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Published: October 19th 2018
Confucious came to the rescue again. He said in this mornings jottings that " It does not matter how slowly you go long as you do not stop". We are doing just that in the last few days of our holidays. We wake up later . There is little point waking up early as all we are doing is moving slowly up France in the general direction of Calais. In a few days I will ring Channel Tunnel to change our booking for our return journey to the UK. With a bit of sad heart we ate breakfast and unplugged Gabby from the electricity supply. Just before we left the English caretaker came over to wish us bon voyage. He told us the boulangerie would be open in the village but that the road now bypassed the village. If we wanted croissants and baguettes we would need to go the long way round into the village with its narrow streets. The by pass had made us smile . A very small road built on the outskirts of a very small town. In the UK the village/town call it what you will would not ever in a month of Sundays get a
by pass. The amount of traffic going through would be considered to slight to invest in a new road.
Glenn had done his homework and found us a stop off in Sarzay. You can use your imagination if you like . What do you think a medieval castle should look like? For me it should have towers which reach skyward. Arrow slits for bowmen to kill those nasty invaders. A conical roof with flag fluttering from the top and a window right high up. In the window a damsel in distress looking for her Mr Right coming to save her. A drawbridge is a requisite and of course a nice muddy moat. Well that is where we are going today.
To reach Sarzay meant more driving down long and narrow roads with few passing places. The colours of Autumn mingled in with the last minute greens of summer. The houses were a little less salubrious than we had seen yesterday but nevertheless they were pretty and colourful. Farmyards, fields and open spaces . The usual France in a nutshell.
Sarzay should have been open at 11 until 12 .30. It was not state owned but had been
bought by a family years ago and opened to the public. We spotted it as we approached the tiny hamlet of Sarzay. Standing in a field it looked very impressive and the perfect fairytale castle. We were both looking forward to finding some parking, park Gabby up and pay our 4 euros each for the priviledge. First thoughts - nice castle, interesting village with its graveyard, last of the sunflowers in the fields and the home made sign. It had seen better days. A high wall surrounded the castle and the gate was firmly shut. We walked to it and too a few photographs. Impressive wall we thought,, Well made wooden gate. The castle was wonderful . We could see it through the grating. The farmyard inside was a higgledy piggledy mess of old farm machinery and run down buildings . We had read that when the owners purchased the castle they promised to improve the interior, rebuild various parts of the castle and change the use of the farm buildings to gites. It didn't look as if the holiday plans had come to fruition. Let's just say it was rustic in a French style. We peered in , we
shook the gate. Nothing moved . I couldn't see a lock nor a way of opening the gate. We pushed , we pulled and we shoved but nothing was budging. Not a soul of any life not even a chicken. We said to ourselves this is about our luck. The internet said the castle was open but it was clearly shut and we had travelled all morning to see it.
Walking back to the van we had a quick drink and about half an hour later a car drove by and stopped near the gates. A man got out with his shopping in his bag. He walked to the gate as the car drove off. As if by magic the gate opened . It felt like an open sesame moment. He walked in and we were bemused. I was all for walking over and demanding entrance . Glenn held me down and said that going shopping instead of opening the castle wasn't the right thing to do. We sat awhile and rang Eurotunnel . £35 excess fare paid and the return journey is now booked . Just time to move on a couple of nights and we will back
in blighty .
It was a bit sad not to see the beauty of the castle with its 38 towers and 3 drawbridges. You couldn't see these through the gate . And yes we did miss the superb carpentry of the roof and the contents of the rooms. But the view from the outside of this castle that was at the forefront of the battles between the French and the English was still pretty good.
Our next plan to find a stop for the night . Now we are getting used to ACSI lying as I tend to say. We check their book , find a site in the middle of nowhere which will suit us and set off. Will it be open ? Your guess is as good as ours. The sites do tend to make up their own rules as they go along.
Right we have talked about what makes the picture perfect castle - so what makes a half decent campsite . We have given up giving campsites points as they are all so different . It is impossible to compare a 5* campsite with restaurant and swimming pool with 1* bog basic site with little in the way of facilities . They are all what they are . Tonight we find our way down impossible French roads. Silly has us on roads no wider than 10 foot across . Roads with fields and ditches at the sides of us . No pull ins, no laybyes , and certainly no passing places . We hold our hands in prayer that nothing comes the other way. When we do meet another vehicle we creep past each other slowly with one side of our vehicles in the farmers field. We come to a junction and a small town. Thankyou we think we have reached a more major road wider than the ones we travelled on. No such luck the narrow roads continue for mile after mile after mile. Through open countryside we begin to wonder if our campsite indeed exists. Our last village junction proves a challenge. Not a pleasant one. Glenn drove up to the line. Houses are pressed right up to the road on both sides. I shout stop. I look out of the window with a slightly backwards glance to find Gabby right up to the side of a huge lorry. He is pipping his horn at us as he did not think we were going to stop. Looking back at the junction it was probably one of the old priority to the right junctions that the French loved . The law is archaic and dates back to the times of the horse and cart. For some unknown reason the law has never been repealed. There is apparently an old French proverb that says " if in doubt put both feet out". That is what we had to do. Hit the brakes hard.
We eventually found the campsite , rustic was a kind word to describe it. It looked closed and rather down at heel. I did eventually find the owner who pronounced that his campsite was indeed open but that we were the only guests. One other caravan turned up later but that was all of us on the site. Despite his sign saying that his pizzeria was open it was well and truly fermee. He was what I would describe as a farmer who had turned his field into a campsite . He was accompanied by a huge brown slobbering dog. Peacocks strutted their stuff and chickens rooted everywhere. The showers were basic and cold . If I were awarding points starting at 10 the award would go down dramatically due to cold water, dirty showers, shut pizzeria , noisy roosters and slobbery dog, Tomorrow we arrive later in the day at Calais . La Bien Assise is closed so we have little idea where we will spend the night . We have a choice of campsites so will start at the nearest to the tunnel and work it back from there.
It has been a funny old day but then all days on the road can be funny ones.
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Jackie Harrison
non-member comment
ACSI
We tend to travel down through France and Spain using the ACSI sites. Makes our life easier than trying to find decent places to stop and I always sleep better in the security of a campsite! Stupid I know!! Ii the ACSI book it tells you if the campsites are open or shut and so far we have not had any trouble!! touch wood!!