Saumur

We've recently returned from a walking holiday in the Loire - Châteaux and Vineyards! arranged by Inntravel (again!). We travelled to France by car taking the ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and taking a more leisurely route to our first night in Azay le Rideau we stopped for lunch in Saumur and saw these umbrellas -
After a lunch of crepes and cider we reached Azay and enjoyed an afternoon inspecting restaurants for the evening - quite a few of the recommended ones seemd to be closed on that Tuesday - though it was heading out of season - but we much enjoyed Les Grottes, I had the duck the alcoholic sorbet and a fishy(?) starter, and there was wine...before thinking about the local château and walk for the first full day. The album of photos is on flickr here but still needs a few adding/tagging.