My first destination for today was one that my parents had told me about, after they visited the chateau on one of their jaunts around Europe. In my personal quest to visit every chateau in France (I think it's impossible!), I decided I would drop by this pretty little chateau first thing this morning. As per usual, I was the first person in the parking lot, and wandered in to buy a ticket once the chateau was open.
The current chateau was built between 1500 and 1530 in the "Renaissance style" by Lancelot 1st Du Lac. It was handed over to several other families throughout history, before being ransacked during WWII and left to ruin. It was sold in 1970 to the city of Paris, who left it in ruins until finally it was taken over by the county council in 1987, who restored it. Most of the original decoration is now gone, although they have restored it in a way befitting a lovely old castle, but it is now mainly used as a museum about the history of perfume. Having been to Grasse previously in this trip and visiting the museum there, I was interested to see what this one would be like. It was obviously on a much smaller scale, but still interesting.
The next stop I had planned was Orléans, and I drove into the city at midday. First problem was finding a park.... I drove around for a while and I kept having to re-programme my GPS, as it was getting confused and couldn't find a parking station. Then, I found one and almost drove in before happening to see the height restriction... That was a lucky one! My camper was 1.91 high and the height restriction in the parking station was 1.9m! There was no one behind me at that point so I quickly reversed out before anyone could pull in behind me (as it was, I was already reversing uphill!).
Disaster avoided, I spotted an outdoor parking area with a free spot right next to the cathedral. I parked and went to check out the parking meter situation. The guy in front of me seemed a bit confused and wandered off. Then I looked at it... You couldn't pay for parking until 2pm. So it was free for two hours! I'd have liked to stay there a little longer, but I managed to see quite a lot of this lovely city in that time.
The city has an awful lot of history, and has seen many bloody battles, but the freeing of Orléans by Jean d'Arc (or Joan of Arc) in 1429 during the Hundred Years War is perhaps the most important point in the history of the city. A lot of the buildings in the city are old and very well kept, as the city had been quite rich throughout history and had built them to last. I did a very quick wander around the city in 2 hours, picking up a sandwich and eating as I walked!
It was time to go, so I picked up the camper and tried to get out of the city - honestly, some places just need to be organised better so that people can get OUT! I finally hit the open roads and drove to Chartres, about an hour and a half away without tolls. I stopped in at a supermarket on the way to get some supplies and got to a campsite just outside of Chartres at around 4:30pm.
The people at this campsite couldn't speak any English, so I muddled through my French and managed to book a site for the night. I found a lovely spot under some trees, until a giant campervan full of children pulled up next to me. So I packed up my camper and moved somewhere a bit quieter, and with a bit of privacy!
Campsite: Camping Bords de l'Eure (careful, music playing on website...)
Rating: 7/10. Cheap and decent campsite. Within walking distance of the city (about 3km away), and with decent facilities. It was not overly busy when I was there but really high season could stretch facilities. Owners let me leave my camper there the next morning to walk into town - check out wasn't until 2pm apparently, which was very handy!