Well, we survived the night in our Loire Valley Chateau, and it does indeed look a lot better by day...


... although I kept the getaway car running just in case.


After a nice evening touring Tours, I did feel a tiny bit nervous as we arrived back at 10:30pm to find the whole place in darkness. Especially as we couldn't find the light switch. Having crept up the stairs in the dark, feeling our way as we went, P1 then spent the whole night dreaming about chateaux ghosts, despite sleeping with the bedroom light on (we managed to find that one).

But the one advantage of being the only guests at L'Aubriere was that we had the pool to ourselves the following day...


Obviously a day by the pool requires swimming goggles for moi, and as they were one of the many things I had left at home, we started the day on a mission to find a sports shop. Which would have been fine if either of us could speak French. We eventually stopped in a Simply Supermarché (the French answer to Lidl) and I asked a friendly employee the way to Decatlon sports shop. Ten minutes later he was still providing me with directions which I couldn't have remembered even if they had been in English. I provided him with a pen, so he spent another 10 minutes writing them down...


I don't think it occurred to him that people who can't speak French probably can't read it either.

At this point, P1 and I decided that no pair of swimming goggles was worth sacrificing hours of sunbathing time, so we abandoned our mission, stopped at our local Chateaux Supermarché (the French answer to Wal-mart) and I found said goggles.

A day of sun, swimming and happiness ensued, after which I was keen to experience some more chateaux culture. P1 was chateauxed out by now, but after some negotiation (I promised that we would only stay at 'modern' hotels in future) I dragged him to this place before we left Loire...


A few chateaux photo competitions later and we were on our merry way down to Sarlat in the Dordogne...