9th August.

Wrong, no rain last night and bird poo all over the back end of the tent. On top of that had a rough night trying to sleep.The wind shifted and blew from across the river from the town and freight trains thundered through all night and made a hell of a racket. There must have been 30 or more trains. Added to that they had a music concert on the river bank that went till midnight.

Up and off early enough. View of town as we left.

On the outskirts they had a corn crop that had been turned into a maze. In the middle this witch was keeping watch.

Went past a couple of interesting places.

Walked into Meung-sur-Loire and saw this old hot house. It must have been magnificent when new.

Into the tourist information and the nice lady was only too happy for us to leave our packs there. I could see that a few others had also left bikes. What a change it made from the UK where no packs were allowed anywhere. Found out that no camping grounds open between where we stayed last night and Orleans. Too far to walk today so looks like a train.

Visited the Chateau Meung and it was very interesting. Front view.

Rear view.

We wandered all through it, up into the roof space and under into the cellars. Warts and all. The place looked as if it had been locked up for a few hundred years and only just discovered. We were given a good information book in english describing the rooms. This was the herbal room.

Anyone for leather?

One of the bedrooms.

Inside the roof of one of the towers.

It said the laundry was done twice a year and took three days. The first day just sorting it out. After it was all boiled it was then taken down to the river and beaten all day then back to the chateau and hung up in the attic. Annette's still in a state of shock.

The dinning room.

Kitchen.

Down to the cellars. Annette is only half way down the stairs here. Once down there rooms went off everywhere and there was even a cell where they kept the odd poor bloke.

On the way out.

Now this was what a tour of a chateau should be like.

Had a look around the town and found it much like a lot of the other towns. Plenty of nice old houses. This town and three streams running through it that joined up before going into the river. Houses were build along side them an over them. Now made into a pretty area.

Used to be lots of mills.

View of chateau and church in the background.

Collected our packs when the tourist info opened at 1.30 and raced up to the train station to catch the next train only to arrive puffed to be told that it didn't run today and the next on was in two odd hours. Nothing for it but to wait it out catching up on the blog and giving the feet a rest. Booked in to a hotel in Orleans for a few days to dry out the gear before going across to the UK. Looks like today was the last day of our holiday walking with the packs and staying in the tent. Don't know to be happy or sad. Annette said she knows. Glad not to be in the tent anyway, I need a good nights sleep that doesn't end up on the ground.