Oh dear, I have slipped way behind in my re-living or the journey. As note in my reprise of day 10, this was actually the last day before I took a week off, meeting up with J and motoring off south in a very early stage of our looking for a property other than our Alpine ski apartment and also visiting a then colleague of hers.
J had booked a B&B in Chouzé so my task was simple: get there in time for a shower, change and a meal! That detour on the map takes you round the nuclear power station there with its heavy security perimeter.
The only images I seem to have from the day are all from the hotel. This was looking out of my window at 07:04!
Straight out across the Loire, same time.
I never found out what that rather nice little tower was for but I think there were a number of them along this stretch of the river. Another about the same time looking east.
Thirty minutes later after a shower and packing.
Now I am going to cheat and insert some images of Cinq-Mars pile (English wikipedia, French with much more information). Say cheat as these were actually taken the following day taking advantage of the car after, slightly nervously, leaving not-yet-Toto in the garage of the B&B owner. I had no reason to disbelieve his kind assertion that the garage was locked and that not-yet-Toto would be safe but by then it felt a bit like leaving a limb behind!
I'd seen this "pile" on two earlier trips first hitchhiking and then cycling and it continues to fascinate me. It is thought to date from Roman occupation in 2nd or 3rd Centuries, or perhaps the 1st and 2nd. Either way, it's been there a long, long time.
Those are pretty awful images. I plead that it's hard to do justice to its height and bizarreness. The first shows the way it sticks up seen from the plateau a bit back from the river and the others show detail and the information panels. I still find it stunning and still feel that the explanations of its original significance and function feel incomplete. Amazing!
OK, I said goodbye to J and pointed proto-Toto south again on the 20th so, despite the week off, I have some catching up to do. Tomorrow, in 2026, I will be on trains back from London to Rairie so no more tomorrow but then I will try to do two days per day to catch up with myself in my sort of TARDIS!