Saumur and the Loire Valley

After a day wandering round Cholet, which is a very elegant town though very quiet as the whole population seemed to have disappeared for their August holiday, we headed for Saumur and the Loire. Cholet afforded us a very pleasant lunch and a helpful laundry who washed a huge bag of clothes for 10 Euros (I know any Chambers readers will have been worrying about this aspect of our travels!)
We drove with the top down into the cloud - we seem to be right on the edge of the weather front dividing North and South, so had to give up in the end and put the roof up! It would have been rude not to visit at least one of the many Caves and we picked Louis Grenelle which was great. The caves themselves were in the hollowed out tunnels under the town and a chilly 12 degrees all year. I managed the French guide really well which pleased me as I find the French TV quite hard to understand though J is fine with it. The guide explained how the sparkling wine is made and we viewed thousands of bottles busy fermenting, then being turned to allow the residue to collect in the neck. Amazingly they then freeze them and remove the metal caps with the residue attached and put a cork in. Of course we had to taste some and bought a bottle of a very delicious dry white and some glasses, though without a fridge I'm not sure we'll get it cold enough to drink. We wandered by the river and then up to the castle before taking a scenic drive along the banks. The Sat Nav was determined to take us back on the motorway but we managed to ignore it and trundle along a more ordinary (and free) road instead.
On Saturday we decided to visit Noirmoutier - famous for its salt production and a favourite of Mum and Dad's from their holidays in France. I had a go at driving which was easier than I thought - I'm more used to driving on the right than the left though it's strange being on the wrong side of the car. Being Saturday a lot of people were heading for the coast and later in the day we found the camp sites and little holiday places where all the people from the town had clearly gone for their August vacation. It was too grey and cold for swimming but we had a good mooch around Noirmoutier itself and enjoyed another delicious fish lunch. I chickened out of driving over on the 5 km causeway which gets covered at high tide and we went across on the bridge instead!
Tomorrow we head further south to Cadillac on the Gironde, country of the grands vins de Bordeaux. Another hotel from the Orange Chateaux and Hotels Guide book so we'll see how that one pans out. We are both hoping it's as good as it sounds since we've booked for 6 nights!