We started the day passing through Orleans old town, including it’s Cathedral.
We then passed by the quay on our way out of town, and up the Loire river. This spot was our first view of the Loire in 2005. So today it is the end of section 3, the Loire we knew, and beginning of the final section of our tour – eastern France back to Switzerland.
Now we are trying not to be pessimistic, BUT … when we were fighting headwinds going west on the canal, we looked forward to the Atlantic coast when we would turn north, and we would only have cross winds. Instead, the day we turned north, so did the winds – for the rest of the coast.
Only on our last coastal day did we not have northerly winds. Instead they were now coming out of the east, so we had a good morning, until we turned east, up the river and into the wind. Not all, but most of the Loire section was moderate headwinds out of the northeast.
So, today was our first day heading south and southeast. And yes, also for the first day, the wind has now shifted to the southeast!
The only good thing it has also finally brought, is warm weather. It actually got into the high 70s today, and we had ice cream for the first time, in our afternoon break.
Today was also our final Chateau, in Sully sur Loire.
In it’s grand hall are some paintings of men in arms. They are holding shields with the Sully coat of arms. Apparently this was an attempt to pretend royalty where it did not in fact exist. We realized this was like what we do today, with Photoshop.
And then there’s the hotel … which asked if we wanted breakfast, and dinner. That’s a sure sign of something gourmet coming along. MC thought we should take this shot, of Jon’s exquisite soufflé, to make her sister envious.
