle of the forest. Cute as.

Out of the forest and across farmland to the Le Cher river to the town of Blere. The approaches and the bridge were decked out with hanging baskets.

Lovely looking river and water much cleaner than the La Loire river.

Straight into the camping grounds and told by the young lady just to find a site anywhere. Plenty of green grassy places. Tent set up and resting by 2pm so having the afternoon off. Sunny and hot now. Short day today but tomorrow will be in excess of 20 kilometres and even warmer than today so we are hoping it will be in the shade as it is already too hot to walk in the sun.

Off into town for dinner and had a look around and ordered a diet coke. Waiter came back with this. Turned out it was a chocolate drink and close to what he thought I had said but I'm not to sure about the glass!!!!!!

Found this on the way back to the. Caravan park. Not sure what the idea was.

Off along the river to Montpoupon tomorrow. Have a touch of a sore throat and have my fingers crossed that it goes away.

30th July.

Up early and left as the sun started to shine and along the La Loire river. Soon had a second breakfast of blackberries. Across the river on the railway line. This train nearly blew Annette off the bridge.

If she thought she had to hang on for it she was very soon in for a rude shock. The next one came towards us at warp speed like a brick. I couldn't get a photo as I was hanging on. Mostly walking through grape vines today and visited a couple of small hamlets where there were more cave dwellings.

Into Amboise along this nice avenue of plane trees. Our drive way in 100 odd years?

Into the camping ground and all set up and washing out to dry. Annette made me shift the tent. Said it was too close to the road. If you saw all the ladies walking to and from the pool you wouldn't have thought so.

A group of scouts walked past. Why is it the girls always carry way to much junk attached to the outside of their packs? What if it were to rain?

Into town and had a look at a glass blowing workshop then to Chateau Clos Luce where Leonard de Vinci spent the last three years of his life.

They had it all set up with small scale models and some full scale models (in the gardens) of his inventions and ideas.

Lovely old bridge in the garden.

His paddle boat.

Tank

Great garden beds just along the road in the town.

Hot air balloons leaving the camping ground in the evening.

View of the town from the island.

Annette took an interest in this big fellow.

Back to the camping ground to find that heaps of people have arrived and our little tent is now surrounded by other tents.

Off to Blere tomorrow on the La Cher river. Not far.

29th July.

Managed to get up and going before 7.30, so far so good. Not a long walk today, only to Vouvray. The GR took us over the bridge and along the river on a paved bicycle track.

Hardly anyone about and not much to look at besides the river. Over the highway we caught glimpses of interesting houses and if doing it again we would have either walked along the highway or the next street back and had a good look at all the houses between the cliff and the highway. I think we missed out on some beauties.

Up into Rochecorbon and onto the farmland on top of the cliffs. Interesting housing passed on the way up. Lots of houses sort of built up on top of each other going up the side of the cliff.

Who said hobbits don't exist. Their houses do.

Definitely in vine country as all grape vines. Here the GR took us on a bit of a walk through the vines when came back out onto the same road. No traffic, so I don't really know why it just didn't go along the road. Into the village of Vouvray and still more interesting house built into the cliffs. Still early so a cup of hot chocolate and a fresh brownie slice. Both of us suffering from sore legs today. Amazing what a few days of rest can do and a pack full of food supplies and a couple of purchases. Checked out a local Market and into the caravan park where we are told to just walk around a pick a site. Found a lovely one near the river with plenty of long green grass. Unbelievable. Washed the ground sheet and no sooner than Annette sat down she was fast asleep. She didn't even take her boots off? Not yet 1pm!!!!!

Tent set up and back into town to find the La Poste. Those purchases that contributed to the extra weight in Annette's pack posted home with fingers crossed that they make it. Walked around the rest of the town and checked out the old church. Part of it looked as if it was built into the hill side.

Found this old house built into the cliff. The cliffs here have layers of softer stone sometimes two metres thick. The cliff houses appear to have been built into these layers. One room with one door, one window and a fireplace. Small storage area at the rear. There appeared to be a lot of this very basic house.

Back to the caravan park where we had dry biscuits and cheese from my pack for dinner and an early night. Will be trying to get away early in the morning.

28th July.

Rest day today so had a sleep in and breakfast at the hotel. Wifi working fine so the blog updated. View from the hotel.

Off for a walk around the old part of Tours without the crowds of yuppies sitting around drinking coffee. Interesting buildings. Some of the older ones had the stairs on the outside, similar to the ones at Lyon.

Some had them bricked in.

A few timber fronted buildings.

Went for a walk further out and still interesting building scattered about. This was all that was left of this one which fronted onto a court.

Heaps of streets lined with cafes.

I don't think I'd be laughing if I was this fellow.

Rear of an old church. Reminds me of some of the battle ships on The kids computer games.

Another old house on a corner.

