12/05/2024 – Still on the road

What a week: 3 towns, 3 hotels! We leave early tomorrow for Biarritz. On Tuesday, we move to the trail head. We start walking on Wednesday. So, I’m posting this on Sunday.

We are now in Bordeaux-Lac, not actually in Bordeaux, in a hotel very “off-brand” for the trip so far. We can see how we got here. We are close to the campground, truck stop and nature reserve. We love 2 of those things. We have “self-catering facilities” (actually, a filterless coffeemaker, radiant hot plate and milk pan, with a 5km round-trip to the nearest supermarket - along the tram line, over the interstate, around the homeless encampment…) We arrived and were given the key to number 14, which we opened to find 2 men in bed! The receptionist then chewed me out for opening someone else’s room, reprogrammed my key and told me she had said “quatre” not “quatorze”! So, we take our valuables when we go out. We washed the towels in the laundromat today (4km round-trip) after finding a bonus Band-Aid glued to one of them… We took a few documentary photos (black shower mold…). The one that best captures the ambiance is the exterior shot with the bag of dirty diapers in the foreground (4 days and counting). To an ex-Londoner, the vibe is very much refugee/illegal immigrant accommodation.

Still, we have cold beer in the doorless “ice compartment” of the fridge and an unsecured wifi network, over which we definitely won’t be doing any internet banking (even with VPN). It’s all good.

Our hotels in Tours and Azay-le-Rideau were spectacular. In Azay-le-Rideau, we stayed (and were upgraded) in a sensitively restored, 18th Century house on the old town square. I already described our lovely Tours “wedding” hotel. In the words of that great Irish poet, Meatloaf, “2 out of 3 ain’t bad”.

From Azay-le-Rideau, we made 2 full-pack country hikes. First, to Chateau de Villandry, one of my favourite places. Restored in the 1930s, the gardens are vast, spectacular, unique - famously planted with decorative vegetables. The walk (25km) through local farmland was lovely. We also hiked through the local pear orchards to Chateau de Fontenay (15km). We knew it would be closed, but it was a splendid trip in fine weather. Carey flew his mini-drone twice out in the countryside. We also strolled down to Chateau Azay-le-Rideau, an architype “Loire Chateau” (all, deservedly, UNESCO world heritage sites): fairytale, white, sandstone turrets at each corner, gleaming grey lead rooves, gilded ornaments, heraldic carving, with water on all sides, built on an island in the picturesque river.

On Friday, I led a prayer meeting for the Sophia Anglicans’ “Thy Will be Done” prayer fortnight. This community is “spiritual home” to me. So many good things started there. I still join a wonderful women’s Bible study group, a true blessing in my life. Eight people joined the call. For me, it was a propitious, moving and thoughtful start to our pilgrimage.