We visited the tiny village of Essoyes (pronounced Ess-wah) on a Sunday morning, out of season. It couldn’t have been quieter; which suited us down to the ground because I suspect it is a place that will be overrun with visitors during the summer months.
It is a charming little village in the centre of the Aube with less than 800 inhabitants. The village was ravaged by fire in 1763 and lost almost all of it’s many wooden houses with their thatched roofs. It was subsequently rebuilt with stone houses and tiled roofs but it remains a picturesque place. Obiter dicter: I swear that when I was a child we were taught that the plural of roof was rooves. I’m showing my age now.
The town bridge over the Ource…… and from the other side
Essoyes is famous as being a longtime home of the French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Aline Charigot, one of his lovers and the mother of his children, was born in Essoyes and she persuaded Renoir to buy a house in the village. They lived there between 1896 until 1919 when Renoir died (although they usually spent winters in Provence because of his rheumatoid arthritis) and he was buried in the local church (as were Aline and their three children when they died).
Renoir’s House in Essoyes…… and as he saw it
Essoyes is justifiably proud of Renoir and has created a ‘Renoir Route’ around the village which captures moments from his life. It leads to his grave in the local cemetery and, amongst other things passes his home and the local church.
A poster on the Renoir RouteA very young RenoirMy favourite photoRenoir’s Grave…… and nearby, that of a Canadian pilot who lost his life in WW2
NOTE: I’m having to give up on this particular blog. WordPress have issued a faulty update to one of the “Plugins” which keeps locking the site. We’re off to Burgundy next but I’ll finish with a copy of my favourite painting of Renoir’s; the ‘Luncheon of the Boating Party’. Incidently, the young lady in the foreground holding the dog is Aline Charigot.
We fancied a day out from Dienville and drove 30 minutes south to the small town of Bar sur Seine (population of about 3,000 people) because (a) it was market day there and we both enjoy French markets and; (b) there are a few well regarded champagne houses in the town and Vanya wanted to “try and buy” some champagne to take home to the UK. We were late getting away from Dienville and didn’t therefore get to see much of Bar sur Seine but the market alone warrants a return trip.
I was so engrossed with the market that I failed to pay any attention to my photos. For such a small town the market is huge and the variety of goods, services and produce on sale eclipse anything I have seen before. Here are a few photos anyway but I’m not pleased with them.
To talk a little about the market – There were plenty of stalls selling the usual food, drinks, flowers and furniture (including beds and mattresses) which are to be found at any farmer’s market across France but the variety of live animals on sale surprised us; as did the range and quantity of tractors and other farm vehicles. There were also some really interesting stalls that you would normally associate with a flea market – for example, one selling the metal circular caps which top champagne bottles and another dealing in World War I uniforms and equipment but it was the fellow selling house roofs and another selling an enormous range of sheds and garages that most amazed us. You really could buy just about anything at this market.
We limited ourselves to buying ice cream and Corsican Cheese. Actually, the cheese tasted tasted so good that we bought lots of it – twice as much as our fridge could accommodate. In hindsight, that was a really silly purchase given that (a) we may well stop off in Corsica later during this tour and (b) Chaource Cheese (one of my favourites) is produced just down the road from Bar sur Seine. Good job that we both enjoy cheese.
Another interesting aspect to the Bar sur Seine market, although it came as no surprise, was the large number of stalls offering glasses of champagne. It seemed everyone was drinking champagne – even the on duty fire brigade officers lol.
We reveled in the market for a while and then sought out a local bar for something to eat. We couldn’t have Vanya sampling champagne on an empty stomach. Unfortunately that is exactly what happened. On market day the menu in most bars is limited to the Plat du Jour and Vanya wasn’t interested in trying any of the local dishes that were on offer. I should have followed her lead but, instead, ordered a Tete de Veau (without properly understanding what it was). It proved to be the flesh from the head of a baby cow served in a mustard and vinegar slop. Enough said except that I ate almost all of it (the slop was actually very tasty) – crazy or what?!? Vanya would be tasting the champagne on her own.
Late that afternoon we arrived at the classy Domaine Devaux Champagne House on the edge of the town. I walked the dogs while Vanya attended a brief tasting session and the champagne couldn’t have been too bad because she bought two bottles.
