2006, Day Seven Les Andelys

Day seven 7th July

On the morning we set off for the Château, quite a steep walk luckily its was bit overcast or it would have been a very hot climb. Château Gaillard was built by Richard Coeur de Lion, King Richard I of England, in little more than 12 months, between 1197 and 1198.  If you want to know more, you can always trek up there yourself and read the packs, we did not pay to go in to the museum, we had already seen enough.  There are really good views of the valley and old town from up there as well.

By now it was lunch time, so we set off for the new part of the town (it was further then we thought), we stopped off at the first supermarket we came to and bought cooked chicken and baguettes, which we ate in the small park opposite.

We had seen two or three Ford GTs pass by as we walked towards the town centre, very unusual, but now as we sit in the park eating, more and more of them keep passing bye (I have looked on the net to see if there was a mention of this but nothing), nice to see them though. As we continue our walk to the new town we keep hearing music, at first I think it is coming from a house window, as it fades as we walk on but then it comes back so I look to see if it is coming from a car stuck at the lights in the heavy traffic but again no. The music keeps coming and going, then eventually we discover loudspeakers on the lampposts, we had seen these before in France but never actually doing anything before.

The new town is busy so we just have a quick look around have a sit for a drink and a rest, then head back towards the river but by a different quieter route away from the traffic.

We arrive back at the river next to the hospital, and its the best looking hospital I have ever seen. From there we take a slow walk back to the site via the river bank again.

A Dutch family (Mam, Dad and two teenagers) in a small campervan are next to us when we get back, the Dad has a huge knife in a scabbard on his belt (laws must be different here). The first thing that they do is, the boy starts a small stove to boil rice and the Dad lights a small BBQ on the road, then hacks open a pack of steaks with his dagger (that's what its for). When they have eaten and it starts to get dark, they then start to set up a tent, is it just me or would normal people get things sorted first before it gets dark and then eat?