Monday 14th June
Nort-sur-Erdre to Chateaubriant.Despite Bernard’s best endeavours on the internet and calling various B&B’s we left him without finding anywhere to stay tonight. The town we are aiming for, and roughly at the extreme end of our ability is Martigne Ferchaud. It had plenty of B&B’s and hotels but for some inexplicable reason they were all full. Chateaubriant, the home of the jumbo steak was the only alternative but was a bit nearer and there is nothing worse than stopping knowing you can do another hour.
Anyway undaunted we set off and it immediately started raining but this soon cleared and was replaced by a cold headwind (straight down from the North) it is hard to say which is worse but the headwind is definitely more demoralising. On we trudged, up and down, up and down, and then b*****up again until eventually we made it to Chateaubriant! I kept myself busy counting hills and lost count somewhere in the teens. When we finally arrived we fell into the Office de Tourisme asking if there was anywhere we could stay. Yes they said an Eengleesh couple tres sympatique. That’ll do nicely we thought and she phoned them for us. Halfway through the conversation she asked if madame would mind cooking us dinner. This horrified us as it was late in the afternoon and if it were us on the other end we would have said cheeky monkeys NO, so we gulped ‘non non’ we’ll go out and supper was over-ruled. Turned out Skip and Andy are a great couple, Skip cooks like Escoffier and she wouldn’t have minded at all if we’d wanted to be fed. Too late - you just never know do you!! They live in a huge architect designed modern French house, have the perfect attitude toward guests and really made us feel at home. Pool, Jacuzzi and the most comfortable bed!
As we were sorted we thought we ought to see the famous Chateaubriant which it turns out is a complete mix of periods. We didn’t go into the Chateau itself as it was too late in the day, but the remains of the ramparts dating from 1000 years ago are still impressive and the current chateau is enormous and also looks very impressive from the outside. As we ventured back into the open there was the most tremendous clap of thunder and the sky turned black so we pedalled home at top speed just beating the rain.
Like Bernard the day before they too tried to find us lodging for tonight and even found us the website to book our ferry home but we declined the latter as we still don’t know what day it will be and booking B&B’s is becoming so complicated we now find it easier to put ourselves at the mercy of the Almighty and just turn up looking anxious.
And by staying with Skip and Andy an exhausting day suddenly got a whole lot better!
Nort-sur-Erdre to Chateaubriant.Despite Bernard’s best endeavours on the internet and calling various B&B’s we left him without finding anywhere to stay tonight. The town we are aiming for, and roughly at the extreme end of our ability is Martigne Ferchaud. It had plenty of B&B’s and hotels but for some inexplicable reason they were all full. Chateaubriant, the home of the jumbo steak was the only alternative but was a bit nearer and there is nothing worse than stopping knowing you can do another hour.
Anyway undaunted we set off and it immediately started raining but this soon cleared and was replaced by a cold headwind (straight down from the North) it is hard to say which is worse but the headwind is definitely more demoralising. On we trudged, up and down, up and down, and then b*****up again until eventually we made it to Chateaubriant! I kept myself busy counting hills and lost count somewhere in the teens. When we finally arrived we fell into the Office de Tourisme asking if there was anywhere we could stay. Yes they said an Eengleesh couple tres sympatique. That’ll do nicely we thought and she phoned them for us. Halfway through the conversation she asked if madame would mind cooking us dinner. This horrified us as it was late in the afternoon and if it were us on the other end we would have said cheeky monkeys NO, so we gulped ‘non non’ we’ll go out and supper was over-ruled. Turned out Skip and Andy are a great couple, Skip cooks like Escoffier and she wouldn’t have minded at all if we’d wanted to be fed. Too late - you just never know do you!! They live in a huge architect designed modern French house, have the perfect attitude toward guests and really made us feel at home. Pool, Jacuzzi and the most comfortable bed!
As we were sorted we thought we ought to see the famous Chateaubriant which it turns out is a complete mix of periods. We didn’t go into the Chateau itself as it was too late in the day, but the remains of the ramparts dating from 1000 years ago are still impressive and the current chateau is enormous and also looks very impressive from the outside. As we ventured back into the open there was the most tremendous clap of thunder and the sky turned black so we pedalled home at top speed just beating the rain.
Like Bernard the day before they too tried to find us lodging for tonight and even found us the website to book our ferry home but we declined the latter as we still don’t know what day it will be and booking B&B’s is becoming so complicated we now find it easier to put ourselves at the mercy of the Almighty and just turn up looking anxious.
And by staying with Skip and Andy an exhausting day suddenly got a whole lot better!
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