Woke after a great nights sleep and went for breakfast that had been laid out grand style in communal style. Friendly French couple Bonjoured me and we had a stilted conversation that fizzled out quite quickly due to us not sharing a common language. Felt rather ashamed. Disappeared off to download Sunday papers onto iPad.
Drove down to the foot of the village to look back at the chateau, then changed into shorts as the sun started to shine strongly.
Headed back to Angers to look at the huge fort-like chateau there. Interesting audio guide and exceptional and enormous Apocalypse Tapestry stretched across a huge room and well described by the audio guide. It told the story of the end of days from the Book of Revelation quite chillingly. The tapestry was beautifully woven with great artistry and still had rich and vibrant colours unlike the moth coloured tapestries that hang from walls in many country houses in England.
We forgot to get a baguette this morning and really struggled to find anywhere open for lunch as it was a Sunday. However we persevered to Saumur and found a great bakery there. Saumur chateau is very pretty as it holds court over the town, but not really worth a visit. Outside they were having a fun jousting thing for the kids but it was pretty dull for adults.
Onwards to the next chateau. We were staying at Chateau Brou reached by a long drive through a wooded country park, it appeared handsomely in it's own well groomed grounds. The room was good but the wifi was maddeningly slow. Dinner options were two set menus which would have cost us about 200 euros with wine, so we rebelled and headed to the nearest village. Everything was closed and we faced the prospect of returning with our tail between our legs and having to eat the gourmet meal that we didn't really want. Then as we were driving back we saw a roadside cafe with a caravan and a small table under cute awnings. 'Should we?' I asked. Richard nodded and soon we were eating steak hache and chips on patio furniture with a great pitcher of wine which cost us just 2 euros.
We told madam that we had come from the chateau and were 'rebelling'. She seemed to nod in appreciation. Jokingly I asked her for the desert menu and she pointed at a poster of ice-creams. We declined.
When we headed back through the chateau ground,s we surprised a pack of wild boar crossing the road. You can imagine our excitement! We headed for a walk later and saw beautiful deer wandering through the forest. It was absolutely magical.