Loire valley - Saumur

I think Saumur was even more scenic than the Blois area (and I don't just have to say that because it's twinned with Warwick, right near where Dave grew up). Did the usual walking tour and a couple of winery tours and tastings. There is a large series of underground caves underneath the entire region, the source of limestone to build in the first place. These caves now provide the perfect climate to grow mushrooms and produce and store wine so there are tonnes of vineyards and wineries in the area. The speciality of the area is sparkling wine and I may have bought a few bottles to enjoy...

Saumur Castle from the closest bridge

View from the hill beyond the castle

15th century houses in one of the squares - awesome creperie downstairs here

Louis de Grenelle winery - ceremonial tasting room in underground caves

Louis de Grenelle winery - cave system packed with maturing wine

Loire a Velo trail goes through exposed cave sections

Loire a Velo trail

Looks like the size of a pedestrian walkway but is in fact a vehicle road!

Loire a Velo trail through more exposed caves

Loire a Velo trail descending into the caves

Spring time - flower beds everywhere

Vineyards & sunflower fields

Heading back into Saumur

Saumur Castle from the cycle trail

Loire valley - Blois

Let's take a break from the alpine & venture into another part of France! Swapping skiing for cycling, altitude for (fairly) flat cycle paths, and snow for rain, I headed off on a jaunt to the Loire during the second last week of the season. Spent 3 nights in Blois, and 3 nights in Saumur, managing 2 & 1 cycling days respectively. Navigating the cycle routes is easy with the well signed Loire a Velo trails. Loire a Velo is part of the Euro Velo 6 cycle trail which runs from the Atlantic coast in France all the way to the Black Sea along the Loire, Rhone and Danube rivers across 10 countries...

The Blois area had tonnes of sights to see, of which I managed a few:

View to the west from Blois Castle, Loire in the background

View toward Cathedral of St. Louis

Chateau de Blois - external spiral staircase from courtyard

Chateau de Blois - double vaulted ceiling in marble & stone

Chateau de Blois - hall covered in fleurs-de-lis

Chateau de Chambord & my ride

Chateau de Chambord - king's bed chamber

Chateau de Chambord - concentric double spiral staircase designed by Leonardo da Vinci

Chateau de Chambord - trophy hall

Chateau de Chambord - tapestries

Chateau de Chambord - double spiral staircase comes out on the rooftop

Chateau de Chambord - rooftop

 

Parc du Chambord (hunting ground surroundings) from chateau rooftop

Cathedral of St. Louis - building started in the 10th century

View over Blois from the Cathedral

15th century townhouse

Sunflower fields everywhere along the trail

Cathedral of St. Louis from the main bridge

Church in Les Montils village

Loire a Velo signs

Forrest trails

Chateau de Blois - scene in the illumination show

Day in Courcheval

With our Espace Killy season passes we get 2 free days to a number of other ski resorts in the area. And as we now have periodic access to a car, we decided to head to Courcheval in the 3 Valleys, a favourite of both Dave & Paul. Unfortunately I had to be satisfied with being a mere pedestrian but it was a great day all the same. We parked the car in Courcheval 1550, sorted out our passes and made our way up 3 cable cars to the top of Saulire. While the guys spent time skiing, I sunbathed on the mountain and window shopped in the villages of Courcheval 1850 & 1550. I thought prices in Val were expensive but as Dave had warned me, Courcheval turned out to be much worse! This comes from the perspective of a seasonaire so of course the high society types (who were definitely in abundance) probably didn't think anything of it! Anyway, here's a few pics of the gorgeous area.

Restaurant at top of Saulire (2738m) - can of soft drink 6 euros!

Dave & Paul about to head down La Saulire red run

View up to Saulire from Vizelle, the next peak

Dave, Paul & I at Vizelle

View south from Vizelle

Vizelle cable car

View north from Vizelle

Courcheval 1850 where the pistes & cable cars meet

Courcheval 1850

Courcheval 1850 where the Grangettes cable car arrives from the 1550 village just off to the right

Broken collar bone

Well I guess one of us was bound to injure ourselves this season... of course it had to be me with a broken left collar bone! Happened on the 16th Feb skiing down a gentle blue run into Tignes Val Claret (near the bottom of Henri for those that have a piste map to hand). I have had quite a few spills whilst skiing this season but usually just get up, dust the snow off & keep going. Dave says "if you don't fall over, you're not trying hard enough" so I guess it's all in the name of progress. That said, Dave reckons he's only fallen over twice this season... although that's probably more of an indication of just how much effort he's been putting into skiing!

Straight away I could tell this fall was a bit worse as there was limited movement in my left arm and my shoulder was screaming. Luckily there was a bus back to Val d'Isere within half an hour, and Paul & Irene were there to help me down to Tignes Le Lac in time to catch it. As you can see, the xray shows my collar bone pretty well snapped (and it was protruding but at least not through the skin). Treatment is a fairly restrictive arm/shoulder brace that keeps my arms back and shoulders as straight as possible for 4 weeks while the bone heals...1 week & 4 days to go... I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting ;-)

I think the top xray is first off then the bottom one is after they pushed the bone back down
(a drama in it's own right involving gas and an injection)