I did learn a couple of interesting facts while at the Domaine. It seems that during the early part of the last century, the champagne houses in the north of the region (the Marne) objected to the champagne houses in the south (the Aube) using the champagne designation (notwithstanding that Troyes was considered the champagne capital and that the better grapes were grown in the south). The disagreement escalated; there were riots which saw vineyards burned, wine cellars destroyed, houses ransacked and people killed. Some 40,000 French soldiers were needed to end the rioting. Only in Champagne!
Essoyes, home and final resting place of Pierre-Auguste Renoir tomorrow.
Vanya chose Dienville in the Aube Department of Grand Est because, she said, she wanted to stay at Camping Le Columbier (which site has a very good write up) but, there are two champagne producing areas; one in the north around Reims, Epernay and the Valle de la Marne and another to the south-east of Troyes (the Aube) which, we have been told, produces the better grapes. As we approached Dienville, I couldn’t help but think it was perhaps the Aube champagne which was luring her to this area. No matter, it is an area that is new to the both of us and, of more interest to me, steeped in Napoleonic history.
In the blog on Brienne Le Chateau I mentioned the Battle of Brienne. On 29 January 1814, while at war against the 6th Coalition, Napoleon attacked the Prussian army at Brienne and very nearly captured the Prussian General, Gebhard Leberecht Von Blucher. Three days later, having been reinforced by Austrian troops, Blucher attacked Napoleon at La Rothiere (2 kilometres east of Dienville) and forced the French Army to retreat. It could have been a great deal worse for Napoleon had one of his Generals (Etienne Gerard) not held the bridge at Dienville against Blucher’s Austrian allies. But that’s enough of Napoleon.
Camping Le Columbier is fine – a very pretty, quiet little campsite near the centre of Dienville. Dienville itself is a village with just 700 inhabitants. There’s a bar, a baker and a chemist in the village centre but not a lot else. The village grocery store closed down but there’s a small farmer’s market every Sunday morning and a Vietnames food wagon visits the village centre every Friday evening. The owner of the wagon is actually from Laos but what the hell – his Vietnamese chicken is great!
The village’s church, L’Eglise Saint Quentin, is a bit of a gem for such a small village. It has some very impressive arches and beautiful stained glass windows. It also appeared to be surprisingly well attended. Well, it was on the Sunday morning we were there.
Another impressive feature of the village is the Market Hall building which is located directly behind the church and opposite the Hotel de Ville.
On the other side of the River Aube to the village is Port Dienville. It’s a large boating lake and leisure park at the edge of the Aube Reservoir (now known as Lac d’Amance). The reservoir was created in 1990 to regulate the flow of the Aube and Seine Rivers and the port area now comprises a burgeoning marina with a few bars and restaurants, a water sport facility and a beach area. It was fairly empty while we were there and appeared a bit of a white elephant. I hope I am proven wrong in this regard because it is a pretty area and could bring great prosperity to the village.
Okay, so there’s not a great deal more I would say about Dienville but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the village and the campsite is perfectly placed from which to explore the Aube Department. We were planning on visiting Bar sur Seine (surprise, surprise – Vanya has identified a champagne house there that she would like to visit) and I would like to visit nearby Essoyes (where the artist Renoir lived out his final years).
The drive south from Soissons to our next overnight stop at Dienville took us through Champagne (via Reims, Chalons en Champagne and the small town of Brienne Le Chateau in the Aube Department of Grand Est). We’ve decided to take our time this year, avoiding all toll roads and stopping whenever we feel like it.
I like to think we stopped at Brienne Le Chateau because of my interest in all things Napoleonic but it is more likely that we stopped so that Vanya could get to drink her first champagne of this tour. She wasn’t too happy with my driving straight past Reims and Chalons en Champagne (but, come on, she’s imbibed champagne in both those places during earlier visits).
Brienne Le Chateau is where in 1779, at the age of 9, Napoleon Bonaparte first attended military school. He lived there for 5 years until, in 1784, he transferred to the Ecole Militaire in Paris. Much later, in 1814, Brienne was also the scene of one of his last battles. The town simply had to be worth a visit and I wasn’t disappointed.
Much of the old military school was destroyed during the French Revolution but in 1969 a small museum, dedicated to Napoleon’s rise through the ranks, was established in what remains of the building. It is tiny but it’s a fascinating place to visit (full of interesting records and memorabilia) and a few of his battles (including Austerlitz, Borodino and of course Brienne) can be followed on computers in the museum. My visit to the museum was enhanced by a group of Napoleonic enthusiasts role playing outside the museum. He is wholly revered in this part of France and it is small wonder that for a time, between 1849 and 1880, Brienne Le Chateau was renamed Brienne Napoleon.
