Random Summer Pic 3

A photo of an insect with a pretty background

Note to self: clean windscreen.

The Heritage Traffic Jam

The Journées du Patrimoine are coming up soon and I wanted to show you one of the most unusual activities from last year -- a traffic jam to relive the experience of heading off on summer holidays via the Route Nationale 10 of old. Hundreds of vehicles from the 60s and 70s turned up to block the town of Sainte Maure de Touraine in the name of heritage and nostalgia. Anyone who lived in the north of France and holidayed in the south before 1977 and the opening of the autoroute remembers this experience.

The event was organised by the mayor of Sainte Maure, Christian Barillet, and a local blogger, Laurent Carré, who dreams of the N10 one day being the French equivalent of Route 66 in the global psyche.

It wasn't quite like the old days though. Nerves weren't frazzled and the whole town enjoyed being transported back 40 years (pun intended). Even a few minor traffic accidents were part of the atmosphere, with a pink and white Panhard advertising Evian colliding with the rear of an automatic Mustang, which then went bumper to bumper with a DS station wagon, leather suitcases perched on the roof and towing a caravan completely lacking in any hint of aerodynamics (I'm quoting, in translation, the local newspaper article report on the day here).
Local resident Claude Méry made a video of the day and although it is 20 minutes long I recommend you at least watch a bit of the beginning to see a few cars and the last few minutes or so, which will give you a very good idea of what a village event in France is really like.

Alternatively you can watch our 3 minute video of a similar event in Le Blanc that we attended earlier this year.
 

What's Under the Chapel at the Logis Royal?

The archaeological dig of the Chapel of Saint Louis at the Logis Royal in Loches has recommenced. Last year the archaeologists found some 14th century tiled floor and the front door hinge. The site was covered over after a few weeks to protect the archaeology, and has been opened up again and extended to 150m² for a dig which will last the whole of September this year. It is being conducted by three archaeologists from the Indre et Loire Archeology Service and 8 students.

Several interesting things have turned up. At the moment there are lots of questions and speculation, but as yet it is too early to say for sure what they have found.

Entrance to the void to the left of the wooden ramp. 

The bell pit is to the left of that, and digging had only just begun on it when I took this photo.

The foundations of the chapel are older than the Logis, dating from the time of the Counts of Anjou before becoming a royal chapel for the Valois kings, and the dig has the potential to shed light on nearly a thousand years of history. Until last year known only from medieval records, the building was most likely destroyed during the Revolution, but little by little it is giving up some of its secrets as the archaeologists dig. 

It seems the rest of the nice tile floor was removed at the time of the demolition, and the only section which remains in situ is the small area by the front door that was discovered last year. This has turned out to be an advantage though. It means that the archaeologists have immediate access to layers below, dating as far back as the 12th and 13th centuries. They've found the opening to a void under the floor -- a cellar? an underground passage? a crypt? -- more will be revealed after some additional days of plying the shovels.

At the other end of the new part of the dig they have found a big circular pit. The best guess at the moment is that this is a 19th century pit to cast a bell. It is known that the chapel itself did not have a bell, and anyway, was already destroyed by the time this pit was created. However, it could be a pit to cast the bells for Saint Ours, less than a hundred metres away. The records indicate that these were cast in some sort of religious building.

There is also a 2m thick wall running obliquely through the site, confirming evidence from last year of an Angevin fortification here dating from 900 to 1200. And the lastest news is the discovery of a tomb dating from the 14th century near the chapel containing a dog.

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Botany Outing: There will be a general botany outing on Saturday 13 September to look at the plants of the Loire sands at Berthenay. Meet at 14.30 in front of the church at Berthenay. Organised by the Association de Botanique et de Mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine.

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Charity Cycle Ride: Jim has posted details of his itinerary on his blog. He is riding the length of the Loire to raise money for two teenage cancer charities, one British, one French, in memory of his neice Esme who died last year aged 18 from a brain tumour. She was clearly a remarkable young woman to read Jim's blog posts about her. He will be riding through the Tourangelle section of the Loire on Monday 22 September. He'd love to have people there cheering him on and especially joining him on their bikes for even a few kilometres I am sure. He can be contacted via his blog, or through me. You can also donate by clicking on one of the links above.

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Orchard News: Our friend Tim came over with Betsy, his machine with a cutting blade on the front, and mowed the orchard. I raked up after him so at the moment the orchard looks like a haymeadow with the cut grass and wildflowers in windrows. There is one section he has not mowed however, and that is because to my amazement I discovered an Autumn Ladys Tresses orchid Spiranthes spiralis flowering there! This rare species brings to 7 the number of species we get in the orchard. Tim took some orchid seed from 3 species and 3 female wasp spiders to re-establish a colony in his meadow that died out in the cold.

