Beaugency (Loire)

Beaugency

10 May- 15 May

With the weather much brighter, the TGV journey passed through a variety of interesting countryside. We tracked the Canal du Midi as it flowed down to Agen sometimes totally parallel to the Garonne, sometimes exposed, sometimes shaded, with the odd pleasure boat to be seen. The fields were in different stages of cultivation, with what seems to be very lush spring growth. French villages on the railway route all show signs of recent expansion, houses with gardens being the current development of choice in these places. Well, not gardens especially, but definitely land.

Beaugency itself is a lovely little town on the Loire, between Orléans and Blois, with many parts of the old town still in evidence – the clock tower, the Mairie, the keep, town walls, a church, abbey and I’m not sure what else. A bridge which the French blew up to discourage the advance of the Germans and which the Germans hurriedly reconstructed after they had occupied the territory. So a little out-of-whack in the styling but not too bad.

My friend, Madeleine B, has a spacious house in a hamlet called Ourcelles, about 15 minutes from Beaugency and 2-3km from Josnes, where there is a bakery and a few other businesses. The countryside is more or less flat and planted in wheat as far as the eye can see, with the exception of the compulsory (EU regulation) fallow fields which have clover-like or other plantings probably rich in nitrogen. Fields of red poppies also make an appearance from time to time, as do fields of colza (for canola oil).

Chambord is within easy reach and when Madeleine Lejeune Waddington came down for the weekend we spent an afternoon there. At present they are busy restoring some of the carved vaulting (mostly salamanders and large Fs) in as non-intrusive fashion as possible and there is a display of tapestries including a Gobelins loom with a partially completed tapestry on it. It’s great to see the way these are set up and not just read about them or see sketches. As the weaver has to work from the back of the tapestry there is a mirror set up on the front side so that they can see the results of their work.

Chambord is the place with the famed double-helix staircase and Chris had fun making a short video as he walked down on one side and MLJW and I down the other, waving through the holes in the central well. We kept finding paintings, a bust and a photo (1890) of someone looking disconcertingly like Robin, often on a horse…this was the Count of Chambord who refused to change the flag from his white flag to the tricolore and thus never became king. So France remained a republic. I think that’s the story, anyway.

The weather was very Wellington. Beautifully fine and sunny one day, stunningly cold the next, a wind coming up and becoming stronger, skies turning to black for a very un-Wellington storm which cleared in a few hours leaving us with a fine evening with some sun. This far west the sun is still relatively high at 6pm and the evenings long. The mornings also lighten relatively early, completely the reverse of the winter cycle which I am more accustomed to here.

Madeleine B professes not to be a cook. She would, as the daughter of restaurateurs. La bonne bouffe reigns however, and we will have to stop eating for a week or so to work off the weight. And the wine. Did I mention the wine? She buys it from the producers, as it is a good price, even when you take the 20€ freight into consideration. Puts it in the cellar and waits for friends to arrive. Pinot gris and pinot noir were the stars of the weekend. 2004-5 Reuilly.

Chris and I also spent an afternoon at Blois, since Madeleine and Damien (son, 26 or so) had a car to try and buy at Blois. We’d both seen the inside of the castle relatively recently and went down to the river instead. The Loire is a very impressive river, wide even quite well up from the sea with sandbanks, deep spots and deadly whirlpools. We just sat for a while, and let the water flow over our hands, then retraced our steps up to the top of the bank which holds in a 6 metre flood. It must really be a raging torrent when it is that high!

The trip by Corail back to Toulouse followed a different route from the TGV, through Limoges, Brive, Souillac, Gourdon and Cahors. Wonderful country to travel through. At one point you could positively see the development of the railway through a series of tunnels, from 1888 to1892, as the rail followed a very pretty river down its course, avoiding the worst of its wanderings. What a difference the railway must have made! In a few years the world would have become so much smaller, as it did when planes largely replaced passenger ships in the 70s. And with the telegraph becoming more commonplace… was the change even more revolutionary than the evolution of the internet?

I keep being surprised by the number of hydro-electricity generators, often quite small and quite old. But then I remember that in a country of more than 60 million you’re going to need to generate electricity wherever you can and certainly need to maintain the older ones, even if the dam and drop are not very big. It all helps. We also get to go over those brilliant train bridges with high arches that you see photos of but which are less easy to recognise when you go over them unless you are on a curve, as at Souillac, where you get to go over two, in a big arc. But of course, no camera handy. Next time.

More photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/101628277989220379025/Beaugency