Posing with a Cantiniere?Posing with a Beanie?
There’s not a great deal to see and do in Brienne but the museum is an absolute must and the Chateau Brienne (where Napoleon stayed during 1814) is perhaps also worth a visit. Take time out, too, to look at the Hotel de Ville (the Town Hall). It is quite unlike any others I have seen in France in that it doesn’t display the usual “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” strap line across the front of the building. Instead it displays a face of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte (and, if that isn’t enough, there’s a statue of Napoleon as a boy outside the front of the building). Vive L’Empereur!
We travelled little more than 60 miles today to Soissons; still in the Hauts de France Region but in the Aisne Department. This area was once part of Picardy. Soissons sits on the River Aisne and is one of the oldest towns in France. It was the scene of much fighting between various Gallic tribes and the Romans under Julius Caesar. Indeed, there’s an Asterix Theme Park just down the road from Soissons where “Asterix and Obelix (continue to) fight the dastardly Romans”.
Sadly, this part of France and Soissons in particular has witnessed a great deal of war and suffering over the ages, most especially during World War I. Soldiers from Great Britain and the Commonwealth, France and Germany were entrenched in and around the town for much of the First World War and some major battles (the three Battles of the Aisne) were fought in the immediate area. The ‘First Battle of the Aisne’ was an allied counter offensive immediately following the Battle of the Marne in 1914 which saw the start of trench warfare. The ‘Second’ in 1917 was a more bloody affair with France and Germany suffering respectively 271,000 and 163,000 casualties in just 12 days of battle. The ‘Third’ was the German ‘Spring Offensive of 1918’ (also known as the Kaiserschlacht) which was finally repulsed after some 5 weeks heavy fighting but not before the British lost 236,000 men, the French lost 92,000 and Germany lost 348,000. There are numerous French, German & British cemeteries and memorials throughout Aisne and at least two monuments in Soissons itself (the first of which is a plaque in the cathedral honouring more than one million British dead from the First World War who are buried in France and the second being the Monument des Anglais which lists the names of 3,387 British & Commonwealth soldiers killed in Soissons while repelling the German Spring Offensive and who have no known grave.
But, enough of war and on to Soissons itself. There’s enough to see in the town to keep most people happy for a day or two. I was intent on visiting most of the major sights, especially Soissons Cathedral and the Abbaye de Saint Jean des Vignes but; I’d also read about the street art of a certain Christian Guemy (aka C215) and was keen to track some of his works down.
I started in the town’s tourist office. A lovely lady provided me with a map identifying all the must see buildings in Soissons. She was unable find a map of Guemy’s street art and suggested I wait for her colleague to return but, after enduring a five minute monologue on haricot beans (it seems Soissons is famous for it’s extra large white haricot beans) I decided to leave and find the paintings without a map – a treasure hunt of sorts.
With the town’s Cathedral of Saint-Gervais & Saint-Protais backing on to Place de Fernand Marquigny, where the tourist office is located; my next port of call was always going to be Soissons Cathedral and it is well worth a visit. It dates back to the 12th century and, except for one tower being missing, it is almost an exact copy of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It is possible to climb to the top of the cathedral’s tower for views over Soissons but, this once, I didn’t bother. The cathedral contains a number of quite exceptional paintings; one of which, “The Adoration of the Shepherds”, is recognised at least in part as being the work of Pierre Paul Rubens and that kept me occupied for a while…
Looking every bit a cathedral itself and within easy walking distance of Soissons Cathedral (actually, almost everything within Soissons is within easy walking distance of the cathedral) are the ruins of the 11th century Abbaye de Saint-Jean des Vignes. This once magnificent abbey was ransacked by the Huguenots in 1567 and turned into a stable but it was the French Revolution which saw the abbey forever closed…
My favourite photo of the Abbey of St John of the Vines is one I took from the Place de la Republique with it’s monument to the dead of the Franco-Prussian War (the Monument aux Morts de 1870) in the foreground…
I checked out other “must see” buildings in Soissons, including L’Abbaye Saint Leger, L’Hotel de Ville, L’Eglise Saint-Pierre and the Monument des Anglais (which was closed off), but my primary interest after visiting the Cathedral and the Abbey of Saint-John was the street artwork of Christian Guemy.