I picked black grapes, apples and pears.

Random Summer photo 2

The noocula chateau

Random Summer photo 1

Too much has been happening of late: what with rushing around doing eyes. working, sorting out cars and trying to run a household, some things have had to give, and this week that means blogging.

So for this week (or until we get ourselves sorted out), a series of random photos of the Loire Valley in summer.

p.s. I know why pirates have beards

Central Netted Dragon

A Central Netted Dragon Ctenophorus nuchalis basks on a fence post in the Australian desert.

Thorny Devil

A Thorny Devil Moloch horridus on the side of the road in the Northern Territory. These lizards are extremely slow moving and seemingly unperturbed by being handled. If you pick them up by the tail they remain rigid. If an ant walks by the lizard's tongue will dart out and catch it -- that's the only part of their body that moves with speed, and any ant within reach is a goner.

The Church at Candes Saint Martin

The very fine north porch, with high ribbed vaulting and thin columns. The statues were apparently beheaded during the Revolution.

In 387 Saint Martin established a church and a school at Candes, on the confluence of the Loire and the Vienne rivers, 40 km west of Tours. This was an act of evangelism, because at the time the area was strongly pagan. He died in the town in November 397.

The creature on the left is apparently Saint Martin's donkey, munching on a vine leaf. Then there is a young girl and an Angevin princess and prince.

In 1175 it was decided to build a church on the site of the house in Candes where Saint Martin resided at the end of his life. Construction began with the semi-circular apse, an offset choir, the transept and nave and two aisles. The transept was later vaulted in the Angevin style and the Gothic chapel of Saint Martin, buttresses on the western wall, side chapels and the elegant north porch protecting numerous sculptures all date from the 13th century. By tradition the chapel dedicated to Saint Martin occupies the spot where he died.

 It is likely that these two heads represent Henry II Plantagenet and Eleanor of Aquitaine, who endowed the church.

In the 15th century the church was fortified and in 1840 declared a national monument. 

Part of the tympanum, the heavily carved surround to the main entrance.

Bernard Saves the Day

 Bernard with Célestine in Montrésor.

Meet Bernard. He has acted as our replacement driver while Simon has been unable to drive clients due to his eye operation. He is a retired chef who owns his own Traction Avant and belongs to the same car club as us. He grew up in the area, being born near Saumur, and has come back to live here in his retirement.

Bernard twiddles with Célestine's accelerator mechanism, random German Citroen enthusiast looking on.

 

Bernard has been fantastic. He has had to deal with more than his fair share of Traction Avant shenanigans. On his first day out with clients Célestine's accelerator cable played up at Villandry, but with the help of a passing German Citroen enthusiast, he was able to whip out the tool kit and fix it in the car park while the clients went for coffee.

 Bernard with his Traction parked outside the church at Candes Saint Martin.

Worse was to come though. At Chinon two days later he was carefully exiting the top carpark and grounded Célestine on the speed bump. She refused to go into gear and he had to roll her back into a parking spot. Oil was leaking out of the gearbox. We both knew what this might mean. Traction gearboxes are delicate and need to be handled gently. He phoned Jean Louis, our expert mechanic, who expostulated 'C'est pas possible!' rather a lot -- he has repaired Célestine's gearbox in the past.  Bernard arranged for Jean Louis to pick Célestine up with the car trailer.

Then he phoned his nephew and arranged to be collected in Chinon so they could go and get his own Traction. I took the clients to the chateau as planned and we all met up for an excellent lunch at the restaurant Au Chapeau Rouge in Chinon. Phew! I would never have been able to manage the day so well without him. He is an absolute treasure (as is Jean Louis for coming to get Célestine at a moment's notice).

We anxiously await Jean Louis' verdict on Célestine's state of health and in the meantime Claudette is back in service.

The Chateau of Montsoreau

The Chateau of Montsoreau sits right on the banks of the river Loire, near its confluence with the Vienne. Nowadays the main road passes just below the chateau's walls, but once it virtually sat in the river.

It is a 15th century structure, which replaced an earlier chateau-fort. The earlier building was the source of considerable disgruntlement in that endlessly quarrelsome family, the Plantagenets. Henry II had foolishly declared his oldest son, another Henry, to be joint monarch. The Young King, as he became known, was given three chateaux, one of which was Montsoreau. Naturally, his belligerent brothers rose up to oppose their father's favouritism.

The current version of the chateau was built by a courtier of Charles VII in 1455 as part forteress, part pleasure palace. By the 19th century it was being used as a warehouse and was in very poor repair. Despite this it was declared a National Monument in 1862, but like many of the chateaux in the Touraine Loire Valley, it remained virtually in ruins until the late 20th century.

