Slow Travel Along the Loir River, Chateaudun

Zagan the motorhome, once again, has the banks of the Loir River close to his sleeping spot. This is the fifth night in a row we’re against this smaller cousin of the Loire, as we slowly meander along the same path as the river. With sunny skies the rising temperature was getting too much for our pampered pooch. Struggling to keep him from panting all day and night, we resorted to what we learned in Spain last summer, and headed for a campsite. Camping Municipal Moulin A Tan (N48.07935, E1.33118) is a small site on the banks of the river just a short walk from the town of Chateaudun. Having previously stayed at the motorhome aire in the town, we knew that if it stayed too hot, we could chill at the campsite knowing we’d already seen the town.

Camping Municipal at Chateaudun, France

Huge pitches and tree shade – not bad for €12 a night! But let’s get back to Bonneval where we last left you. We had a great couple of nights watching the world go by over the weekend. When I went out for a jog on Monday morning I got a little bit lost finding my way back, so I ended up jogging through the centre of the town. Obviously it was fate that sent me on that course, as we’d totally forgotten Monday is the town’s market day. The stalls were only just setting up, so after a shower and some breakfast we headed over to the action to see what tasty treats were up for sale.

There were stalls selling flowers and plants, a few selling clothes and accessories, two selling mattresses (you’d think one would be enough) but it was the food stalls we were interested in. There were several fruit and veg stalls, a cheese stall, fish monger, a very busy butchers with a queue stretching past the stall next door, as well as several stalls selling home grown produce – one specialised in just white asparagus, another eggs.

‘Sec’ (dried) goat’s cheese on the left, and normal goats cheese wrapped in fig – tasty!

After stocking up on a couple of bags of veggies and two different types of goat’s cheese, we were drawn to the chicken vans. We were spoiled with a choice of two vans and after surveying the wares of both we opted for the bigger van. For €7 we got a small chicken, and a shovel full of spuds roasted in the chicken fat. Top Tip – If you are ever buying from a chicken van and they ask if you want sauce, or point to a tray at the bottom of the van, say yes – it is the tastiest (and probably unhealthiest) gravy you can imagine.

Top Tip 2 – best not to look at the picture on the bag, the French have a cheeky sense of humour when it comes to food

After filling our faces with chicken and spuds, we decided it was time to tear ourselves away from Bonneval. We could have happily stayed for a few more days, but we had seen all of the town and you never know what might be just down the road.

It turned out to be Marboue that was just down the road, only 10km from Bonneval, but enough to say we had moved. We pulled into the free aire (N48.11239, E1.32777) which overlooks a boule court (or is it pitch? I’m not sure what you call it) and a large field through which the Loir river runs through.

Marboue aire

Despite our best efforts to find some shade, it still got to over 30°C inside Zagan, so we sat under the trees until the sun set and it cooled down a bit. At night it was still too hot inside for Charlie, so I slept on the bench by the window, that way we could leave the window open and get some cooler air in, and any nasty robbers would get a shock if they tried to climb in through the window. Luckily no one was bothered about us, and the cool air soon got Charlie snoring at full volume – so apologies to our motorhome neighbours.

Keeping cool in Marboue. Charlie’s wearing a cold wet towel, I’ve got my sun hat on and Jay, well Jay was out running – I admire his dedication.

That night we knew we needed to find a campsite, somewhere that we could park in some shade, sit outside and leave the windows open all night. I looked on our campercontact database and found Camping Municipal was not only the closest, but the cheapest by far, and more importantly was open. Plotting it into the satnav, we realised we probably could have walked here as it was only 2km from where we were along some paths, but as we needed Zagan we opted for the 7km drive.

We knew 8th May is a National Holiday here in France, so we were surprised to see that the Intermarche was passed on the way was open. We nipped in and while Jay and Charlie waited in Zagan, I grabbed a bag and set off to procure a baguette. On entering the store a sign on the door said it would close at noon, it was now 11am. The bread section contained only crumbs and it was six deep at every check out – I left empty handed. There’s another National Holiday on Thursday, yes two in a week, I think we’ll just survive on what we have in the van until things get back to normal.

Arriving at the campsite we were stopped by a height barrier, which is unusual around here. The guardian opened it for Jay to drive in while I filled out the paperwork. We were advised not to park on the river bank as it had rained a lot recently and we would sink, then the guardian kindly talked me through the campsite facilities in English. ‘In the TV room there is a fridge and a err, um super fridge’. I smiled and told her that I think super fridge is much better than freezer.

We picked a shaded pitch, cracked open all the windows and skylights, rolled out the awning and our Moroccan mat and settled in. We got chatting to two other British couples who are here, and invited them round for a ‘bring your own chair, glass and wine party’ at ours. We sat chatting with Len and June and Lynn and Martin until it got too dark to see each other and the empty bottle collection looked suitably impressive. As today is Martin’s birthday, we’re having a BBQ later. This morning I earned by wine points with a hungover jog up into the town, fortunately it was a bit overcast so I didn’t feel too hot and poorly.

Jogging is a great way to do some sightseeing – me the Loir and Chateaudun Chateau

By the time Jay and I wandered up into town it was lunchtime, also known as ‘locked o’clock’. We grabbed a couple of baguettes and will ‘create’ something from what we have in the cupboards for the BBQ later. It’s been great just chilling out and listening to Charlie snore as we know he’s cool enough when he can sleep. Over the next couple of days it should get back to normal temperatures for this time of year. After Jay has done a 14 mile training run for his Zermatt half marathon (please help him out with a bit of sponsorship if you can as its for a great cause) in the morning, we’ll head off tomorrow and see where the river or road takes us.

Ju x