On Mon, 01 Jul 2013 18:52:27 +0100, tim..... wrote:

18 months ago I asked for some help with visiting the Châteaux de la
Loire.

and I got advice about a dozen or so that I should visit.

I had intended on going immediately after I posted, but my plans changed
and I actually stopped off during a drive through to Spain to visit a
friend in October, giving me 4 days in the valley, based upon staying in
a hotel in Blois - when it p*ssed down every day :-(

As the number that you guys had indicated pretty much matched the lists
in guide books I though that this would be long enough to visit them
all.

But no, I hadn't done my research properly and when I got there I picked
up the leaflet from this web site http://www.leschateauxdelaloire.org/
and there are 71 of them listed (though not all are chateau) plus at
least another 10 not subscribing to that site.

So, I've just come back from a two week trip where I pretty much blitzed
the valley from one end to the other, though I still missed out a few
that don't open in June (or May, or September), or were closed on the
day(s) that I was in that specific area, so I still need at least
another week to finish them all :-).

Thanks for all you help guys.

I don't want to post a report as it will be pretty repetitive but if the
interested people are still here and want to have a discussion, we can
go that way.

But what I will say is that this trip didn't change my views on French
restaurants (in the region), the a-la-carte menus are flipping expensive
(basically you don't see any change from 50 Euro) and I still couldn't
find any menu de jour available in the evenings, though one or two
hotels did have buffet style offerings that were reasonably priced, but
that was too samey to have every day, so fast food it was most days. So
much for the home of Haute Cuisine!

tim

PS Le Tour is going past some the Chateau next week - if anybody wants
to watch

RESTAURANT LES DEUX PIERROTS
9, Route Nationale - 41320 Saint-julien-sur-cher
Tél: 02 54 96 40 07
Feuilleté d'escargots Ã* la crème d'ail, terrine de foies de volaille,
rognons de veau Ã* la moutarde... 30-40EUR.