One of the many up sides of staying at the Abbey was the sleep in and the sumptuous breakfast.

Most of the food prepared at the hotel is locally sourced. Very local!

Having indulged in both we set off once again with a walk around the Abbey in daylight, and yes, more photos of Richard the Lion Heart, where does the infatuation end??

With Hugh back in the drivers seat, phew, we headed of to a quaint village in the Loire Valley called Saumur. It was a quick stop to take a photo of one of the many Chateau’s which of course had scaffolding around the front due to renovations. Photo duly taken we jumped back in the car and headed to our next stop, Chinon.

This little village is home to the Chateau Royale Chinon which we took the time to visit, despite the temperature now reaching into the 30’s……

The chateau at Chinon is aimed a bit at kids, with lots of interactive stuff going on, plus plenty of reference to King Arthur….who I thought was English!

None the less, let’s push on, shall we.

Another claim is that this Chateau was the inspiration for the French castle scene in Monty Pythons ‘Holy Grail’ movie.

“I’m French! Why do you think I have this outrageous accent, you silly king”

“I don’t want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough whopper! I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries”

“You don’t frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottoms, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur-king, you and all your silly English kaniggets”.
Any excuse to revisit The Holy Grail! (Hugh)

Onwards we travel to our final destination, Amboise, a beautiful part of the Loire Valley, which we would be spending the next 2 nights in. Once again, Hugh has outdone himself with his choice of accommodation. A fabulous apartment in the old town of Amboise, the only down side, no fan or air conditioning and the temperature was now in the mid 30’s and it was hot, damn hot.

Not to be deterred, we headed into town to have a look around and as is always our want, we found a nice little bar to quench our thirst with a beer and read up on the local culture. Having spent quite the small fortune at the Abbey it was back to eating in at our apartment over a lovely bottle of red we had bought in Bordeaux.

As we headed back out for a walk around town after dinner, accompanied by the must have Gelato, we planned our day for tomorrow. With bedtime looming, the heat not abating, no cool breeze to be felt and the fact our bedroom was on the second floor of the apartment, we were not looking forward to what we knew would be a most uncomfortable nights sleep!!