Our first stop the day was just a few minutes ride up the road. This was a personal visit for me, as I visited back with my parents and brother in 1973 and again with my then girlfriend, in 1979. The destination, Chateau de Val, a XVth century castle, once up on a hillside, since 1952 it has sat on the banks of a reservoir, created when the first and largest dam on the river Dordogne was built at the end of the valley.
I think my dad harboured hopes that our family name was linked to this fairytale property. A nice thought.
Once again we were taking things easy on the roads, there was no need to rush, so 50 mph was the norm. As on previous days, the roads were superb and the French drivers so much more patient and respectful than the Italians.
One particular town we came to had a name that will be familiar to many, if not all, Volvic. Yes, the place the bottled water comes from. The road bypassed the town itself with its castle on the hill but took us right passed the Volvic bottling plant. Nearby I spotted a Patisserie, so we pulled in for brekkie. I had a couple of pastries, with a cookie and a bottle of water. The water hadn't had far to travel!
Grizzly got a buy 2 get one free deal on his pain au chocolat, which only became apparent when the young lady announced, "I need to give you one". 😳
Back on the road, we were travelling through fields of sunflowers. I was struck by how they all stand to attention facing the sun, quite a sight.
One of the yellow things isn't a sunflower! And no, he's not "watering the pony", he's taking pictures .
Our 2nd POI was a photo stop at another race circuit , that of Magny-Cours. There seems to be quite a big complex there, as before we even got to the entrance of the circuit itself, we passed a mini circuit with what looked like a test session taking place, and a go karting track.
We had a fuel stop next but skipped the planned one, to save ourselves 6 cents a litre at a supermarket! Have to watch the pennies when touring. 🤣
From there we only had about 3km to the hotel, a Campanile. It's out of town and surrounded by commercial shops, so there was no real option but to eat in. A buffet of cold starters, then a burger and fries. Washed down with an Affligem fruit beer. Nice but very expensive.
Tomorrow we are heading for a little town just north of Paris called Senlis. We'll skirt round the capital. We've done 2 capitals, 3 would be just plain greedy. Weather is looking promising, another 27 degree high.
By the way, I clocked up 4,000 miles on the trip today and Ginny will pass 26,000 tomorrow.
3 more sleeps.
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