We leave Cheverny the next morning and head towards Orleans. There are no more castles on my list but we decide that Orleans might be a nice city to see and the aire near there is 5euro per night or 12 euro for 3 nights including everything except showers. It is directly on the Loire and seems it will be quite nice. It is Wednesday night when we arrive and it is a very popular aire.
I have decided that a lump I have found in my mouth at the end of a dead tooth needs to be seen by a dentist so we will stop here for a couple of nights in order to try and find one. I believe it can be quite dangerous to have an infection in the gum with such a large lump as I have and leave it. Although it isn’t painful, If I push up near my eye and nose, I can feel it all the way down to my tooth so time to get either antibiotics or find a dentist to do something.
This aire is really lovely and peaceful. There are a number of nationalities here – French, Belgians, Dutch, Brits, Kiwis (of course) and Germans. There are bikeways going alongside the Loire right into Orleans or back to the west to the previous towns.
We chat to a Brit couple who we give all our finished books to Gus and Sian. This couple have been travelling Europe for 5 years. They have a much bigger van than us and i am sure they have a washing machine on board and all. They definitely have air con which i am wishing we had as the temps are set to soar. The first day we cycle along the river into town. I have found a dentist that we will call on and hope they will see me. The ride along the river edge is quite rough so takes a little while to cycle through. Orleans have a tram which is very cool but we dont get to travel on it. We find the dentist and i have my french words all rehearsed, but that doesnt matter as they tell me they have no appointments and arent really interested even though i only want 5 minutes. We find a pharmacy to see if i can buy antibiotics over the counter like Spain, but no dice.
Orleans is a lovely town, but it was bombed during the war so a lot isnt new.
The next day i found a closer dentist with doctors so figure someone will see me. The dentist is lovely and she fits me in straight away before her next patient. She tells me my mouth is very bad and drills a hole right through the nerve which thankfully is dead so the tooth will drain and gives me a script for antibiotics. €23 later (so cheap) and i know down the track we need to get to another dentist to have a root canal done.
When we get back to the camp Scot goes for a bike ride down the river the other way and discovers there is a major French BMX competition on right near us that is on tomorrow. We are going to stay near Orleans now until Monday just in case my tooth causes major problems before we leave.
On Saturday we head along to the BMX track to take a look. It is mid 30’s and no breeze and the poor kids with all their gear on must be so hot. We have missed the main races and it is lunch time but we watch them have their trials which is interesting.
We get chatting to another Brit couple near us, Stuart and Elaine who are on the start of their 2 year journey around Europe and i almost wish it was us with the same knowledge we now have.
Scot decides the next day to head into town on his own to the museum and have more of a look around town. Joan of Arc was called the maid of Orleans as she was very close to being a saint there, so she has been immortalised there. There is a Joan of Arc house there. The small museum was amazing and he went to the Hotel Groflot that has the names of all the mayors that the town has had on its walls and tbe inside was stunning ( some photos below). The admission price for the museum also includes the Hisorique & Archilogique museum which is small but very interesting, it is great when one admission allows you to visit others.
It is a beautiful sunny day and Scot enjoys time on his own exploring the old part of town and a couple of cold ales. As much as cities are difficult to visit Orleans is easily accesible via bike and well the worth the visit. I stayed and updated the blogs since we had free wifi.
The temps here are getting high and we are not enjoying the sweltering heat. We have to go south so its only going to get worse before it gets better.
Come Monday morning and on Gus and Sians recommendation we are heading down to the Dordogne region and to Montingac.