A Detached Retina Part I

The more observant of you may have notice a number of things:

1. I haven't written a blog post for years.
2. We were at le Mans recently.
3. I have had a medical adventure.

We can't do much about item 1, it's GOG* syndrome. That is, Blogger has changed and I can't be bothered learning how it all works - my experience is that it just doesn't and I would rather not write than fume (I don't do silent fume - the whole street tends to know). Item 2 was exciting, but Susan has it covered, and item 3...

Well, that's where only I can tell what it was like.

On the Friday morning I commented to Susan that it was weird - I could see little black ants crawling on the bottom of the lens of my glasses when I was wearing them, but I couldn't find them when I took the glasses off and looked. I put that down to some excitement, some beer and some wine on Thursday evening and ignored it (these days I rarely drink, and although I am not a one pot screamer the after effects are far greater than they used to be). On Saturday morning my eyes were a bit hazy, but that may have been wine and beer on Friday evening (no excitement, it had rained all Friday - not exciting in a tent). Sometimes my eyes just take a while to focus properly

It wasn't until we had completed the lap of the circuit that I picked up my camera and put it to my left eye - the stronger of my eyes, and the one I use for aiming stuff. Blow me down but it was interesting...

This was a bit of a worry - I had never seen that before, and hope never to see it again. After talking to people at the campsite we agreed I should drive home before it got worse, and that it was probably due to the fact I had massively overheated putting up the tent on Thursday afternoon.

When we got home, Susan rang a friend who had suffered a detatched retina late last year. He said that he didn't know if I had the same, but visiting A&E (hospital outpatients or Urgences) would be a good idea. So we drove to our nearest Urgences which is in Chatellerault to discover they had no opthalmologist (we knew that, but you should visit the nearest Urgences first up) and they referred us to Poitiers.

I was dreading the thought of visiting a hospital emergency section at 9.00 pm on a Saturday evening in the middle of summer - anyone who has done the same in Australia or the UK can tell you some horror stories, but it has to be said that both the hospitals we visited were calm, friendly places, with personal service (no numbers, you were called by name) and really quick. We set out at just after 8.00 pm and were home by 11.30 pm, having seen an intern, and having an appointment with an opthalmologist made for 9.15 am on Sunday(!) morning.

Simon

To be continued...

*GOG = Grumpy Old Git

The Nature of the Touraine Loire Valley in September

Like many bird species, Cormorants will start gathering and moving through the area on migration. They use the river Loire like a highway.

Sunrise 8 am, sunset 7.30 pm. Average temperatures are starting to fall now, but we should still have maximums in the low 20°s and around 200 hours of sunlight.

Emerald damselflies Lestes spp of several species are late summer fliers. This one is a male Western Willow Spreadwing L. viridis, common and easy to distinguish from other similar species by its terracotta coloured pterostigma (the opaque cells near the wingtips).

Autumn Lady's Tresses Spiranthes spiralis are the last of the Touraine orchid species to flower.

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Fundraising for Cancer Research: Jim Budd is about to begin a fundraising cycling trip along the full length of the Loire. Money raised will go to the Teenage Cancer Trust and the  Fondation Gustave Roussy .  If you are in the area, why not join him for a stretch? I know he would really appreciate meeting new cycling companions. His journey starts on 17 September. If you wish to donate, go to the links above. If you want to contact him with regard to cycling a section with him I can give you his email address.

The Nature Photographer at Work

My sister photographing a Thorny Devil lizard on the side of the road in the Northern Territory. I've no doubt the plant she is kneeling in was prickly, but Thorny Devils are special.
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Answer to Quiz: The sculptures in Tuesday's quiz are at Ussé. No one got close.

The Red Centre

With soil this colour, no wonder the middle of Australia is known as the Red Centre.

Cheese!

The sign at the entrance to Rodolphe le Meunier's premises in La Croix en Touraine.

Earlier this month we visited Rodolphe le Meunier in his cheese filled lair. He is a cheese affineur, which is to say he buys cheeses from trusted producers all over France and matures the cheese in his specially designed facility. He then sells the cheese to restaurants and cheese shops as well as retailing it himself.

Rodolphe le Meunier in the main room of the workshop.

The red, white and blue stripes on his collar are the insignia of his Meilleur Oeuvrier de France (Best Worker in France) status.

We visited because we wanted to organise a partnership whereby we bring clients to the facility in La Croix en Touraine and either he or his assistant take our clients through a cheese tasting or cheese and wine pairing. We think the clients are going to love it.

 Fromage de chèvre (goats cheese) of all different sorts, from all over France, maturing in their temperature, ventilation and humidity controlled cellar.

