We have no sooner arrived in the Loire region and the rains come [as predicted by Nick W a week ago] Also the temperature as we get up is only 16C, so it's jumpers and coats as we head for the museum. Maurice Dufresne, born 1930, was a blacksmith and supplier of farming equipment, with a passion for machinery. In 1983 he acquired the mill at Marnay and established a museum for his collection which now exceeds 3000 exhibits. The first section, outdoors...

We sleep right through to 08:00 and wake to clear skies, or what we can see of the sky through the jungle of tee shirts and undies hanging all around to air. After breakfast it all gets put away and the inside gets a good clean and tidy. We are delayed leaving the pitch by chatting to an English couple camping with their young daughter, and thus just beaten to the service point by a Frenchman who would make a sloth look like Usain Bolt. Eventually he is do...