Back on the road again!!

After spending six months of touring already this year you would have thought that we would want to stay at home, but it's actually quite the opposite - we just love the travelling life! The last couple of months have been wonderful being at home with all its comforts, taking time to catch up with our friends and family especially our beautiful grandchildren who seem to grow and change every time we see them - even if only a few days have past. We always miss them when we are away on our travels.
This time for our Autumn travels we have decided to head slowly down through France, taking time to explore and find some good cycling as well as visiting friends. Then as the temperatures start to dip we will head south to Spain, the plan being to tour the north before heading down the middle eventually ending up in the south and the Costa Del Sol. We might travel west into Portugal at some stage to visit the Douro valley we have heard so much about. Well that's the plan, but who knows where we end up going to as we have no fixed agenda just a few ideas of where we would like to visit.

Our journey began last Wednesday when we took the 11am ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe, a four hour crossing and not our usual route, but it all went well, the crossing was smooth and the time seemed to go quickly. Unfortunately after we disembarked as we were sitting in the queue for Passport control the driver of a campervan wasn't paying attention and swiped our driver mirror- the plus side is that we have 'Mirrorguards' on both sides which protected the mirror and all the delicate workings inside so Keith was able to fix the guard back on and no damage was done, but it wasn't the best start to our trip! What we did enjoy though was not having the long drive to Dover to catch the ferry as well as a two hour drive at the other end.
We headed to a free Aire at Mesniere en Bray only 25km from Dieppe for our first night on French soil, after a very peaceful night we then headed south to the Loire region for some cycling adventures. We found a great place to stop at Pontlevoy with free facilities including electricity overlooking a pretty chateau.

With a free cycle route map from the local Tourist Information office we found plenty of  peaceful lanes and

tracks to cycle on in the region and
really enjoyed the peace and quiet as we cycled through the forests. The jewel in the crown of the Loire region has to be the fabulous Château de Chambord built in the 16th century as a hunting lodge for the King, with all its rather whimsical pillars and towers and its central double helix staircase it is a fascinating place and so over the top! Apparently King Francis 1 only ever spent about seven weeks here in total! It's hard to believe that it is in such wonderful condition after hundreds of years including being left abandoned for some of that time.
We are in our element staying in an area with so much cycling to do and ended up staying another three nights based on an Aire in a pretty little village (Tour de Sologne) right on a number of routes for us to chose from. Perfect!

Cycling through the forest with the beginnings of the Autumn colours