Nights in white satin

During our many travels in France, we mainly stayed in hotels … until 2007 when I won first prize in an internet quiz on the website of the Touraine tourist board. You can read all about it here. The prize included an overnight stay in a ‘Chambre d’hôtes’ called ‘le Château de Pintray’ in the village of Lussault-sur-Loire, some 10 km from Amboise.

Although the idea of staying at a ‘Chambre d’hôtes’ didn’t appeal to us at first, we decided to give it a try, just for the one night. We spent the remaining four nights at our usual hotel: Le Château de Belmont. The reason why I haven’t mentioned this before in a post is that I don’t want you to think that we are snobs! Ever since we discovered the ‘Relais et Châteaux’ hotel chain in 1985 we have been big fans of these hotels. I admit that they can be outrageously expensive. But given that we only take one full week of vacation per year – besides our little weekend and mid-week trips – more or less justifies the expense. Moreover, we always book the smallest and less expensive rooms.

Over the years we’ve stayed at many RC hotels and have been disappointed only once. All the other times were just sheer magic.

2005: the terrace of the 'Château de Belmont' by night.
The huge dog in the photo belongs to the owner and his called Hugo.

The Château de Belmont is situated in the Northern district of Tours. In fact I should say ‘was situated’ as the owners retired in February 2008, selling the property to a real estate development company that is turning the place into a residence for affluent senior citizens.

Our first stay at Belmont coincided with our first stay in the Loire Valley in 1999. That year we visited almost every other RC hotel in the region, with the intention of trying them all one day. But by the end of our stay at Belmont we were so smitten with the place, that we almost immediately decided to go back there the next year, and the next and the next … till June 2007. When leaving the hotel after a four-night stay (for the ninth consecutive year), we didn’t realize that it was the last time we would see the place.

In November 2007 we had booked our regular room for our next stay in 2008. In January, however, I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who lives near Chenonceau. Her message sounded ominous: ‘This may interest you!’ Worried, I opened the attached PDF file. It turned out to be a scan of a newspaper article announcing the closure of Belmont for the end of February 2008. Having received a confirmation of our reservation I thought the article was a hoax. However, three weeks later I received another e-mail, from the hotel this time … confirming our worst fears. It also recommended some other RC hotels in the area, but we knew that in spite of all the splendour and charm, we would miss the welcoming feeling we had experienced at Belmont, where we felt especially at home and were known and recognized by the owners and staff.

So we made a daring decision … we booked at room at a Bed and Breakfast in Vouvray … After our short and yet pleasant experience in June 2007 at Pintray, we had stayed at several B and B’s in the Alsace and the Somme Bay. Those were all short stays, though, of maximum two nights. This would be our first full week at a Chambre d’hôtes and we were very curious and slightly nervous about what it would be like.

And just to put things straight … the beds at the hotel didn’t have satin sheets, but it makes such a nice title!

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No weddings, yet one more funeral

Last week our former village butcher passed away. He was 83 and had been seriously ill for a while. So his death didn’t exactly come as a surprise, and yet the whole village was in shock. As I used to go to school with his daughter, I thought it fitting to attend his funeral. It was held yesterday at 11.30 a.m. at our village church.

When I arrived at the church at 11.15 the car park was already packed and I was lucky to get the last free spot. While I walked over to the church, more cars arrived and very soon the whole area around the church was completely blocked by cars and people looking for a place to park. It looked as if the whole village had turned out to pay their respects to the deceased and his family.

Since my husband’s death in 1983 and my father’s in 1997 I hate going to funerals. Especially as I have the impression that I’ve been going to more funerals than weddings … Even as a small child I had to attend the funerals of my great-great uncles and ants and my grandparents of course. In those days I didn’t realize what was going on and found it rather intriguing. Today it’s a completely different matter because it makes me realize that time is passing too quickly and that everything I used to know is slowly but surely disappearing.

