La Suze Sur Sarthe, Le Mans and on to La Fleche Saturday 29th September to Sunday 30th September.

It’s fair to say that Friday lives with us into Saturday morning. A brief attempt to visit the Bar de France in La Suze ends up being a slightly longer affair. The Bar de France is an awesome little bar with two great owners, who along with the locals made us feel a little too welcome perhaps.

After a swift coffee in the Bar St Louis we head to the train station to check out Le Mans town centre. As the owners of the bar tell us, ‘Le Mans is not just about the 24 hour race’.

The journey to Le Mans takes 10 minutes on the train, and a very comfortable, punctual, clean, plush and efficient experience it is. It is also cheap. None of these sentiments can be applied to travelling on the trains in the UK. Just how do we get it so wrong? This wasn’t even a spangly TGV, just the local flyer. It was nicer and faster than the best the UK can offer. We are travelling to Paris on the Train on Thursday so perhaps that will be the acid test.

We wander around Le Mans and the first thing we notice is that that somebody appears to have stolen the Cathedral. Where is the bloody thing? Clearly this is user error so we decide to get some food on board in the hope that brain power will be restored. We have a yummy lunch, sat outside in the sunshine, watching the world go by and oh my, what a funny world it is! Le Mans fashion sense is truly a thing of great peculiarity. It’s like a competition to see who can wear the most outlandish outfit with the greatest insouciance. We see a girl in a wedding dress, but neither of us is entirely convinced that she’s a bride, it’s entirely possible that she’s just wearing what she felt like wearing when she got up this morning. We leave the restaurant and go in search of the Cathedral, which we find almost immediately; it’s very austere and imposing and is so gothic that it’s almost menacing. The interior is pleasantly softened, with vast floral arrangements dotted around, while still being very dramatic.

We emerge back into the sunshine and find ourselves in the old quarter, which is a jaw dropping surprise after the ‘normaility’ of Le Mans town centre. We have also stumbled into an exhibition of sorts. Le Mans is celebrating all things gardening with a tour of secret old beautiful court yards and gardens, stalls everywhere with demonstrations of arts and crafts skills like basket weaving and such like. It’s all very restrained and a little bit hippy happy, lovely. At the foot of the Cathedral stairs a rather unlikely collection of people suddenly reveal themselves to be musicians and we are treated to a half hour of extremely cool and funky music comprising everything from rhythm and blues to soul funk to a bit of celtic melancholy. The group consists of perhaps 30 students playing everything from trumpets, trombones, flutes and piccolos. The beat is kept fast and funky by one guy on a drum and another on a snare. They are absolutely amazing and rather than stopping at the end of the half hour they just keep on playing as they move on down through the maze of medieval streets. It was a brilliant thing to witness, they all looked so happy and played so well together, seemingly effortlessly and for the love of it. Excellent!

After a prolonged tour of the rest of the old quarter of Le Mans (love it here!) we decide to head back to La Suze.

Once back we poke our heads into the Bar de France and receive a rapturous welcome after last night. Drinks are bought for us- eek, what did we do? Noush in particular has gone down a storm!

Johnny Cash anyone?

The evening weather is glorious as we head back to the Aire at La Suze for a hearty supper. The relative quiet has been marred slightly by a group of French folks on a boat moored next to the pontoon only yards away from all the Campers. Needless to say they keep everyone awake and aware of their presence right through until around 3am. Aire Mayor would not have approved. We miss Aire Mayor.

Sunday – La Suze to La Fleche

Sunday is again glorious. This is not bad for the tail end of September. The view is almost magical with the clear blue sky and the mist rising from the river. We head into Town (which is absolutely thronged with people) for a quick wi-fi session and a ‘café correcto’ at the Bar de France. New friends and acquaintances have definitely been forged and we are sad to leave.

La Fleche is 20kms or so south west of La Suze and will provide us with a stopover for a few days, as Noush has got a mate coming out to visit. Plus, it will still be close enough for us to do a day trip to Paris (we’re not risking taking Onzo, figuring the train will be easier).

La Fleche is far more beautiful than we imagined. We are staying at the municipal campsite (guest staying means amenities required!) and it’s perfect. For Onzo, us two, a tent, Noush’s mate and hook up, plus free wi-fi it works out at about £12 a night. This is not so very bad and the view is awesome, plus town centre is a five minute walk. Yay!

We go exploring in the afternoon and come across a charity closing ceremony in the main Henri IV square. The sun is shining, it feels very alpine, perfect autumn afternoon, and we’re all happy with all the good will and benevolence in the air. We retire to the banks of the Loir for some afternoon fishing and thank our good fortune on finding yet another impossibly beautiful place in which to live for a few days.