The Grand Tour of France 2022

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September 2^nd     Day four

Good job we are not planning on leaving today! Puddles everywhere and we have a slight rise off our pitch back onto the tarmac access road. I wouldn’t like to assess my chances of avoiding wheel spin on that bump up!

https://www.fontevraud.fr/en/royal-abbey/discover-fontevraud-royal-abbey/

Oh my, its one impressive Abbaye! Stunning architecture. Absolutely surprising history. Founded in 1101 by Robert of Arbrissel, burial place of Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard the Lionheart at end of Twelfth century, closed during the French revolution and then used as a prison from 1801 right up to the 1980’s. Such harsh conditions for both prisoners and their guards, it was described as France’s toughest prison.

Having wandered the Abbaye for three hours we have retreated to a town square boulangerie with a view of a fountain, cobbled streets and beautiful buildings. Earlier in the Museum of Modern Art, Maggie had searched forlornly for ‘the image of the fallen Madonna with the big boobies’ (for those of you who are fans of ‘Allo Allo’). She left bereft that it wasn’t there! Her quest to locate it thus continues! 

Let’s talk parking for motorhomes at the Abbaye. There is a dedicated parking Aire but it is tricky to find. Go down past the first car parks you come to and take the second right! Its down the end of that road. About 20 diagonal bays, an overnight Aire with services. A ten-minute walk back up the hill to the Abbaye. Better still, follow the ‘Aire Camping Car’ signs off the first roundabout you come to. Someone didn’t trust his navigator when he should have done. Lesson learned!

 Back at our Chinon Aire by 1400, a quick lunch and we are back in the town by 1440. The views from the fortress on the hill are amazing! An astonishing history and some good exhibitions of costumes from ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ films. We walked up steep little streets to get to it. We discovered the cliffside lift by the car park on our way back into town!

In the square we stop at a street café, sitting under the umbrellas in the square itself. The heavens open. There is the most amazing thunderstorm we have seen in quite some time. Positively monsoonal! We are cut off, watching torrents of water flowing down the roads surrounding our raised area. Puddles, well frankly ponds would be a better description, are forming at the bottom of the square. There is even water flowing down through the tables where we are sat. The sun umbrellas are useless. We are sat with our own umbrellas up, under large sun umbrellas; our feet are up on chairs as water just cascades between the tables! All of us are drenched. It has been raining, torrentially now, for forty minutes – non-stop!

 As geographers we are used to this. We have travelled extensively in tropical areas. What I cannot get my head around is “where is all this ground surface water coming from”? We are surrounded by fast flowing mini rivers. We still can’t get across to the shelter of the cafes! Nothing left to do but to ‘embrace’ the storm! I set off uphill to explore and within 20m discover the answer. A set of steps at the top of the square. All the streets on the steep hillside above seem to be sending their water to this flight of steps. It is a huge waterfall! Emptying in to our little square! Which now explains everything!

 

We’ve made it back to the campsite and staff are still running around in a panic. EHU cables are suspended on hedges, along wire supported vines, thrown across bonnets, hooked over towbars. Anything to keep them out of the water that is pooling everywhere. The ground is waterlogged. It is serious overland flow time! Infiltration capacity has been reached and exceeded several times over!

Amazingly, within two hours of the sun coming out, everything has infiltrated or evaporated away! Having been soaked to the skin back in the town centre earlier and we really were, despite umbrellas, we now face a new challenge. It is beginning to rain again but ‘what do we do with our wet clothes? How do we dry them out in a motorhome?’

The shower becomes a drying area. I put sticky hooks up around the walls for such an occasion. Good thinking, eh? I’m not quite as dumb as I look! One of my better ideas from last year! Tomorrow, when we are further south again and it is sunny for most of the day, the clothing can go out on the drying rack. Our footwear? That could take longer. Despite being Gortex lined, footwear is sodden! Our plan? Keep all the roof skylights closed tomorrow, let the heat build up and hope the footwear dries out!

Soup and sandwiches for tea. Fruit for afters. Cracking day. Great storms, great adventure. Moral of the tale? Carry your waterproofs if you think there might be a hint of rain in the air! Lesson learned!

Helpful points:

Distance to Abbaye return: 15 miles

Aire costs: 13 euros

Entry fees to Chateau and Abbaye over last two days: 36 Euros