More from Sunday's brocantes...

As well as the brocante at Abilly we also took in the one at Leugny where we didn't buy this but I won't bore you with who did!

There was also a 'vide maison' in the village - this is Pauline and Liz being apprehensive about entering the maison that was hosting the 'vide-maison' -Mike and I were already in there!

We were not finished there as we headed over to Betz-le-Chateau where disappointingly it was not held within the streets of the village which I prefer. 

Its location did offer us a view of this bit of water which goes under the delightful name of 'Etangs de la Philipponiere (I take it there is another behind this one) that I actually hadn't noticed before, probably as we approached the village from a different direction due the on-going works at La Celle Guenand.

Colour blindness...a walk around Betz-le-Chateau

As you may already know,Pauline and I are working our way through the local 'Sentiers Pedestres' so we can recommend walking in our southerly part of Centre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley). To date we have been  met with unmarked routes,badly marked routes and at times a general lack of information. On Sunday we headed over to Betz-le-Chateau (which reassuringly has a chateau) to sample their local walk.

Along with our friend Dave we decided to choose the 12km 'variante'. On our leaflet map (as above) the markings (balisage) for the walks were yellow for the short walk and green for the two longer walks.

So we made our way to the carpark behind the fine church...

where, conveniently, the map for the walk is displayed. The leaflet says the walk starts 'centre-bourg' and the church of a village is always a good central point.

One side of the board shows all the walks in our part of Southern Touraine and the other side shows the local routes.

Both maps showed our route in blue (effect of the sun perhaps) but this was not a problem as it matched our leaflet plan.

:So all we had to do was find a green marker to get us started.

We  decided these were just put there to confuse us or perhaps they were something to do with one of the local events? (like the 'banana party')

Now,with hindsight, we should have followed the GRP markings (yellow and red) but faced with the choice of  that, the yellow which our leaflet is telling us is the short 3km walk or blue (maybe the sun hadn't had an effect!) we chose blue but as the cross indicated it wasn't this way!

We picked up another blue marking nearby and despite still not being certain decided to follow it.

Looking back towards the village

Looking back towards the village I was doubting our (my) choice but hey we were walking!

Our first which-way-now? moment was when we hit a main road and Pauline picked up on the fact that it was not the one it should have been! We were doing the 3km yellow (or is  that blue) walk!

So it was a case of back to town  past the chateau to try again!

This meant we had the climb back uphill to the village.

Been here before...follow the yellow brick road perhaps!

We decided to do the shorter part of the 'variante' which, added to the 3km we had already done, would give us a reasonable walk.

So it was back into the countryside again...on a well marked route.

We eventually crossed the main road we were looking for earlier!

The route has a smattering of etangs along the way as well as some other points of interest.

As we headed towards the 'Chemin de l'Eveque de Tours' (Way of the Bishop of Tours) through the forest I made an executive decision as that it was getting late and it looked like it might be dark before we finished, we should make another deviation and follow  the main road back to the village.

This took us past the 'Ferme du Bois Rouge' and its nearby restaurant where Dave and Hillary had sampled all things pork in the past.

Within 2km of the village my decision was proving to be a good one and we made it back to the village before sundown.

Interestingly the minute we stepped into the carpark the streetlamps came on to confirm the decision.

Church on Sunday...Betz-le-Chateau

The  church of Saint-Etienne sits in the centre of the pretty little village of Betz-le Chateau (of banana party fame) in Indre et Loire. 

The apse of the church dates back to the12th century with the side chapels from the 15th.

It was built by Pierre de Betz and originally dedicated to St. John the Baptist (now the Virgin Mary). Church papers show it as being intended to house the remains of the lords of Betz.

From the village website: "In 1884, when we dug the basement of the church to open the door of the sacristy, were discovered stone tombs, a tombstone bearing in Gothic letters incomplete list of the lords of Betz., A woman's head, is likely a mausoleum and a sword called "Sword of Peter Betz" and who disappeared in 1988." I particularly like the bit about the 'disappearing sword'.

The nave and facade of the church are fro the late 19th century

There is a 'Lobin' window featuring Saint Etienne...

Plus an interesting baptismal font  featuring electrical supply - I would have to box that in!!

Where's Joan?...

Brocante at Betz le Chateau

We visited the brocante at Betz le Chateau on Sunday - it was good to have the sunshine back.

The village was looking well and as we walked around we were struck by how pretty it was. We have driven through it many times and visited the chateau on 'Patrimone Day', the only day it is open to view but because you do not need to go up to the 'high' part of the village you miss quite a lot. We also came in the past to check out their 'banana festival'-surely the only one in France?- but were guided to a little 'big' top on the out skirts of the village.

 

Will have to come back and do a 'walk around' here. Bought a couple of small paintings and frames plus a red bottle to replace a display bottle we had in the kitchen of our Le Grand Pressigny house, Pauline had filled it with a red vinegar oil - to get the colour but some previous guests assumed it was for using, understandably and did just that! So rather than refill we bought a red glass bottle to replace it. Not a great deal else caught our eyes but as I said it was good to be out and about bumping into friends and acquaintances.Nothing for my 'bizarre' account but these couple of swells had me wishing I had someone to by them for!

Come on you know you want us!!