We struck the jackpot today after an awful night in the sauna at Limoges.
During the early hours of the morning there was a thunder and lightning storm (as predicted 365 days ago by weathertrends360.com) and when we woke, that really should be got up as I don't recall getting any sleep, it was still persisting down and looked like it had settled in for the next day or two.
As we drove north from Limoges the temperature started to rise from around 17 until it settled around 25 with sunny skies as we arrived in Blere.
So for the 37th day in a row our holiday has been unaffected by the weather - jackpot no 1 struck.
Blere is a smallish village in the Loire Valley and our accommodation is in a beautiful historic house right in town - jackpot no 2.
The reason for stopping in the Loire Valley was to visit one of the many Chateaux in the area (over 60) and after unloading at Blere we drove the short distance to Chenonceau to visit the 16th century chateau there.
The first impression of the chateau was luke warm as it looked smaller than we had anticipated but its true size became apparent from side on as it was built across the River Cher and most of it was unseen from the entrance way.
The chateau is set up in the manner it was when in use and so it gave a very good feel of what life would have been like in its heyday.
There are glorious gardens to the side of the chateau and the water running through the area gives a very tranquil feel.
Towards the carpark there are the cottages/barns etc that were the farm and behind that are the vegetable and flower gardens.
We even found in the veggie patch a strawberry named after Sherry!
We left Chenonceau and went to another village nearby, Amboise which was another picturesque village, somewhat larger than Blere and which also had a Chateau.
Amboise is where Leonardo da Vinci lived and ultimately died and there is a museum there housing models of his inventions - we limited ourselves to looking around the pedestrian precinct which made up the bulk of the shopping area.
We later returned to Blere and had a walk around the village enjoying the sights it had to offer.
And so another day of our dream holiday has come to an end.
During the early hours of the morning there was a thunder and lightning storm (as predicted 365 days ago by weathertrends360.com) and when we woke, that really should be got up as I don't recall getting any sleep, it was still persisting down and looked like it had settled in for the next day or two.
As we drove north from Limoges the temperature started to rise from around 17 until it settled around 25 with sunny skies as we arrived in Blere.
So for the 37th day in a row our holiday has been unaffected by the weather - jackpot no 1 struck.
Blere is a smallish village in the Loire Valley and our accommodation is in a beautiful historic house right in town - jackpot no 2.
The first impression of the chateau was luke warm as it looked smaller than we had anticipated but its true size became apparent from side on as it was built across the River Cher and most of it was unseen from the entrance way.
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| Sherry in Gabrielle d'Estrees' bedroom |
There are glorious gardens to the side of the chateau and the water running through the area gives a very tranquil feel.
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| Diane de Poiters' garden |
We even found in the veggie patch a strawberry named after Sherry!
We left Chenonceau and went to another village nearby, Amboise which was another picturesque village, somewhat larger than Blere and which also had a Chateau.
Amboise is where Leonardo da Vinci lived and ultimately died and there is a museum there housing models of his inventions - we limited ourselves to looking around the pedestrian precinct which made up the bulk of the shopping area.
