Day 10 - Angers

A late one tonight, folks, as we went to the campsite bar earlier, so everything got pushed back a bit. 

The rain didn't materialise today, so we cycled into Angers. Lee had marked a few "points of interest" on his route, mostly churches (churches are to France what castles are to Wales) before we ended up at Château d'Angers. 

Yes, another castle. In France "château" is used for anything grand, so it could be a genuinely old castle,  or a posh house from the 18th century. However, Château d'Angers is an actual old one, dating from the 12th century.  So, buckle up for some historical info....

Château d'Angers 

The Château was the seat of the Plantaganet family; a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 to 1485, when Richard III died in battle. 

Queen Elizabeth I was related to the Plantagenets. Her father, Henry VIII, was the son of Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV from the House of York, one of the Plantagenet branches. Still with me? 

Their name came from planta genista, the Latin for yellow broom flower, which the Counts of Anjou wore as an emblem on their helmets. Yellow broom can be seen all over the countryside here.

The castle was updated continuously through to the 19th century, and parts of the Château had to be rebuilt after it was bombed during the second World War. But much of the inner parts of the castle are original.

This was a later addition to the castle 

The Château also houses the Apocalypse Tapestry, based on the texts in the Book of Revelations in the New Testament.  It was originally created in the 1300s, and is around 350m long. It's split into parts, but some sections have been lost over the years. As with the Bayeux tapestry, the work that must have gone into it is phenomenal. The detail is amazing. 

One section of the Apocalypse Tapestry 

After arriving back from Angers, we popped to the pool. All the families that were here when we arrived have gone, so we had the pool to ourselves.  

There's a Belgian lady camped a couple of pitches down from us, and we've chatted to her a few times. She's travelling alone, with her dog, so we invited her down to the bar with us this evening. She's lovely and it was nice to have a few beers together. 

We were due to leave the site tomorrow,  but they forecast terrible weather and we don't fancy driving for two hours on wet French motorways, so we're going to stay here another night. 

A few more from today:

Part of our route took us through a former slate quarry, the Parc des Ardoisières.