Oú est Bertie? He's in an Aire in the town of Verneuil d'Avre et d'Iton. Exact location: 48.73943, 0.93095.
Weather: Not a bit of sun to be seen. Some rain. Topping out in the mid-teens.
It was another day that started with a drive, but a very short one today, taking us from Turquant to a car park just 3.3km along the road in neighbouring Souzay. From there started the route that I'd chosen for my exercise today.
First, however, we were going to follow the 'Parcours Troglodytique' through 'Rue de Commerce' - a troglodyte shopping street, that was (according to one of the information signs) still in use at the start of the 20th century.
An interesting little excursion, although it didn't take awfully long to have a poke around and read the information signs:
Heading past the chateau, once owned by Margaret d'Anjou...
It extends backwards into the cliff
...the route I'd downloaded said to turn left. There was no waymark, but we believed the route, were led through some more caves, at the back of which a steep incline took us out the other side, and onto the margin of a vineyard that didn't feel at all like a right of way.
It was at this point that Mick turned back, although only because I was about to burst into a jog and he was only to be walking today, so he opted for the riverside as his venue.
On Google Maps, one of the reviews of the Parcours Troglodytique said that the reviewer had tried to follow the advertised 16km route, but hadn't been able to due to poor waymarking. They weren't wrong! I had no problem (navigating from a route downloaded onto my watch), but it was a surprise as I exited that first set of vineyard paths to find that I was indeed on the right track. The waymarks were ridiculously far apart, even when multiple junctions were passed in between them.
I can't say it was a good route either, although I'm sure the grey sky and almost constant light rain didn't help. I saw lots of vineyards and a good chunk of muddy woodland too.
Back at the start I revisited the sign that advertised the route, to see what points of interest I should have seen on the way. I noticed none of them.
Mick had been similarly uninspired by his outing.
(Hmmm. I've made it sound like Turquant and Souzay were bad choices of places to visit. They weren't! There was plenty worth seeing, but in grey murky conditions the walking routes were lacking compared to others we've done recently. I think we've been rather spoiled with interesting routes lately.)
Onwards!
I usually spend far too long surveying nightstop options and reading reviews. Today I clicked on this Aire at Verneuil, read the headline and a couple of reviews and decided it would be our destination. If only I could be that decisive and efficient more often!
The drive to get here was slow (D roads, rather than N roads, for all bar the last few kilometres), with a pause at Decathlon in Le Mans for lunch. The shop didn't have in stock the item I wanted to look at, but we achieved the lunch part of the stop in their car park, during which time the sound of racing cars from the nearby circuit started up.
Finally, via a quick stop at an Intermarche petrol station (176.9/litre = far cheaper than we've seen elsewhere in France), at just gone 4pm, we arrived at our destination. First priority: walk the 5 minutes to Lidl to pick up some meat for Mick's tea, having failed to get any out of the freezer earlier in the day.
Whilst buying diesel and using a supermarket does contribute to the local economy, I thought it would be reasonable to also visit a local patisserie, so we came back via the town centre.
No two adjoining houses of the same style or age. Lots of half-timbered buildings.
By the time we got to the main square, and we'd still not found a patisserie, I was wondering what sort of town this was, but surely there must be one somewhere by the church?
Excuse the cars in shot. The middle of the square is the town car park.
Success! A well stocked shop with its goods looking home-made, not bought-in. A quiche got added to the cake order too, and it was a feat of restraint that we didn't buy four cakes.
We got back to Bertie with the makings of a remarkably quick and easy tea that would create an uncommonly small number of dirty dishes. Only the steak needed to be cooked:
(*After taking the snap, we decided to just have the Tart Myrtille between us tonight, keeping the other for tommorrow. Based on the quiche and the Tart Myrtille, it will be good.)
Weather: Not a bit of sun to be seen. Some rain. Topping out in the mid-teens.
It was another day that started with a drive, but a very short one today, taking us from Turquant to a car park just 3.3km along the road in neighbouring Souzay. From there started the route that I'd chosen for my exercise today.
First, however, we were going to follow the 'Parcours Troglodytique' through 'Rue de Commerce' - a troglodyte shopping street, that was (according to one of the information signs) still in use at the start of the 20th century.
An interesting little excursion, although it didn't take awfully long to have a poke around and read the information signs:
Entering
Walking through. The ivy is trying to claim the place.
Not sure these snaps are particularly illustrative of the nature of the place.
...the route I'd downloaded said to turn left. There was no waymark, but we believed the route, were led through some more caves, at the back of which a steep incline took us out the other side, and onto the margin of a vineyard that didn't feel at all like a right of way.
It was at this point that Mick turned back, although only because I was about to burst into a jog and he was only to be walking today, so he opted for the riverside as his venue.
On Google Maps, one of the reviews of the Parcours Troglodytique said that the reviewer had tried to follow the advertised 16km route, but hadn't been able to due to poor waymarking. They weren't wrong! I had no problem (navigating from a route downloaded onto my watch), but it was a surprise as I exited that first set of vineyard paths to find that I was indeed on the right track. The waymarks were ridiculously far apart, even when multiple junctions were passed in between them.
I can't say it was a good route either, although I'm sure the grey sky and almost constant light rain didn't help. I saw lots of vineyards and a good chunk of muddy woodland too.
Curtailed view
Mick had been similarly uninspired by his outing.
(Hmmm. I've made it sound like Turquant and Souzay were bad choices of places to visit. They weren't! There was plenty worth seeing, but in grey murky conditions the walking routes were lacking compared to others we've done recently. I think we've been rather spoiled with interesting routes lately.)
Onwards!
I usually spend far too long surveying nightstop options and reading reviews. Today I clicked on this Aire at Verneuil, read the headline and a couple of reviews and decided it would be our destination. If only I could be that decisive and efficient more often!
The drive to get here was slow (D roads, rather than N roads, for all bar the last few kilometres), with a pause at Decathlon in Le Mans for lunch. The shop didn't have in stock the item I wanted to look at, but we achieved the lunch part of the stop in their car park, during which time the sound of racing cars from the nearby circuit started up.
Finally, via a quick stop at an Intermarche petrol station (176.9/litre = far cheaper than we've seen elsewhere in France), at just gone 4pm, we arrived at our destination. First priority: walk the 5 minutes to Lidl to pick up some meat for Mick's tea, having failed to get any out of the freezer earlier in the day.
Whilst buying diesel and using a supermarket does contribute to the local economy, I thought it would be reasonable to also visit a local patisserie, so we came back via the town centre.
By the time we got to the main square, and we'd still not found a patisserie, I was wondering what sort of town this was, but surely there must be one somewhere by the church?
Success! A well stocked shop with its goods looking home-made, not bought-in. A quiche got added to the cake order too, and it was a feat of restraint that we didn't buy four cakes.
We got back to Bertie with the makings of a remarkably quick and easy tea that would create an uncommonly small number of dirty dishes. Only the steak needed to be cooked:
The makings
Not many minutes needed to get it on the table
And pudding*
(*After taking the snap, we decided to just have the Tart Myrtille between us tonight, keeping the other for tommorrow. Based on the quiche and the Tart Myrtille, it will be good.)
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