Rain Creates Mushrooms and a Cozy Evening

We took our time getting out of Saumur. Originally, our plan was go to all the way to Chateau Noirieux for Catherine's X-mas stay in a Chateau and Michelin start dinner, however, that would have meant a 50km day if we went straight there, which was more than we really wanted to push for. So, I phoned the Chateaux and they were able to move our reservation back a day, while we were able to find another place about half way there in a gite. So we had more time.

After crossing the river back to the main bike path, we made our way to the Musee de Champignons. This mushroom museum is cut into the cliffs and had a lot of information & specimens about wild mushrooms in the area, as well as cultivated once. It's also a mushroom farm that produces a number of different kinds of mushrooms from your standard button ones, to ornamental red velvet ones, to the blue edible ones.

After the mushroom museum, we backtracked to town for some wine tasting before they closed for lunch. We found a large sparkling wine house that was still open called Akerman that makes mostly Cremant de Loire and a very reasonable price. The whites and roses were excellent and crisp, while they also had a sparking red that was like putting a fistful of raspberries in your mouth.

Following the wine tasting, we picked up some bread for lunch and continued on our way following the bike path. After a while, we stopped for lunch in a picnic area on a lake just outside of Gennes. It was threatening rain, so we ate under a tree, but fortunately, only got hit with a light sprinkle.

From there, we continued on towards Saint-Rémy-la-Varenne and eventually on towards our hotel, which was an old manor that had been refurbished by the owners as part of their retirement. It sits up the hill from the river and so has a great view. Inside, it is full of a collection of mounted animal heads, and old furniture. It feels exactly like a 19th century hunting lodge, with some modern conveniences (like plumbing). The owners, Catherine & Patrice are a charming couple that live in the house and rent out rooms when they are around and their kids aren't visiting. They are big hunters, mostly using dogs, to hunt rabbit, foxes and sometimes wild boar. Patrice still works at the salt farms on the coast as a manager, but is about to retire to the lodge full time in a few years.

We arrived right before the rain as about a half hour after we got there, it came down like cats and dogs. Unfortunately, one of their cats was hiding from the rain in the garden and one of the dogs got confused and attacked it, killing it.

Since we arrived on bikes, Catherine was willing to make us a dinner at the house instead of having to go into town to a restaurant. Normally, they want people to pre-reserve the dinners, but she was able to throw something together, which turned out delicious. It started with a smoked salmon and dill pocket with salad. Followed by chicken roasted with Provencal herbs, roasted potatoes and zuchinni and finished with an apple crumble for me. All of which had wine.

We fell asleep to the sound of the rain caressing the countryside.