10: Brushing with the Past

As I’ve frequently experienced in a French chambre d’hôte, breakfast was in the host’s kitchen. It was a delicious feast of homemade yogurt and homemade jams, mini-profiterole, pain au chocolat, croissant, etc.

We took the cow roads to Fontevraud and when we arrived at the parking lot discovered to our delight there was a car old timers’ meeting so we got to check out some very cool old models. After our auto inspection we made our way to the abbey and toured the grounds.

I had visited on my 2010 trip and found the place somehow moving and was glad to see that Werner shared my feelings. [map style="width: 300px; height:300px; float:right; margin:10px 0px 0px 20px; border: 1px thin #777777;" gpx="http://saras-bike-travels.de/wp-content/uploads/gpxFiles/20130901_day9_reduced.gpx"] It’s a very special feeling to visit the graves of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II and Richard the Lionhearted (their son).

From there we drove to Candes-St.-Martin where we parked the car (found a perfect place by the river) and then rode to Saumur, taking the high route over the vineyards on the way there and the quick way along the river on the way back. Upon arriving in Saumur we realized we needed some sort of refreshment so we found a café on square lined by lovely half-timbered houses. Our “galette Breton” (buckwheat crepe with savory filling) with mushrooms, egg and cheese (double yum) and Crémant de Loire perfectly celebrated the abundance of the region!

We arrived back to the car rather late and didn't arrive at Manoir de Chaix in Truyes until 7:30. Since it was Sunday evening and there was no plethora of open restaurants in the area, the host sent us to a restaurant for dinner that was wide off the beaten track and in a higher price range than we might have chosen. The food was good but a little pretentious and slightly self-important. It was all very pictorially presented and fortunately in most cases the taste did live up to the presentation.