Light drizzle is pattering on the roof and once we are up we can see it is quite mizzly. After missing out on laundry the other day we decide to give it another go today.
We find there is a large Intermarche in Chatillon sur Indre which is in the right direction for us. There is no reason to rush off so it is 11:30 before we get going.
At the supermarket the washing machines are available. While Ali loads one up shoppers wander across the nearly empty carpark, most of them carrying baguettes. Then we see the notice that the shop closes for two hours at lunchtime, which actually is quite normal in France even for supermarkets.
We have coffee and our lunch, the washing finishes and goes into the tumble drier and we go to the self service fuel pumps to get diesel.
At 14:30 shopping resumes and Ali goes in for our groceries but couldn’t get the fresh fish we wanted.
It’s bright sunshine when we continue our journey through woodlands and villages towards Loche. We see a SuperU, stop there and successfully get some nice cod loin.
Soon after Loche the landscape changes to the vast open plains of the southern Loire with a few vineyards where workers are planting new vines.
We’ve chosen a France Passion near Amboise for our stop tonight but as we drive alongside the river we miss the narrow entrance and have to go right into town before we can turn.
This time we get it right and turn in to a narrow track signposted Domaine de Breuil, which has newly joined France Passion for this year, and makes mention of Troglodyte caves. At the end of the track we enter a muddy yard and meet a man who turns out to be the owners’ father. He signals where to park and tries to ring his son but no answer.
The caves are cut into a rock face which towers 40 or so feet above us but they are closed off with wooden doors. Wine-making paraphernalia is scattered around the small yard, but it looks like our plan of buying a bottle of local white wine for our fish dinner is out. Never mind, such is the occasional unpredictability of the Passion scheme. Maybe the son was one of the planters we saw earlier and it’s not worth him opening up to sell a bottle or two.
No worry, it’s peaceful here and we have a reserve of other white wines to drink with or cod and asparagus.