Day Two: Arsing about and the Cadre Noir

 

Some woman on a bridge, Tours

This morning was a bit of a late start.  Had brunch around 10:00.  Got a cheese toastie and a pastry from a little bakery who also gave us a lovely bag for life carrier bag.  Cashback!  Walked over the Pont du Wilson and along the north bank of the Loire.  Then back over a wobbly suspension bridge for pedestrians, cyclists and moped riders (somewhat worryingly). 

Caught the train to Saumur.  It costs about EUR11 each way for the 50 minute journey.  Saw a few chateaus on the way.  From the train station, you approach Saumur over a big bridge.  The town has an amazing skyline, with spires and a hill top chateau rising to the side.  Walked around and to the hill top chateau.  It is closed for restoration. 

Walk back down and stumble across the French Cavalry's facility in the town.  Some old riding arenas and military buildings and not much else. 

Main indoor riding arena. Engineered timber roof.

After some deliberation, decide to catch a taxi to the Ecole Nationale D'Equitation, run by the famous Cadre Noir.

www.cadrenoir.fr/

What a wonderful establishment.  There are 400 stables, in several large blocks.  Four or five large indoor arenas, a number of outdoor arenas and access to 40km of off road riding tracks through the local forest. 

Most of the buildings date from the mid-1970s.  The visitor centre is next to the main riding hall, which has seating for 1500.  The arena has an impressive timber beam roof and spectacular lighting in the form of cuboid roof windows.

Tiny tour guide under large photo

Tour guide was about four foot tall.  She was quite a good tour guide, full of facts and able to answer most questions in good English.

Many of the original barns have stables arranged in four rows.  Two rows look out on each side, the inner two rows look down a central aisle. 

In many ways, the stables are advanced - high levels of automation and a fountain of expert knowledge.  However, I did think that the stables themselves could do with being a little bigger.

Nonetheless, the stables are very well designed.  Between the outer and inner rows is a small corridor for the grooms, with small doors to each stable.  Down the small corridor there is also an underfloor conveyor belt to take out the manure.  The manure is piled up in purpose-build clamps - and thousands of tonnes are sold to mushroom farmers each year.



The stables all have automatic water - something that is quite common, even in England - and they also have an automatic system for dispensing feed! 

Each barn has a feed room that sends out 5kgs of hard feed to each horse, three times per day.   It is not possible to vary this, but as all the horses are pretty much the same size I think they can get away with it.   

Each barn also has wash boxes, tack rooms and offices.

Underfloor manure conveyor

Automatic feed dispensers

 

Sadly, the veterinary clinic and farrier's smithy were no on the tour, but I did managed to see a video.  And sneak around to a few other things not on the tour at the end. 

  In Saumur there are a few signs up for the international carriage driving competition this weekend.  Looking forward to it.  Saw a couple of lorries taking international drivers and their horses and carriages to the competition venue.

  www.saumur.org/

Sadly later read that two of the Polish team (Adrian Kostrewa and Weronika Kwiatek) had a bad accident in Dortmund and had to turn back. Horses suffered only minor injuries, thankfully.  How very disappointing. 

Heofnet: Polish Drivers In Car Accident
 
Got back to Tours at around 6pm.  Had dinner then went back to hotel. Not sure what to do tomorrow.

A Tourist in Tour: Day One

I'm in Tour, in the Loire Valley, France.

Prison room at hotel

Flew out on Bloody Ryan Air this afternoon.  A quick 50 minute flight, preceded by five hours of transfers, checking in, security, waiting, queues, boarding. etc.  Tours' airport was tiny but modestly efficient.  The taxi driver from the airport to our no star hotel was very friendly.  Wanted to tell us where to look and how to get there.

The hotel was booked last week, and at EUR40 per night isn't too bad.  The room is basic, sparse, but colourful.  I imagine this is what the rooms in young offenders' prisons look like.

View from hotel room

The view from the room overlooks a large government office block -  reminiscent of something Le Corbusier might have designed - with the baroque spires of the cathedral in the distance.
  
 Walked around town and found an architectural mixture of art nouveau, baroque, modern and a sprinkling of medieval.  The Gare de Tours (main train station) tries to do all styles, but still looks quite impressive. Much of the place is a building site - a new tram line is being constructed - and many of the old stone buildings have undergone recent and meticulous restorations.

Smörgåsbord of architecture

 Had a look at a big cedar tree, a fibreglass replica of an elephant (called Fritz), the cathedral, the Pont de Wilson bridge and a few of the streets and squares.  The Loir is quite wild and it has never been made navigable.  There is a ferry service on some days (across the rapids) to a park on one of the many islands.  I don't think my travel insurance would cover it.


It is quite a youthful city - I think we were close to the university - and lots of young people were out and about.  Some were sat by the river, eating, drinking and smoking and talking about serious things (presume university students).  Some went around in small groups, looking menacing, and pimping girls (presume criminals).

Man on a bike with a dog in his basket

Had a beer, saw a man on a bike with a dog in his basket, and then had a cheesy crepe at quite a pleasant little eatery.  The owner wasn't sure whether to speak to us in French or English, given our bilingual approach, but he seemed very friendly nonetheless.  Food was good, though some irritating English woman spend most of the meal talking at full volume about how her boyfriend is difficult to live with as she just wants to relax in an evening as she has a physical job, but he just wants to work on his laptop, and how she gave him an ultimatum and spoke to her dad and...   

Interesting station facade.

On the way back to the hotel we found the posh end of the city centre.  Lots of expensive clothes in shops and on people.  


Think we'll look for a chateau tomorrow.