And seeing my former classmate and her brother standing by their father’s coffin only enforced this feeling. I paid my respects and gave her a big hug before finding myself a seat in the church. It was a beautiful service. Some of the deceased’s grandchildren sang several beautiful English hymns (which is quite unusual) and the village priest delivered a lovely sermon. It was all very moving and there was a lot of sniffing and coughing in the assembled congregation.

I didn’t stay till the end of the service because I needed to do some urgent shopping and the shops close at 12.30. I got there just in time. Ironically, one of the shops I had to go to was the butcher’s, that – from the late fifties till mid eighties – used to belong to my classmate’s dad before he sold it to our current butcher.

I sincerely hope that the next time I have to attend a church service, it’ll be a wedding!

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Les Pavés du Nord

Recently Jean from A Very Grand Pressigny posted about the Tour de France coming through the village where they have their holiday home and the commotion it stirred in this sleepy Loire Valley village.

This reminded me of another great cycling race that once a year attracts hordes of cycling fans to the French Flanders, near the Belgian border. The race goes from Paris to Roubaix and is always held in early spring when weather conditions are still very unpredictable. The most famous and spectacular part of the race is ‘Les Pavés du Nord’ (the cobblestones of the North). There is one stretch that really sticks out: ‘Le Carrefour de l’Arbre’!

This time last year we visited the notorious ‘carrefour’ during our first midweek stay in the French Flanders. At this particular spot several country roads meet in what can be considered as the middle of nowhere. Most of these roads are still paved with bumpy and slippery cobblestones. The road isn’t completely flat, but slightly slopes down towards the edges. During the year these roads are used by the local farmers to drive to their fields which are omnipresent. The heavy tractors and other engines cause a lot of damage to the roads, creating potholes and loosening the cobblestones.

And here, also in the middle of nowhere, at the crossroad of the field roads, is located … a gourmet restaurant, called ‘L’Arbre’, because of the tree marking the famous crossroad.

Having booked a table there for dinner, and knowing about the odd location, we decided to check out the ‘route’ during daytime before checking in to our BandB in the nearby village. It turned out to be a very wise decision as we would never have found the place in the dark February night. The drive was quite an adventure and later that night my friend noticed that the bumpy and shaky ride had even ‘killed’ one of the car’s headlights.

Thanks to our afternoon reconnaissance trip, the actual night drive to the restaurant was uneventful and we spent a splendid evening enjoying the restaurant's specialty: seafood. We had oysters to start with, followed by a scallop risotto for me and a nice piece of cod for my friend.

One of the wall paintings featuring a Belgian cycling champion.
I can't remember whether it is Johan Museeuw or Freddy Martens,
as they both won the race in their glory years.

After the meal we sat in the little salon sipping coffee and pousse-cafés while we watched how three large North Sea crabs tried to escape from a large fish tank. One actually managed to climb up the rocky wall lining part of the tank. Suddenly, however, it lost its grip on the slippery surface and tumbled down, landing on the floor beside the tank. We called one of the waiters telling him what happened. He didn’t seem surprised. “Cela arrive tout le temps.” (This happens all of the time), he said and put the crab back in the water. He explained that sometimes, when arriving early in the morning, after the restaurant had been closed overnight, he found up to five or even six crabs lying on their back on the floor or crawling around in the restaurant.

During our after diner drink we also had a closer look at the wall paintings featuring the cyclists who over the years have won the Paris-Roubaix race. It was nice to see that many of them were Belgian and we left the restaurant being proud of our fellow countrymen’s achievements.

This year the Paris-Roubaix race will be held on my birthday. But according to the newspaper the ‘Carrefour de l’Arbre’ will be sealed off completely for cycling fans to avoid accidents. Apparently, last year the cyclists were pushed and shoved around by drunken fans that blocked the already dangerous, slippery and bumpy roads. Although I’m not a cycling fan, I’ll certainly be watching the race on TV, if only to relive the memory of that lovely dinner.

BTW and just in case you're interested: the restaurant 'L'Arbre' is located in the village of Gruson.

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