Sun 25th and Mon 26th October 2026
Our journey northwards continues, with a stop-over on Sunday night in a small village called Les Roches-i’Évéque, in the Pays de la Loir. On the way there, we visited the beautiful cliff-side village of Trôo.
Monday saw us retracing our steps slightly to visit the delightful village of Lavardin with its amazing château and stunningly beautiful church, before heading further north to our overnight stop at Bonnétable.
Sunday; Trôo:
The small, medieval village of Trôo, is layered up the hillside with many dwellings carved out of the rock.
We climbed up to the summit of the hill, right alongside the church. This is called “La Butte” and from the top, there is a superb panoramic view.
The impressive church was nice but plain inside, but it did have several stone carved capitals, which were worth seeing:
Whilst exploring, we came across an older man, Gabriel Richard who is an accomplished artist and sculptor. He invited us to look around his cave-gallery to see his work and also what used to be his home. Despite being underground, it was really nice and being half-way up a cliff, it had a marvellous view, too.
Towards the base of the cliffs, there is what used to be an underground bakery which used water from the well in the adjoining cave, this was also a source of water for the community until the 1970s when mains water was laid on.
There is also a wine maker’s cellar, which was sadly closed on Sunday:
Monday; Lavardin:
The small and beautiful village of Lavardin is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France Association, and a worthy member it is too. The villagers have made great efforts to decorate the streets outside their homes with flowers and other decorations, but the main attractions are the château and the church.
The ruined château towers above the village, but sadly at present it is closed as it is being repaired. I assume this means being made safe, as I doubt it will ever be restored. You can however see much of the building from the roads around it. When it reopens, it will be well worth a visit.
The church is amazing. It is almost 1000 years old and has superb ancient fresco paintings on most of the walls. It really takes your breath away.
We also came across what used to be an underground wine-makers. You are able to freely enter and look around.
That is all for now. Tomorrow, we head further north and subsequently for the ferry home. TTFN and see-u-later.
