Thursday 7 February 2013

Inundation!

We had some insurance admin to deal with and the agent's office is in Beaulieu-les-Loches [about 30km NW of us]. We've been meaning to go and see them for a while, but when not working the weather has hardly encouraged us to go anywhere. Frankly it has been miserable for some time. However, it wasn't raining this morning --hurrah-- in fact the sun was shining and the skies were blue so we drove up.
Flooded road in Perusson
Normally, when we get to Perusson, rather than continue on towards Loches and staying on the left bank of the river Indre we turn off right, go over the river and use a small D road to cut cross-country and enter Beaulieu-les-Loches close by old abbey church where Fulk Nerra, Count of Anjou, is buried and which we've written about before here.
You can just see the road rising to the bridge beyond the flood waters
Not today! The river Indre has burst its banks and the flood meadows are completely awash. So much so that the D road is closed, although pedestrians can still cross as the path is on a raised walk-way which extends right up to the actual bridge.
Looking south on the rue des ponts between Beaulieu les Loches and Loches
Flooded garden. You can just see the flat roof of Loches' donjon peeping through the tops of the trees
After concluding our business we drove into Loches, stopping on the rue des ponts [part bridge, part road] which crosses the flood meadows and two meandering smaller channels of the Indre. Here too all was awash and the [modern] house which abutts the old medieval bridge chapel has temporarily lost its garden on the other side of the channel. Their little bridge is fine, but the lower lying garden -as you can see in the photo- is not!
Medieval bridge chapel on the rue des ponts
We finished off the morning by having lunch in our favourite pizzeria--Pizzeria Sforza which is just up from the Porte Picois in Loches' cite médiévale.
Loches, 15th century Porte Picois ... oh and a rarity:- blue sky!



16 comments:

Vera said...

Plenty of water here too, but nowhere near as much as there was a couple of weeks ago. Got sun here too today, and not only us, but all our animals, are enjoying the respite from the rain. Hope you are enjoying the sunshine as well. Soon be Spring!

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Vera - amazing what a bit of sun will do. It really cheered us up.

A friend in the Dordogne has seen the cranes fly over so spring must be on its way :-)

Diane said...

I have never seen so much water around here. The ditches have all become raging torrents! I have to admit we also did see some sun today but it did not last long! Diane

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Diane - sadly I think you'll be proved right.

Elizabeth at Eiffel Tells said...

What's going on with the global weather? We have been experiencing extensive floods at the top end of Australia and uncontrollable bush-fires in the middle and across the southern part of the continent. Crazy.!
Warm regards.

the fly in the web said...

I won't mention the weather here, then...but I bet poor old Ludovico wouldn't have minded a pizza while at Loches....

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Elizabeth - Lordy knows but have seen enough news coverage to know you in Australia have, sadly, been hit hard.
We, if this goes, on might wish for duck feet [a la Dr Seuss]

Niall & Antoinette said...

@fly - if only we had a couple of weeks of your sun then things could at least dry out some....

Jean said...

Oh dear, let's hope that the rain stays away for a while so that things can dry out.

Meanwhile, back here in Derbyshire we have more snow forecast for Sunday through to Tuesday. More motoring misery, we are so fed up with it.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Jean - have you thought of getting some snow socks for the car? Much less expensive than full winter tires.

The Broad said...

The weather has been awful here, but not really threatening -- though the winds gave some concern a few nights ago. At the moment I'm thinking about my Mom in Connecticut, where there is the worst blizzard in decades! This year the weather doesn't seem to be making anybody happy for long...

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Broad - dusting of snow here this morning.
As you say it has been pretty awful. The lack of hrs of sun here has probably been the worst in some ways.
A very close friend of ours lives in Granby, Mass. and we hope that she too, like your mother, is okay.

Craig said...

It's been a while since I commented guys but I'm sorry to hear of all your damp weather.
Would you believe in SW Scotland we've not had any snow this winter (yet) at least at the coast.
You have the benefit of knowing that your summer comes early whereas here it could be July!
Craig

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Craig - hello and welcome back :-)
yup we're getting webbed feet here as a friend recently remarked.
Surprised you missed out on the snow, but then again, they've not had that much in Edinburgh according to Sis in Law.

Perpetua said...

Gosh, that's a LOT of water! Those photos are reminiscent of so many scenes here in the UK over the past 12 months. I'm sorry you've had them inflicted on you too and hope things dry out a bit soon.

Niall & Antoinette said...

@Perpetua - it was! But the water [flood] meadows were doing their best.

And today's news? ..... it's raining again