Fontainebleau to Grenay

On the move again today. Some warmer weather approaching so we decided to go north in a little more of a hurry than we had originally planned. 

Before we left, though, we did our morning walk around the Château. Very pleasant early in the day before others start to arrive in numbers. 

Part of our early morning walk at Fontainebleau. 

Over night we had 13 other vans parkedup in the avenue. One by one the number had decreased to 4 by the time we returned. Everyone has their own agenda and scheduled itinerary to keep. Some of the Europeans only have a few weeks holiday so they are often away very early. 

Today was the longest day on the road this trip - about 300 km. Not a huge drive but it was an unusual distance for us. 

The navigating around Paris was interesting with many major roads crisscrossing causing a two-speed drive for parts of the trip. 

We arrived in Grenay late afternoon and found a vacant space at the aire. Perhaps a couple of days here will be in order - a little bit of housekeeping is currently required. 

Today was a photo-free day!

Château de Fontainebleau

Fortunately there was no early movement from the nearby Military Equestrian Centre this morning, allowing for a quiet start to the day. 

The Emperor Napoleon and his first wife, Joséphine from paintings at Fontainebleau. 

After breakfast we were early starters in the grounds of the Château, enjoying the quietness of the picturesque surroundings. 

Later we took a tour through the appartments of Fontainebleau. Realising that the history of the Château spans over nearly 1000 years - with the first chateau being built here in 1137 - there have been many additions and alterations. 

Fontainebleau is the product of a cluster of styles from different periods. Louis VII built an abbey here in 1169. A medieval tower survives but the present château harks back to François I.

Originally drawn by the local hunting, the Renaissance king created a decorative château modeled on Florentine and Roman styles.

While impossible to cover it all in a day, the grands appartements provided a sumptuous introduction to this royal palace. We took this tour early before the expected crowds and were quite amazed as to the overall experience. 

Exquisite tapestries adorn many walls throughout the Château. 

The bed chambers were all highly decorative. 

Many collections and patterns around the Château. 

Beautiful ballrooms, concert chambers, library and chapel. 

The Napoleon museum was also part of the Château’s exhibition. It contained a huge variety of objects from his time as Emperor. 

A replica of the accommodation that accompanied Napoleon on his campaigns. Personal

health and hygiene was important so a kit to maintain his high standards can be seen here. 

The economy turn for the better under Napoleon- one of the beneficiaries was the porcelain industry. Dinner sets were made for many different occasions. 

The Jardin de Diana is overlooked by all the personal chambers of the kings and emperor.  A very pleasant area of the Château. 

The co-pilot wishes me to add a selection of her choice:

 Napoleon’s crown room. 

The room where Napoleon abdicated on 6th April 1814 before farewelling his troops from the imposing horse-shoe shaped staircase at the front of the Château. 

Sancerre to Fontainebleau

The day has ended for us at Fontainebleau. Sitting here writing this blog looking out at the avenue leading to the Golden Gate - the Renaissance built part of the Château of Fontainebleau. 

The Château de Fontainebleau. 

It has taken most of the day to arrive at this point. Before we left Sancerre we spent time taking another walk around the village, not having got a fill of it after two days. 

The very pleasant outlook at Sancerre. 

Top left: the keep, the only remains of the the original castle; top right, the village oven that the villagers would take their dough to bake their bread- often there was a tax for this; bottom left, a typical peasant cottage ; and, bottoms right, the Château de Sancerre. 

We were slow leaving this very welcoming village, but we needed to call by a supermarket, and take aboard fresh water, food etc. - this all takes time. 

By late morning all our jobs were done and so we set the satnavs for Fontainebleau. 

The drive took us, for a good part, along the Loire - not a lot of flow at this part of the river. We did pass two nuclear power plants as we made our way down the river. 

We saw literature that advertised tours through the nuclear plant at Bellville-sur-Loire. Thought better of it given the level of security they were demanding. Good to see that safety is at the highest level. 

We stopped later for lunch before moving on to Château Fontainebleau and our stopping point for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Again, the French do it well for motorhomers, providing a place to stop within easy access to the tourist spot - in this case Château Fontainebleau. 

We locked up the van and took a preliminary wander around the very extensive grounds of the Château. 

Some views around Fontainebleau during our garden wander this afternoon. It is good to imagine the history makers that have walked the same grounds - Francis I, Louis XIV  and Napoleon and his Josephine. 

We were later joined by a few other vans for the evening. Felt very safe with the French Equestrian Military  barracks just next door!

Sancerre

A more pleasant place to greet the day would be hard to find. Air a little cooler, but, the sun had begun its work on the surrounding vineyards of Sancerre. 

The view across “La Grand Sancerrois” this morning. 

