The extinction garden

After bidding farewell to Georgie and Graham who were heading to Paris, Si and I stopped by a nearby boulangerie for pastries and quiches for lunch before picking up the cycle route out of town. 

It took us along the Loire, with one final mosaic spotted on the bridge.  The cycle path was quiet as it hugged the river and found a nice spot for morning tea near Jargeau at about 25kms.  Soon after we passed a garden that recognised plants from the local area that were now extinct. It seemed to be a passion project for some members of the local community.  

We had lunch in front of the Chateau de Sully-sur-Loire, first built as a defensive post on the Loire in the 12th century and later renovated in the 14th century by Georges de la Tremoille.  Joan of Arc visited the castle in 1429 after liberating Orleans, when she came to convince the dauphin to travel to Reims to be crowned as King Charles VII. This made her an enemy of de la Tremoille who supported the English king and had been encouraging the dauphin to spend his time hunting in the nearby forests.     

When Joan failed to liberate Paris in 1430, she returned to Sully where she was imprisoned by de la Tremoille.  She later escaped to continue her campaign but was captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English, ultimately being burnt at the stake in Rouen in 1431. 

The chateau was later owned by Maximilian de Bethune, a famous French minister and friend of King Henry IV.  Due to his excellent administration of the state budget after the European wars which revitalised France, he received the title of Duke of Sully

Unfortunately, despite its fascinating history, the chateau was closed and we had to enjoy the view from across the moat. 

We still had another 30 kms to do after lunch, but it was easy riding and we were soon passing Gien and after a quick detour for dinner supplies, reached our accommodation at St-Martin-sur-Ocre. We had booked an apartment above the pub, knowing that the pub was closed on Mondays.  Despite contacting the hosts, I didn’t receive any advice on how to check in and it took a couple of phone calls before they finally turned up to let us in.  There was no toilet paper and we had to search for a tea towel, but the most annoying feature was the motion sensor lights.  We ended up going to bed early rather than repeatedly waving our hands around in the lounge room to turn the lights back on.

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