Thursday 30th May 2019

This morning was quite wet. After a late start we went looking for Chateau d'O which our guidebook said was spectacular. We miserably failed to find it but instead arrived in Sees and tried to park at the Cathedral just as the annual Ascension Day service was coming to an end. There was absolute chaos in the car park and I was very relieved to somehow back the van out of it! We found a roadside parking place and Ann visited the Cathedral while I recovered from the trauma of the said car park!

 Cathedral entrance.

Inside Cathedral.

Stained glass in Sees Cathedral.

From Sees we moved on west on the lookout for Chateau de Carrouges which was also highly recommended by our guidebook. After much difficulty we finally found it. Here's the gatehouse.

Here's the moat.

We went inside the courtyard.

The only way to see inside the chateau was to take a guided tour. This cost 6 euros each.

There were some nice artefacts to see inside.

Plenty of portraits and tapestries.

Generally lots to see. I must say however I would much prefer to have wandered around at my own pace rather than being herded from room to room.

Here's a painting of a member of the family who owned the chateau who got high up in the Catholic Church. The chateau was bought by the French State in 1936.

This is the main hall of the chateau.

After our guided tour we wandered around the chateau grounds.

It is a truly impressive building.

Here's the lawn.

We parked for the day at the headquarters of the regional natural park. We have our "own" flowerbed.

I took the short walk into Carrouges hoping to buy some bread. Everywhere was closed due to it being a public holiday.

Returning to our parking place I had this great view down towards the chateau gatehouse.

We visited the natural park head quarters (which to its credit had been open a little bit earlier in the day).

They have a very good educational garden.

We wandered back to our van through the apple and pear orchard.

Today we travelled 42 miles (68 kilometres). We are at N48.56322 W0.14884

Carrouges     

Wednesday 29th May 2019

It was really nice weather at St Langis this morning,

Ann did a bit of cleaning.

There is a lake just down the hill from the Aire but it is well hidden by trees.

A really nice place to stay. The only charge we incurred was 2 euros for up to 100 litres of water.

We travelled a short way south and stopped at the hilltop town of Belleme. Here's the church.

This is the main square.

This is about all that remains of the originally fortified town's walls.

Here's the other end of the remaining gateway. The portcullis would have been ready to drop down if things turned nasty!

 

From the highest part of the town you can look back over the rooftops to the church tower.

After about an hour of wandering around in Belleme we decided we'd seen enough and that it was time to move on.

We travelled west stopping off along the way to buy bread and milk. We stopped for the day in this glade in the great Forest of Ecouves, 

This is a really lovely quiet place.

We took a walk in the forest. Broom is in flower everywhere.

This kind of a wild remote location is not to all campervanners' taste. They tend to be like herd animals and flock together overnight.

There is really attractive new spring growth on the young conifers.

Perfect spot.

Today we travelled 54 miles (87 kilometres). We are at N48.55742 E0.06995

Forest of Ecouves       Street View

Tuesday 28th May 2019

It was quite showery today. After servicing the van before leaving Rugles we headed to the town of Verneuil sur Avre where we did a supermarket shop. We were intending to stay there but as the Aire was closed and it was raining we moved on. We stopped for a cup of tea in the Forest of Perche. 

Here are some of the creatures which live in the forest.

A little further south we parked in the town of Mortagne au Peche and had a walk around. Here's the main church.

There are some interesting statues in town.

This is the town hall.

There are self styled "panoramic views" from here.

Also in the town hall gardens is this rather strange stature of a baby riding a horse armed with a gigantic fork.

The hilltop town was once fortified. This is all that remains of the defensive walls.

We stopped for the day at the Aire de Camping Cars in the nearby village of Saint Langis les Mortagne. It's a quiet spot. Here's the view from the sliding door on the side of our van.

Today we travelled 54 miles (87 kilometres). We are at N48.51932 E0.52931

St Langis les Mortagne        Street View

Monday 27th May 2019

Before leaving Broglie this morning we visited the self styled "Aquatic Gardens" next to our parking place.

It's quite restful.

Almost soporific.

Nice place for a quiet stroll.

These flowers are at the entrance to the Gardens. We visited the town Aire and serviced our van before moving on.

We stopped at the town of Conches En Ouche. Here's the church. Unfortunately it was locked so we couldn't go inside.

Here's the Castle.

The Castle is dilapidated and you're not allowed in.

Next to the Castle is this fine sculpture.

We travelled south through the Forest of Conches. We stopped along the way for a cup of tea.

We did see a deer earlier in the day but this was the closest we got to seeing one in the forest.

We stopped for the day at the Aire de Camping Cars in the town of Rugles. We took a walk into town.

Here's the church.

Here's inside the church.

We bought a loaf of bread in town.

On the way back to the Aire we saw this dilapidated mill wheel.

Today we travelled 41 miles (66 kilometres). We are at N48.82454 E0.71086

Rugles      Street View