Sunday, but no sun. Oshy said he needed a day in bed, he was tired of trying to beat the elements, and he also wasn't feeling too flash after spending the evening and late into the night out at the pub with his mates. He must have had the day in bed because the weather didn't improve at all - at one stage mid-afternoon we saw a thermometer that read 5 degrees, that must have been the high and possibly the sensor was a bit too close to an open fire where chestnuts were being roasted or something because it was a generous five I would suggest!!!
Ze left Mont-pres-Chambord heading for the Chambord chateau, about 15kms distant. Chambord is a huge chateau, the biggest in the Loire Valley, surrounded by park/forest full of game (which was the draw-card for the royals when it came to choosing a place for a castle). The grounds have been walled off, the area inside being the biggest walled park in Europe and bigger than the area of Greater Paris. Much of the land was swamp land originally, it was drained by hand, with thousands of men digging channels over the years, hundreds of whom died from malaria due to the mosquito problem in summer. In the winter it was freezing cold and very bleak. Apparently it wasn't at all hospitable and over the centuries the owners, (kings, marquis and the likes) only spent a total of a few days each at the place at a time. I think it was Henry (which one??) who got the place built originally who ruled for dozens of years but only spent a total of thirteen weeks there, he used it to show off his wealth to important people, but apart from dropping in to see how the work was going, and kill a few deer, he hardly visited it). He died before his bit was finished, but over the centuries it changed hands regularly being gifted from one person to another with each owner adding their own touch (and expensive extension). It had a number of periods when it was abandoned and became quite derelict at times before being "rediscovered" by someone who could afford to do it up again. It was in 1930 that it was bought by the state and opened up to the public.
We had audio guides which were very interesting to begin with but were so detailed that after about my 20th explanation of a room or painting or statue it became a bit much and I reverted to discovering things on my own. It was 3 storeys high with the 4th being the roof which was interesting as you not only got great (but foggy) views over the estate and buildings, but also close up views of the chimneys, spires, and stone work of the roof line. There was a good video at the beginning of the visit which explained the design/architecture and the various stages of its development, the first part was centered around a double helix staircase, deliberately designed so that people ascending could get a glimpse of people on the other staircase but not meet (there is some conjecture it was designed by Leonardo da Vinci who certainly spent many of his final years in the area), but no one knows for sure. Around this core four wings were built (likened to the blades of a windmill), all very symmetrical around the pivot point.
The greatest feature for us though were the roaring fires in the vestibules near the staircase on each floor, this became our meeting point at every level where we read info, listened to excerpts from our audio-guides and thawed out. This was an essential part of the visit as the chateau away from the fireplaces was icy cold, in fact possibly colder inside than out!!!! not nice despite many layers of woollens.
We spent a couple of hours at Chambord - only inside really, it was too cold to explore the grounds, there are bike tracks through the forest, and walks, but this was not the right season for such activities, so instead we had an exhorbitantly priced, and not particularly good, coffee at the hotel within the grounds.
From Chambord we found our way to Orleans which we wanted to visit because of its history and connection with Joan of Arc. Hilary in particular was keen having read a lot about the area and Joan, and she was keen to find out more. Unfortunately by the time we got there, found a suitable parking area, and walked into the city center it was about 4.30 and we didn't have a chance to visit the Joan of Arc Museum which is only open on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons. However we did have the fortune of stumbling across the Christmas Markets which were set up in the centreville, and there were beautiful Christmas decorations in the trees and hanging in the streets too. We along with thousands of others, spent an hour or so looking around the town and markets (nothing too exciting) before we found ourselves at the Cathedral. Though we have seen many dozens on our travels, they are usually worth a quick look, even if just to ease your mind that you're not missing anything amazing!. It was actually very plain, Gothic, but with stunning stained glass windows, rich colours and nice scenes rather than some of the macabre ones you often get.
Ze walked back to the truck and struck out for what we thought was Chateuneuf-sur-Loire (another site with power). Well after 20 minutes of not seeing any street signs with names that seemed correct, we got off the highway and stopped in another scene from an American movie. This was one from "Misery" I think, dark, wet, eerily empty, ...... we pulled up by a shed, and looked at our map. A man in high viz gear came out and approached, bravely I opened the window and tried to explain that we were lost, and told him where we wanted to go. I passed the map book over to him, he looked at it for ages, making strange noises and tracing with his finger on the page. Eventually he looked at me and said "Ardon" not that clearly, but that's what I took him to mean (having seen where his finger was) I said "ici?" and he said, "ici" back again. I took that to mean we were in Ardon (though I'm not sure we were, judging by how short a time it took us to get to the village we ended up at. I'm not sure if he was deaf, (he certainly spoke like a non-hearing person) and I also don't think he could read, and I have no idea what the place was we were at. It resembled a psychiatric institution or "house of detention" and was certainly a "gated community". It really was the sort of place that sends shivers up your spine and I was very thankful to have it glowing in my rear vision mirror as we high-tailed it away from there headed, we hoped, to Orleans again. On our way we spotted a sign for a real campground, so we drove down dark and twisty lanes to the spot, only to find, despite the roadsign saying ouvret, that it was in fact ferme, and firmly ferme at that.
At that point we gave up and parked on the side of the road, at the first piece of gravel we could find, and that is where we spent the night, in the darkness, I'm not sure where we were, somewhere near a place called Olivet, on a country road beside a dirty creek.
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