Tues 5th Aug - Meat and Cheese is Not a Salad

Today was a beautiful sunny day, apparently the last for the rest of our holidays according to every site from accuweather to meteo france so we had to make the most of it. We didn't start very early, obviously, but we did manage to get a pastry from the surprisingly open bakery (a palmier like a giant elephant ear for Paul and a healthy almond croissant for me) and this was eaten in the usual civilised fashion in a coffee-providing establishment, today the one we thought had closed for the summer & meanwhile yesterday's looked deserted. They obviously have some sensible agreement going on to avoid too much work.

We hopped on the bike with only a small amount of groaning (from me) and headed East, over the Vienne (another tributary) and on a pretty indirect but very attractive route to Chinon. It was a really nice combination of blue sky, warmth, wooded bike paths with dappled sunlight, sunflower fields and quaint sandstoney villages almost all complete with a chateau of one size or another. We got up quite a good speed and went into Catch Mode rather than Cruise Mode. Nobody could escape. It didn't matter that most of them were elderly and not actually trying to race us, or were pulling small children or tents or a year's worth of luggage. We still took them all. The only one who overtook us was a boy of about seven on a BMX going up a hill into Chinon, but Paul doesn't count it as a proper overtake because he turned off the road before we had the chance to re-overtake him which we were clearly going to do. 

Lunch involved chatting to some random people at the next table who live here and have a gite, and the husband is one of the boatmen that ferry cyclists across the river twice a day (twice a DAY?!). They live near the local nuclear power plant which means they get a reduction in their electricity bills, and the nearby towns all have amazing sports facilities and flower beds, all paid for by the nuclear energy company. However the highlight of Chinon was my epic meat-meets-cheese platter (see pic) which was probably enough to feed three. All of it came from goats/cows etc personally known by the waiter and he even gave us some leaflets about them. It was Delicious. 

The loveliness continued in the afternoon although increasingly marred my my long suffering backside. The emergency gel saddle and savlon are my friends. We headed back along the Vienne into Montoreau and then out the other side to Saumur at a speedy pace. We dropped the bike off at the designated hotel, Paul explained in his best French all the things that were wrong with the it, and we went for a very welcome pinochet. This is a shandy, almost as good as an Apfelschorle for rehydrating on hot days, and normally seems to appear in 250ml sizes. Mine was some kind of micro comedy pinochet in a little 125ml shot glass. I should have taken a photo of it. We caught the agglobus back into Montsoreau with a lady driver who laughed at Paul's French (not cool) and had a shower and got ready for a tasty last meal here.

I even put a dress on and we went to eat at the lovely hotel restaurant with its amazing setting overlooking the chateau (see pic). However although the setting is great, and the food is also very tasty, the service is a bit random. They don't seem to know how to get orders and process them in any sensible kind of way so after nearly half an hour when we still hadn't even been asked if we wanted a drink we stacked the menus and wine list up neatly, abandoned ship and went to this morning's brasserie. In the end it wasn't much cheaper than the hotel restaurant but was suuuuuper tasty - and the waitresses even seemed to know what they were doing so all in all it was an excellent choice. Mum gave us some money before we left to get a tasty meal (and there may well be enough left for another one) so here is what we had, and it was all delicious:

Round 1: A kir royale (me) and glass of Saumur white wine (P) (served within 3 mins of arrival)

Round 2: Melon and local ham (me) and crudités (P) (why???)

Round 3: (the best one) Entrecôte steak with herb butter and fries (OMG) plus some Bourgeuil red wine from old vines, also great

Round 4: Cafe gourmand which was a coffee with 4 midget desserts, what's not to like??

Thanks mum :) xxx

Still feeling a bit fat and can't believe just how much meat I have eaten today.