Christian Guemy has been described as France’s answer to Banksy and there are examples of his work all over the world – London, Paris, Barcelona, Rome, New York, etc and even Aberdeen, Brighton and Morocco. He uses stencils and his primary interests are cats and portraits (more often than not of people that society appears to have forgotten e.g. the homeless, beggars, the aged, etc) but; in Soissons it has been directed more towards individuals with some form of connection to the town. I suspect he accepted a commission from the local council and/or tourist office.
His work is not always easy to find. Some of his creations will fill the side of a building and are easily spotted but others are small and hidden away in the most unusual places. Those I photographed below are just some of 25 he has left dotted around Soissons. I found a dozen or so.
La Dame de SoissonsCamille ClaudelPierre Paul Rubens…… on Place Mantoue
Vanya and I walked back into town during the evening to a small creperie (Le Corsaire) I had stumbled across on Rue de la Banniere. It was tiny but the welcome was warm and friendly (especially towards Nala and Beanie) and we enjoyed it immensely. I ordered the ‘Corsaire Special’ Galette as an entree and followed it with the best ever crepe for dessert (caramelised apples with cinnamon ice cream and flambeed with a dark rum). I really cannot recall what Vanya ordered probably because I’d knocked back a jug of delicious but seriously strong Bretagne Cider.
Le Corsaire Galette…… and a truly great cider.Caramelised apples with cinnamon icecream and flambeed rum – wonderful
The stroll back through town to our Van took us past the cathedral and a couple more Guemy creations (Vanya was picking them out quicker than I ever did) and, hand on heart, I can say we both very much appreciated Soissons at night. Peaceful and typically French.
Yaaay!! It’s 9 April 2025 and we’re on the road again. That’s Vanya, Nala, Beanie and myself. After a quick breakfast in Brighton we finished loading the Van and set off via the A27 for the P&O Ferry at Dover. It was an event free journey (I’m not complaining) with surprisingly quiet roads and we arrived in good time for the 11.30 ferry to Calais.
“Behave yourself”“Are we there yet?“
The channel crossing itself was also uneventful (and very smooth) and within two hours we were on the road towards the tiny village (just 400 inhabitants) of Feuilleres.
Feuilleres is located on the Somme River some 30 kilometres east of Amiens in the Somme Department of Hauts de France. Vanya chose the place solely for it’s campsite (Camping du Chateau et de l’Oseraie); it being about as far south as I wanted to drive the first day out and with options to travel in all directions thereafter.
I have always found the first day of a tour very tiring and while I took time during the afternoon to explore Feuilleres and the nearby town of Peronne, I was happiest when settled down in Feuilleres with a glass of wine and some of the local bread and cheese (and not forgetting a half kilo of large, very delicious prawns which Vanya acquired during our drive south).
There is very little to Feuilleres – a small church, a restaurant-bar (closed) and the River Somme with plenty of fishing ponds – but, it served us well for the first night.
There is a considerably more to Peronne although, I wouldn’t go too far out of my way to visit the town. It was captured by German troops early in WWI and the town and surrounding area was the scene of several very bloody battles (including the three battles of the Somme) before being liberated by Australian soldiers in 1918. More than 90% of the town was destroyed during the war, including the 13th century Chateau de Peronne. The Chateau was restored in the 1970’s, renamed the ‘Historial’ and now serves as a Museum to the Great War.
The Historial now…… and as it was when liberated
I’m keeping this blog brief. On to Soissons in the morning.
Ambleteuse is an interesting little town on the Opal Coast between Boulogne and Calais. We were staying in the neighbouring village of Audresselles but I took time out to visit Ambleteuse during the afternoon.
The place is steeped in history having been one of the ports from which Julius Caesar was said to have embarked from on his unsuccessful invasion of Britain in 54 BC (not that it was called Britain in those days). The Saxons also invaded from here and Napoleon Bonaparte stationed troops in the area in readiness for his planned (but ultimately aborted) invasion of our island. Indeed, General Claude JA Legrand, commanding Napoleon’s 3rd Infantry Division, stayed in Ambleteuse’s 17th century fort (one of Vauban’s creations) at the mouth of the River Slack in anticipation of the invasion. From what I saw of the fort, he couldn’t have enjoyed the most comfortable of stays.
Fort Ambleteuse
The fort has been destroyed and rebuilt on more than one occasion, the last time being after it was occupied by German troops during WWII. During the summer months it opens as a museum but, if it’s museums you want, there is a WWII museum at the edge of Ambleteuse on the road to Audresselles. It is unlike most of the WWII museums that have mushroomed across Normandy in that, except for some artillery pieces and a Sherman tank placed outside, it’s exhibits are mostly confined to the uniforms and accessories of the combatants.
