There was another rain storm, a whole room lighting event of lightning but little thunder early in the morning before we got up.
However, it was then a more relaxing day today as we had a leisurely breakfast before driving to the Bouvet Ladubay Vineyard or rather their underground caves! It was just the other side of town so about a ten minute drive. I had managed to book earlier on line so we just walked in. The vineyard specialised in sparkling wine which is the speciality of this area - white rosé and red.
We were on a tour with about 15 other people and it was fascinating to walk through the cool (exactly 12 degrees) tufa (limestone) hewn cave system, originally carved out by people who wanted the soft stone for building the town of Saumur. The tour was only forty minutes or so and I wished it was longer but then it was onto the wine tasting. I really wanted to like the wines and planned to buy a few bottles to take home with us. In the event neither of us really enjoyed them. Both the whites were very dry and quite acidic. The rosé wasn’t bad but not good enough to persuade us to buy and the red really needed to accompany some food which we were not given. So, a little disappointing but great to see the caves. We decided to stop by our new favourite supermarket on the way home - the massive l’Clerc and bought some wine and lunch there instead!
We lunched at home with the haul we had bought from the supermarket whilst I booked tickets on line for a boat trip we had spotted in the afternoon. It was a short walk along the river to the boat pier and we spent a pleasant hour on the river going both up and down past the Château. The weather had cleared a bit and the reflections were lovely. We got to sample some more of the Bouvet Ladubay wine which strangely tasted much better with a little biscuit we were given. It was yet another way to experience the Loire and it is so shallow and clear in this area. It was a great trip.
Then just stopping briefly for an ice cream it was back to the apartment and a rest before dinner at home and preparing to head on for our third accommodation of the trip.
