Now just in case you are the kind of person that feels the need to correct other people’s spelling – this is the Loir river not the Loire. There are two, quite close to one another, in fact separated only by a vowel.
We spent the night on a free Aire de Camping Car in this lovely town. To get water you needed a Jeton (a token) and this, said the sign, could be bought from a local restaurant, the Marie (Mayor’s office), Tourist Information or the Tabac.It was Saturday, limiting our choice slightly, so we tried the restaurant first but they confused us by simply giving us 5 x €2 pieces for our €10 note. It was only when we got back to the service point that we noticed we didn’t actually have a Jeton. Next came the Tabac where Shirley manned up, asked for a Jeton in French and didn’t buy a beer. Two points to her. We got the Jeton, filled up Holly with water and settled her in on a nice flat parking spot very close to the river.
After a walk with the dogs along the banks we popped them back in the van for a kip and took our glasses of red wine and bowl of nuts to the river bank to sit at the thoughtfully provided picnic bench and watch the world go by. Before long a happy family trotted by and tried to engage us in conversation.
We smiled and said in our best French, “Nous sommes Ecossaises”
Pas de probleme – without missing a beat their 5 year old son began speaking English to us. They smiled proudly and we smiled ruefully. The mother took a deep breath and said, “The sun is shining, the sky is blue” with the kind of flourish that means ‘and that’s all I can remember from school’ and we all laughed and they went on their way having warmed our day a little.
In the evening we walked with the dogs to the old mill and saw that the old waterwheel was turning and was lit up to flash elegant coloured lights onto the water. A lovely end to another great day…
Early the next morning Shirley was up in time to see the sunrise. She claims that the addition of Poppy was an accident – I think it was genius. But then again I’m a little biased.
