The next did our châteaux .Firstly Chenonceau .Built on the river Cher its like a giant bridge and in fact was added on by one of the 5 woman who have molded the chateau. Henry 11 gave it to his mistress Diane de Poiters ,who laid out the gardens as they are today. When Henry was killed after a sporting contest his wife turfed her out and I think she continued across the river,to form a very large gallery or ballroom and even a hospital in the 1st WW . The gardens and kitchens intrigued C the most. Then to Chambord ,the grand daddy of chateaux .On approaching it is difficult to grasp the immenseness of the project and in fact it has over 365 chimneys more than 440 rooms and 85 staircases. The appearance appears to the architects desire to use every design style available. It was only ever a hunting lodge and was so cold and draughty that none ever took up permanent residence. We headed for the end of the Loire for the night and ended up in a place called Romorantin- Lanthernay a rather ordinary village not improved by the fact that all the village type hotels that tom tom knew were shut and we had to make do to with a Best Western type of bed .Which turned out ok esp as they still had very good food.
Talking about closing up Sunday and Monday are dodgy and then you have to be organised to make sure you don't need any thing between 12 -2 because ferme.
The next day we went through the Sologne area a prime hunting spot .All along the roads you see warning you about deer and in fact we saw another three crossing the road just ahead of us about 500mtrs from the next village. Also pig rooting on side of road .Interestingly the style of building changed abruptly to bricks I assume to far from the lime stone rocks.
We saw some Freisans by the road and decided to call in We had a great 2.5 hrs talking gesturing drawing and writing about farming .We joined them for a glass of wine and they gave us some of their local drop very special. The wifes brother plays rugby and his team are fund raising to go to WC in NZ. Crossed over to Burgundy and straight away the limousins gave away to charolais. I am really enjoying Burgundy lots of forests but farming in between and the rivers nice and clean .This looks the place for canal boating lots to do when you stop the barges are more like displacement launches with large cockpit space and the weather is great..To that end we ended up in Auxerres a town of 38 thousand built by a river. Treated ourselves to 3*** hotel Maximes. Town is dominated by huge Cathedral. I am afraid I can see Robyn why so many of your trips have included photos of these giant buildings .The quality of the work and the scale of it are compelling. If it sounds like we are driving eating and sleeping ,well that just about sizes up but the food oo lalal.Last night we had burgundy food and Pricey Paysanne doesn't mean pays anns bills a la Blenheim .It is actually type of dish .We ate beef tournados with fois gras .I am afraid you just have to put it out of your mind fois gras is absolutely divine.The staff were abit distracted because they were shooting a scene for a movie out side and they were gawping out the window continually. In the time we were in the restaurant ( about 1.5 hrs) they hadn't been able to the same scene with the gorgeous actress completed and as we left it still wasn't.
23th beautiful drive to town of Vezelay once again a magnificent Cathedral where St Bernard the 2nd crusade and Richard the Lionhearted set off with a mere 100000 men on the 3rd crusade. It is high on a hill affording fantastic views .I seem to unable to blog photos at mo they come up as hieroglyphics. Tonight the 23rd we are Autun ,a town still basically within walls of roman occupation of 10bc .There is the remains of a roman theatre that the locals use to watch football