The beaches in Ambleteuse and Audresselles cannot be considered among the best along the Opal Coast, being narrow and stony. The seafronts in both places are also different from others in Normandy in that there are neither shops nor restaurant-bars along the small promenades; just houses and the odd WWII bunker built by the Germans in anticipation of an Allied Invasion near the Pas de Calais.
The elegant Eglise Saint Michel is definitely worth a visit. I cannot tell you much about this church but, inside, it is stunningly simple…I like it.
To finish, I’m reproducing just one of the photos I took in Audresselles and that was along the coast towards Les Deux Caps; Cap Blanc Nez (made of chalk) and Cap Gris Nez (made of clay). These are the closest points in France to the British Coast and numerous German artillery batteries were sited there during WWII to fire upon Dover. In fact, during the course of WWII almost 10,000 buildings in and around Dover were damaged by shellfire from these batteries with more than 200 civilians being killed and hundreds more injured. Looks quite peaceful now, doesn’t it?
A view along the coast from Audresselles
We‘re booked on the P&O ferry to Dover in the morning. Tour 10 ends here. Roll on the next one!!
A visit to Yport invariably signifies that we are nearing the end of our tour. There will be another stop nearer Calais on our last night but we choose Yport because we can then visit our favourite restaurant in Normandy (Le Nautique) and the dogs can be seen by their vet in nearby Fecamp – it’s a legal requirement that a vet feed the dogs ‘tenia’ tablets before they can re-enter the UK.
Yport (with Fecamp in the distance)
We spent our last Monday morning in France down by the beach in Yport having a pleasant brunch on the terrace outside Le Petit Saint Pierre. The afternoon was about visiting Fecamp; getting the dogs seen by the vet and; then stopping at the large Leclerc at Saint Leonards to top up Vanya’s stock of Cremant.
Le Nautique is closed Mondays but we stopped by as they opened on the Tuesday lunchtime and reserved a table for the evening. Everything went smoothly.
Fecamp…… the Benedictine Palace
Tuesday night was all about Le Nautique and the best huitres (oysters) and the best Moules (mussels) in Normandy, all served with the local dry cider and a bottle of Muscadet. The proprietor remembered us from when we last visited during the Spring. No one forgets Beanie and Nala, especially since Nala has been in her ‘walking wheels’. He was working in the kitchen that day but his son (who usually cooks) was happy to look after us and, as always, the welcome, the service and the food was outstanding.
We look forward to returning next Spring. Meanwhile, we had one more night in France at a place called Ambleteuse in the Hauts de France Region.
We were on our way to Yport for a couple of days (a) to enjoy a meal at our favourite restaurant in Normandy (Le Nautique) and; (b) to stock up on Vanya’s Cremant before catching the ferry home later in the week and; (c) to pop in on the Vets in Fecamp so that the dogs can be made ready for their return to the UK. First, however, Vanya wanted to revisit Honfleur.
I have been to Honfleur a couple of times before. I like the place and was happy to return for a third visit. Vanya on the other hand has been once before and her reason for wanting to return was, get this, to see if she still doesn’t like the place!?! How is a man ever going to understand a woman when she exercises that kind of logic?
The only downside I can see to Honfleur is that it now attracts huge numbers of tourists (especially with river cruises multiplying as they are) and consequently the restaurants charge silly prices but keep that comment in perspective; I’m probably getting maudlin because it is almost going home time. Vanya’s view of Honfleur has definitely been tainted by the large number of tourists. She thinks they have ripped the soul out of the town. I’ll not argue with her about that.
I’m not going to write much about Honfleur today (nearly everything I could say about the place is captured in previous blog entries – see Tours 2 and 3) but I will post a few more photos, if only to show the town hasn’t changed much in recent times. It is still very pleasing, especially down by the harbour.
It’s a very pretty harbour…… and a great place to people watch…… or paint
We ate a very expensive meal down on the harbour (but you pay for the view there as much as anything) and then we did a short wander before returning to the Van and pressing on to Yport.
Les Moulieres d’Honfleur
Les Moulieres (the Mussel Pickers) made us smile. The Normandy Coast is very much the place for mussels. Bring them on!
