Apremont-sur-Allier
Leaving the small, but well equipped Municipal camp at Dornes, we set off, via the Allier river, a tributary of the Loire, to the small village of Apremont. It is named as one of the prettiest villages in France. Many villages are so called, though. It is truly lovely. Tiny but with flowers everywhere.
Nevers
Our next stop was in the city of Nevers, where we needed to find a bank for some more Euros. Some of the small municipal camp sites don’t take cards, so we needed to have some cash with us. We had a quick look at the city and then continued to La Charity-sur-Loire, stopping by a canal side for lunch.
An unusual fellow camper. A German tractor towing a caravan.
La Charite-sur-Loire
We have visited La Charite twice before. First in 2010 when we cycled the EuroVelo 6 route from Saint Nazaire to Constanta following the Loire and Danube rivers. Then again on another cycling trip when we rented a small house in the centre of La Charite for a few days. We thought we would go back and have a look and see if things were still the same. The house was owned by a Canadian couple who also owned several other properties in the village. They had advised us they were selling up, so we wondered what might have happened to the little house we stayed in.
La Charite is famous for its enormous priory, a stopover for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Sadly, we found the town rather depressing. It was quite run down with many closed shops. The little house we rented was accessed by a small door between shops on the high street. There were so many derelict shops, we could not trace the door.
We camped overnight at the riverside camp in La Charite. This morning we were up earlier as it was a beautiful day and expected to reach the 30’s later. Our first stop was the hilltop town of Sancerre, famous for its wine. We did visit on a tour when we were last in La Charite, but it is very scenic with fantastic views over the countryside, so we visited again. We got ourselves into some very tiny streets, difficult for manoeuvres in Poki! I think we missed a sign saying “Pedestrians Only”. We were getting some funny looks.
Sancerre vines with the town on the hill.
Centre of Sancerre
Negotiating Sancerre’s narrow streets.
As we were driving along beside the Canal Lateral La Loire, I thought I saw a small deer standing in the water. We turned back to see if it really was a deer. Another car had stopped to watch and the deer was startled and began swimming. We then realised it could not get out as the banks were too steep. A guy was running along the opposite bank towards the deer, but I don’t know how he could have helped it out.
The next town we passed through, after crossing a large bridge was Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire. At this point we decided we would leave the Loire and head north east in the direction of Troyes. Ambling slowly through forests and small villages, our next stop was St Sauveur-en-Puisaye.
Our way through the town was blocked and we weren’t sure why. We decided to park and have a walk around. Parking in the car park of a museum, we went to investigate. The museum was dedicated to the life of the famous French author, Colette. The curator of the museum explained that everything was in French only, so we decided to pass on a visit. Next to the museum was an interesting medieval tower, but we couldn’t find any information on its history. Walking into the centre of the town we discovered why our way had been blocked. There had been a market earlier on and some clearing up was still taking place.
The Tourist Office was able to supply us with some information on camping. The municipal site we tried in the next village was very run down and devoid of facilities, so we didn’t stay. We returned to a camp on the other side of St Sauveur. It’s beside a lake with a swimming pool, restaurant etc, but is ranked 3 star so not as expensive as we thought it would be. 18 Euros. We have decided to stay 2 days. We need a break as we have been travelling constantly for 2 weeks.
Some history
Not being familiar with the French writer, Colette, I decided to Google her and find out a bit about her. On our walk around the town we had passed her house. Her most famous work was Gigi, which became a famous film with Audrey Hepburn. Apparently her work was rather raunchy. She caused a scandal kissing a woman lover in a play they were acting in. She also preferred younger men having an affair with her second husband’s 16 year old stepson. Her third husband was Jewish and arrested by the Gestapo, although he was released 7 weeks later. She spent the war worrying he would be rearrested and wrote several articles for pro-nazi newspapers. An interesting character. Perhaps we should have visited the museum after all.
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