Post It from Camping Au Coeur de Vendome, Vendome, Centre, France. Sunday 22nd June, 2014

Our journey north from Saint-Emilion was a long day’s drive and slightly marred as we neared our destination by poor traffic information from the French Authorities. We managed to find the best place to join the A10 toll motorway just south of Tours at junction 23 and exit at junction 19 just to the north of the city with ease. This took a full 30 minutes off our travelling time according to the TomTom’s ETA. We then journeyed along the Route National D910 towards Vendome only to discover it was closed for road works and the signed detour of 20 miles took us back to the A10 where we joined it at junction 18 and exited at 17 for Blois. It really should have been signposted at Tours and we would have saved around an hour travelling time and the cost of the tolls would have been paid for by the saving in fuel. Those who know me well will recognise I was not impressed. The Police were also out in force along the deviation route hiding in bushes on roundabouts with speed cameras.

We chose this site at Vendome because it was directly on our way to Rouen and the town was regarded as being worth a visit. I knew it was situated on the river but did not realise there was the River Loire with the many chateaus, just to the south at Tours and this site was on the River La Loir. It did not matter in reality, the site was very pretty almost like being set in parkland and it was as close to the town centre as you could reasonably get. The traffic noise from the main D910 was not a problem with my earplugs for the first night but from the early hours of Monday morning the HGV’s were easily heard thundering along the road which was slightly elevated above the camp site. Also for a second time on this holiday we were next to a Fiesta but this time it was a music festival in the town with the main stage being at the sports complex next door. The music did not really affect us and it was only on for the first night that we arrived.

On Sunday we wandered around Vendome to discover it was a pretty old town with the river running through its heart and having tributaries meandering all over the place. It has a magnificent Holy Trinity Abbey which was first built in 1060 and added to during the 12^th to 16^th Centuries and it also became a point on the Camino de Santiago. Once again we strode along part of the pilgrims way as we had done in many other places in France, Spain and Portugal during this holiday.

It also had the ruins of a Chateau sitting high up above the town giving magnificent views over the buildings below from the park that is in the old grounds. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting the park as there was a newly opened photographic exhibition in the park itself and also inside a small building as well. One of the artist being displayed, a Spaniard, actually lived on the campsite and all the photographs were very impressive.

The town also had the traditional Hotel de Ville, the chapel of St Jacques and many interesting old buildings but the mainly Gothic Abbey was really outstanding. We could certainly recommend Vendome to anyone for a good couple of nights stay, but preferably on a weekend when the HGV’s are not running!

Whilst there I noticed one of those ‘Caravan Club 40 Year’ member stickers in a caravan window and approached the occupants, Tom and Sylvia Boore from Cheltenham, to ask if they by chance used the Club forum. Unfortunately not but we got chatting and I discovered he had once been the Chairman of the NCC and had an OBE for his services, very impressive but I think he did not like to make a point of having the award. He must have earned it so why not use it and it was Sylvia who told me when I said I would mention meeting them in my story, she was rightly proud of the fact. They were a very pleasant couple and we happily exchanged stories despite us being light years apart in our caravanning experiences.

Regards, Roy