The atelier is nothing to look at from the outside, and the inside is fairly spartan too. It's all about the cheese, which live on racks in different rooms with controlled temperature, ventilation and humidity according to their requirements as they age. Rodolphe told us that his father, a cheesemonger specialising in goats cheeses, bought the premises by the level crossing that the business currently occupies, and before him, his grandmother was goats cheese producer. In 2007 he won the 'Best Worker in France' award for cheesemongers and also Best International Cheesemonger. His sister runs their shop in the market halls in Tours, and they go to various local markets (Amboise, Chinon...).

 Hard mountain cheeses on racks in their atmospherically controlled 'cellar' (more like a cold room in appearance).

Typical of young French artisans, Rodolphe worked in the family business, but also went to college and graduated with a diploma in agricultural and food marketing. I get the impression he is extremely hard working, driven and completely committed to the business. He is also personable and laughs easily. His English is good, as is his able assistant Iris's.

 We came away with a very generous gift of Beurre de Baratte (traditionally made salted butter); Crémeux des Citeaux aux truffes (an unctuous downy cheese with a thin layer of truffles running through the centre, extremely savoury);and a Couronne Lochoise (a soft and creamy donut shaped ash covered local goats cheese).

Also typical of young French food producers, he insists that the choice of a cheese starts with telling him what sort of cheese you like (strong or mild, hard or soft) then he can suggest specific cheeses that he thinks you will like. It will be interesting to see how much cheese lore we absorb by osmosis, in the way we have about wine after visiting winemakers for a time. I'm really looking forward to visiting him regularly.

Renaming Avenue du Cher

It appears that Avenue du Cher in La Croix en Touraine has recently been renamed. However, just in case your maps or GPS are out of date, they have not removed the old sign, just run a strip of black tape across it. Pragmatic or what!?

Hellcats and Hooves

5 points to anyone who can correctly identify the chateau(x) these fearsome beasts adorn.

Bonus points will be awarded if you can tell me on what part of the chateau the sculptures can be found and more bonus points for any other interesting snippet you can tell me about them.
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Answer to Quiz: All these sculptures are to be found at the Chateau of Ussé. The cats are over the front door, the dragon up in the wall walk level.

Circle the Citroens

 La Traction Universelle club camp at Eurocitro 2014, Le Mans. That's our tent on the left above.

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Maillé Massacre Anniversary: Today is the 70th anniversary of the day German troops killed 124 people in Maillé and burnt the village. We wrote about the incident here. While Paris was going crazy with jubilation over their liberation, the small community of Maillé, south of Sainte Maure de Touraine was going through hell. Around 9am 70 to 100 German soldiers, probably a battalion of Waffen SS based in Chatellerault invaded the village with the intention of killing and burning. The Nazis organised the massacre in reprisal for the actions of local Resistance, which had increased over the previous few days against the occupying forces. The death toll was 37 men, 39 women and 48 children, ranging in age from 3 months to 89 years.

There will be a ceremony of remembrance today, starting with a mass at 9.30 am followed by wreath laying at the war memorial at 11 am.

Dry Creek Bed

For much of the time, like most outback watercourses, Kings Creek is dry.
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A la cuisine hier: Blackberry Ripple Meringues, which took ages to dry out properly even using the oven fan. They are uber sweet, but delicious and still marshmallowy inside. The blackberries were picked on two of my butterfly transects. I had to dodge orb spiders galore in the grass to get them.

Chicken macaroni, made with fresh goats cheese sauce seasoned with rosemary.

An Australian Robber Fly

This Chrysopogon sp robber fly was photographed at Kings Creek in the Northern Territory in 2006. I remember it darted from its lookout post on a bush to catch a small bush fly that was sitting on my camera.
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French Expression: La rocade = 'the ring road'. When we decided to go to Accident and Emergency with Simon's eye problem we initially went to Châtellerault hosptial, but they told us that to see an ophthamologist we would have to go to Poitiers or Tours hospital. Poitiers is much closer to Châtellerault, but we had no idea where the hospital was. 'Oh it's easy!' exclaimed all the SAMU nurses and even another patient in A&E. 'You take the autoroute then you get to la Rocade and turn right. It's well signposted'. This la Rocade place was somewhere we had never heard of, and never found en route, but we managed to get to the hospital all the same. Later, quite by chance, I was reading something unrelated and came across an explanation of la rocade. It turns out it is a regional word for bypass or ring road, not a place name. Since then I have encountered it in some directions for a botany outing later in the year too.

Eye Update: We went back to Poitiers hospital yesterday so the doctor could check on the intraocular pressure in Simon's eye. It has come down, but is still too high, so the dosage of his tablet has been increased and we have to go back on Monday to check again. This means I will have to go to Paris in the morning to meet our clients for the week and bring them back on the train. After installing them in their very nice B&B in the centre of Tours it will then be off down the motorway to Poitiers for Simon's appointment, and back up to Tours to prepare for the next day of touring with the clients. Looking forward to all that then (or maybe not...)