Nice enough town and plenty of shops for the ladies. Back to the hotel and a few domestic chores (washing) to be done before we are off tomorrow. Nice meal at a restaurant in the old centre and off to bed. I'm looking forward to getting back out in the country.

27th July.

Took the train to Tours today. Actually three trains. As we approached the west coast we went through a large fruit growing area, mostly apples. It then changed to grape vines for miles and miles and miles. We then went northerly and the good news was the weather improved the further north we went. (Probably rain tomorrow.) Arrived in Tours and booked into a hotel near the old centre. Only problem was that it has a nightclub that runs until 5am but we were hoping that it wasn't open either tonight or tomorrow night. Walked around the corner and workmen were busy renovating the nightclub and it was a mess so that was good. Well sort of as they are still hard at it drilling and sawing at 9.30pm and I am wondering how much longer are they going to keep it up. Oh, and the wifi doesn't seem to work after the office closed at 8.30pm, something that they don't tell you.

I deliberately didn't take any pictures today so I wouldn't have any to put on the blog. Annette's wasp bite came to nothing and can hardly be seen now. I think she is a bit disappointed and thought the pain was worth a week off from walking with the pack.

26th July.

Woke late to find it still misty rain so Annette off up to the corner to do the laundry and left me to do some of the blog. Later we went for a walk around the old part of town. This was part of the end wall of the church.

Lots of squares in the town usually with a tree or two and plenty of places to eat. This was one of them with an old washing fountain.

Found this old panel van. It would still be ok since most of the French girls are pretty short.

Some nice old buildings.

Found this flood level indicator down by the river. Hope you can zoom in on the photo as it was interesting reading the flood levels and what years. Yes, I know it is sideways.

This photo shows the flood level indicator with the river in the background. That is a lot of extra water to make it up to the road level let alone another three odd metres. There is no sea holding the water back either. Will the next big flood be blamed on climate change?

Nice court yard

Back to the hotel for dinner and off on the train to Tours tomorrow to start a section of walking from there. We have been dragging the chain a bit so have had to skip a fair bit of what we planned to walk.

25th July.

Ahh, what I'd give for a dry tent in the morning. Lucky for us we were close to the laundry room so into there to have breakfast, pack and coat up.

Staying on the GR trail today so taking the long way to Lalinde where we will decide if we camp or catch a train to Bergerac, our destination for this section. Misty rain all day and no sign of the sun. Went past some nice old farm houses.

Along the cliff top of the La Dordogne river, pity the view was limited by the rain.

Then along the canal into Lalinde.

We had been looking forward to the section of flat walking but it was very long and terribly boring so it became hard work in the end. Nearly into Lalinde and still no sign of any sun so tent still wet. Caught a glimpse of a train going our way so that was not a good sign. Finally caught sight of the railway station and found we were on the wrong side of the tracks. Took a couple of short cuts through industrial yards and over the tracks and came out in front of the station, very lucky. Yes, there was another train at 5.04pm. The nice lady suggested we leave our packs and check at the tourist office regarding accommodation in Bergerac. Off into town and past this bridge decked out in flowering baskets.

The canal led into this docking pond in the middle of town.

Another nice lady at the tourist office didn't know anything about the accommodation in Bergerac but she was able to tell us that the office didn't close until 7pm. Plenty of time to get there. Time for a hot drink and whilst sitting there something bit Annette on her back. She said she felt it fall down the back of her neck. Couldn't see anything then a European wasp flew out of her shirt sleeve and was promptly dispatched. The sting came up in a welt mark about one centimetre across and looked pretty cross, just like its owner. It was right on the pack frame area so it will rub. Lucky we were not in the forest miles from anywhere cause carrying two packs would be a bit much.

Back to the railway station before it closed at 4.20pm and retrieved our packs. Tent set up on the opposite platform under cover to at least drip dry. A young fellow was playing a saxophone and Annette got talking to him and found out that he was busking for a living. Most days he make enough to eat. Great way to live isn't it? Sort of reminded me of bumming around the country side living out of a wet tent and eating the fruit from the side of the road. (yes, send money, lots).

On the train and 15 minutes later we are in Bergerac. Yes, one days hard walking in 15 minutes. Nearly made Annette cry. Made it to the tourist office and a nice young girl found us accommodation with a place to dry the tent. All the people we dealt with today were very pleasant.

Off to the 'otel and the tent set up down in the basement amongst the boilers, laundry and probably hundreds of years of junk. They could hold tours down here and I believe people would pay it was that interesting.

Dinner at a very English looking pub and then off to bed. Bliss. Woke during the night to find a whole tent floor space between us. Felt like I was in a king size bed. My self inflating mattress now self deflates during the night. We had the same problem with one at the end of last year so we replaced it with a newer model that is a tad thicker. Now I wake up flat on the ground and Annette is about 3 centimetres higher. I'm in the right place of course.