So, we’re on our way home to Brighton. Jumieges sits on the northern bank of the Seine River between Le Havre and Rouen and is one of the last stops on our way to Calais and then the UK. We’ll stop at Yport for a couple of nights (as is our custom towards the end of any trip which takes in France) and there will be another final overnight stop closer to Calais (Ambleteuse perhaps) but with 4,000 miles completed during the approach to Jumieges, Tour 10 is almost over.
I’m not sure if it is big enough to take the Van but, while out walking along the River Seine, I stumbled across a small ferry, the Heurteauville Ferry, which crosses the Seine (near Pont -Audemar) to Jumieges. I’ll check the ferry out next time we pass here because it will shave at least 30 kilometres off the journey we made today. It will also save on bridge tolls because the ferry is free.
Heurteauville Ferry……and the River Seined
Jumieges is renowned for it’s abbey or, to be more accurate, it’s abbeys. The original Abbaye de Saint Pierre de Jumieges was founded in 654 by Philibert (later Saint Philibert of Jumieges) and quickly grew into an enormous and prosperous monastery; so much so that it housed more than 900 monks by the time Philibert was succeeded as Abbot by Aichardus. The abbey was destroyed during the 9th century by marauding vikings but rebuilt on an even grander scale by Norman dukes (and with William the Conqueror attending the consecration of the huge Romanesque style Church of Notre Dame in 1067).
The abbey suffered a turbulent time in the following centuries, first by the invading English during the 100 Years War and then by the Huegenots during France’s Religious Wars but; it was the French Revolution which caused most damage and saw the Abbey plundered and closed. Worse was to follow in the aftermath of the revolution with much of the church and it’s surrounding buildings being torn down for the stone.
The ruin now dominates the town…
The abbey was saved from complete destruction during the 19th century by Victor Hugo (as much as anyone) who raised interest popular interest in the ruins when he described them as “the most beautiful ruins in France”. It wasn’t until 2007 however that the Department of Seine Maritime acquired the ruins (together with 15 acres of parkland) and set about opening them to the public as an historical attraction. The abbey complex will forever remain a ruin but there’s more than enough left to recognise and appreciate it’s former glory.
There is one other building in Jumieges which, while not as grand as the abbey once was, is worth a special mention. It is the 11th/12th century parish Church of Saint Valentine which was built at the request of the abbey monks because they didn’t want to be disturbed by the parishioners. It’s one of the more unusual churches I have seen and is full of character and surprises (the altar, lectern and eagle were taken from the abbey and the church holds numerous stone and/or wood carvings of various Saints – including Anne, Catherine, Margaret, Sebastian, Stephen, Nicholas and of course Valentine). Although a little tired (to be expected of an 11th/12th century parish church) the church is remarkably well preserved. Unlike the abbey complex, it was left intact during the French Revolution.
A few paintings adorn the walls inside Saint Valentine’s; one of the more interesting being a 16th century creation entitled ‘A Procession in Honour of Saint Valentine’. In this painting, a plague of rats can be seen running ahead of the procession. This relates to an event which is said to have taken place in Jumieges during the Middle Ages and which was very much linked with Saint Valentine. Legend has it that the head of Valentine (he was beaten and beheaded for proclaiming his faith in Rome during AD280) ended up, hundreds of years later, as a relic in the abbey in Jumieges. One year a plague of rats invaded the village and began to devour the crops, thus posing a threat of famine. When a monk living in the abbey complex saw Saint Valentine three times in his dreams, it was decided the reliquary containing the Saint’s head should be carried in a procession around the village. This was carried out and, to everyone’s astonishment, the rats gathered and followed the procession to the River Seine; then jumped in and drowned. So it was that Saint Valentine became the saviour of the parish. There’s not many people outside of Jumieges know that.
L’Eglise Saint ValentinEglise St Valentin – full of characterEglise St Valentin – full of characterEglise St Valentin – full of characterEglise St Valentin – full of characterEglise St Valentin – full of characterProcession in Honour of St Valentin
Leaving aside the abbey and the church, there’s little else to Jumieges but the locals couldn’t have been more friendly. Vanya and I had a little wander with the dogs and I was invited by some locals to go apple picking as part of the annual Fete de Pommes but that was about it.
Oh! There is also a supposedly good Michelin recommended restaurant in the village, Auberge des Ruines, but it being a Sunday and this being France… Instead I ate what can only be described as a deconstructed Shish Kebab cooked by the campsite’s food wagon (and I thoroughly enjoyed it – Well done Camping La Foret).
