LEAVING THE LOIRE

June 1 and 2, 2005

We visited the huge complex of Fontvraud l'Abbaye.  This is an old religious complex which started in 1101, when a hermit, Robert d'Arbrissel, was appointed by the Pope to preach in the countryside.  He soon had many followers, both men and women, and he chose this location to have an abbey built.  The abbey actually housed 5 different cultures: priests, invalids, contemplative nuns, lepers and lay nuns.  Much of the abbey was destroyed during the French Revolution.  It was used as a prison for many years.  The buildings have undergone a great deal of restoration.  Some very famous historical figures are buried here, including Richard the Lionhearted, Eleanor of Aquitane, and Henry II Plantagenet.  Their burial sarcophogi are in quite good condition and are on display in the large church.

We spent our last day along the Loire River, enjoying the very nice bike route.  As always, the scenery was great.  The weather has been sunny and warm.  We arrived at our next B&B sweaty and ready for a shower.

After cleaning up we went to the little riverside restaurant recommended by our landlady.  The other group staying at our B&B were also there.  Our landlady got the restauranteur to open especially for the five of us.  The menu offered two choices, anduillettes or cuisses de grenuilles.  Since we didn’t know what either one was, Don ordered one and I ordered the other.

MONTJEAN sur LOIRE-49570
"Les Cedres"
17 rue du prieure
Tel 02 41 39 39 25 Cell 06 62 17 39 25
www.les-cedres.net
Danielle Wittevert et Bernard Chataigner

We had had our customary wine and nuts in the garden of our B&B, so our meal started with a very nice salad and we were happy.  We chatted with the other group, who turned out to be locals who were on a hiking holiday.  They had hiked 20 kilometers from Amboise that day. The entrée arrived and mine turned out to be lots of juicy little frogs legs.  They were quite good.  Don’s entrée turned out to be a kind of fat, sausage looking thing with a heap of nice frites (french fries).  Don likes sausage, so he cut into his and it appeared to be full of thin little strips of ham.  He took a bite and got a funny look on his face.  His dish tasted like nothing he had ever eaten before.  It turned out to be a dish of baby eel, a specialty of the Loire area.  He ate quite a bit of it, but finally gave up on the last 3 bites.  Ice cream for dessert.

This was our last night along the Loire and now we are striking out across Brittany, heading for our next home exchange in Gavres.  The countryside is a bit hillier and the crops have changed from barley and vineyards to corn and cows.

We spent the next day riding in the countryside and put in over 80 kilometers.  We stopped in the busy town of Erdre to make reservations for our next chambre d’hotes in Cavillieres.  Lucky me, I got to ride up the main street at rush hour twice.

When we arrived in the town of Cavillieres it turned out to be quite small.  The chambre hostess had told us to just follow the signs, but for some reason Don didn’t have confidence in the signs that were posted.  We rode out the other side of town and still had not found our place for the night.  I was following the little chambre d’hote signs, but finally Don decided to ask someone.  He stopped a farmer on a tractor who confirmed that we were going in the right direction, so we continued on and finally found our place.  It turned out to be a very nice restored farmhouse with spacious rooms, a nice kitchen and lovely garden.  Our hostess was gracious and generous.  Since we were so far from town and there was not enough time to get to the little grocery store before it closed, she made us a nice salad of field greens and tomatoes.  We had bread and cheese and fruit for dessert.

The next morning we struck out again, continuing through the farm lands.  We stayed at another working dairy farm for the evening.  Even though it, too, was in an out of the way spot, it was full.  We enjoyed the excellent meal prepared by our hostess, along with the other guests.  The menu was an aperitif of the local sweet Anjou wine, then meat terrine, green salad, veal stew, cheese, more green salad, and crème brule for dessert.  I was stuffed!  They served home made cider and also home brewed red wine with dinner.

Nivillac-56130
Jo et Marie-Pierre Chesin "Moulin du Couedic"
Tel 02 99 90 62 47