We had decided to stay here another day, so a more leisurely morning was the order of the day. Our overnight neighbours were doing much the same, not in a hurry to move on. 

After breakfast we took a walk of discovery around the village - a directional painted-line around the village assisted with its unfolding story.

From 1276 Jews were to live in a certain street and the Jews made this their street. It quickly became a street of flourishing commerce - with ink makers, lock maker, maker of spurs, a tin smith, an iron monger, a linen merchant, a shoe maker and a hat maker. The street still retains its basic structure today. 

The name of the village has Roman origins but no trace of anything Roman has ever been found on top of the hill where the village stands - it stands  around 150m above the Loire River, offering a view of over 40km across the Val de Loire. 

By the 12th century a fortress had been built on the hill by the grandson of William the Conqueror. Soon groups of families clustered themselves around the castle and developed fortified walls for their protection. An eight months seize during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century saw the town fall and the walls and the castle were demolished. The town had become a Protestant stronghold with Huguenots clustering here.  

Today many houses of the period still exist - most being taken up with the sale of Sancerre wine!

A typical Sancerre shop display. Many such around the village. 

And, this a wine tasting machine - slot in your € and then select the wine you wish to sample. 

It is always interesting to see how space was used at different periods of time. Where we parked along the line of the old ramparts, it was, back in the day, a large horse market - some suggesting that up to 2000 horse could be traded on one day. And the story of Andre Jouhanneau who met a gruesome death defending the town against the King during the Wars of Religion. 

Another perfect day weather wise. Spent a good part of the afternoon soaking up the pleasant weather and surrounds. A good book helped, too. 

Charroux to Sancerre

Today we have stopped at the hilltop village of Sancerre, overlooking the Loire River. Sancerre is well known  for its fine dry white wines. 

Approaching Sancerre. 

But the day started back at Charroux where we woke to a very bleak, cool and overcast  morning - we’ll take that rather than the extreme heat. 

We took the usual early morning walk around the village, revisiting some of the galleries we looked at yesterday.

The paintings in one were of particular interest - capturing some of the essence of France. 

Charroux is a village you could spend a week in, relaxing and wandering, but we are now on a fixed timetable to be in Calais within a week. So moving on was the only option. 

Our first stop heading north was St-Pourçain-sue-Sioule for some provisions for the fridge. 

From here we again headed north past Moulins and Nevers, stopping at Pouilly-sur-Loire for lunch.

After lunch we crossed the Loire and called in at a vineyard at Thauvenay where we sampled some of the Sancerre finest. A most delicately fine drop too!  Prices seemed to  be much higher  than in other outlets - a couple in a car in front of us were so impressed, though, that they required a large trolley to transfer their purchases to their car. 

From here we drove on a few more kilometres to the hilltop town of Sancerre, another very popular village for the day trippers. 

You can’t blame people wanting to spend time up in this village when you can view this type of scenery. 

Like many villages across France they welcome motorhomers by providing set-aside areas for them to stop. And that is where we stopped! 

Charroux

Today we took a closer look at the  medieval town with a very rich past, the village of Charroux. 

Being a much cooler morning, there was not the necessity to be out and about so early. The French Motorhome Club rally decamped fairly early before we had finished breakfast. 

Charroux is listed among the most most beautiful villages of France. Its streets and cobbled stone paved alleyways offers an authentic glimpse of what a medieval village looked like: with ancient houses, a 12th-century church with a cut-off bell tower, clock tower, market hall with wooden pillars, a residence with a timber frame from the 14th century and numerous old wells.

Charroux was originally an ancient Gallo-Roman military garrison settlement, and then an old medieval town, with fortifications that we were able to view today. Old towers and gates and some sections of the fortifications walls still remain. 

Charroux was considered an important town from the 13th and 19th century - there were between 1500 to 3000 villagers. Today the population is around 400. 

Over time the village has suffered, like some many other villages in France, from the 100 Years War, the Wars of Religion, the plague, and the French Revolution - and it still exists today. 






On our wandering through Charroux we came across a wealth of artistic and artisanal skills: jam and soap shops, candlemaking, saffron production, painters and painting.

Candle and soap making shops - magnificent colours too. 

Saffron production with many different products made with the saffron. 

The village houses an incredible museum of ancient time pieces in  the Maison des Horliges. These clocks are housed over three floors with some needing this height for the pendulum lengths to be accommodated. 

Not only were the clocks just time keeping devises but also very carefully crafted items too. 

Numerous galleries were dotted around the village. Some very interesting art work was on display. 

The elevated location of Charroux offers stunning views from various locations around the village. 

Many other interesting aspects caught our eye as we moved about. 

It had been said that there were over 300 wells around the village. Well, well, well!