Heard the rain bouncing off the roof as we woke up this morning. Urgh.
We had a bit of a jump today – about four hours of driving on the minor roads to Lyons- La-Forêt, north west of Paris – so we didn’t hang around. We set off towards Etampes on ridiculously straight roads which we googled. Apparently some of them are Roman, but many were built by 17th and 18th century kings who expanded the road network, but preferred straighter roads. You learn something new every day.
We crossed big agricultural fields, obviously France’s bread basket which went on for miles and then after Dourdan, we entered deep forests and woodlands. It was still raining, well spitting really, but it was trying to brighten up. By now we were looking for a patisserie as it was that time of day and as luck would have it, as we drove into the elegant commuter town of Clairefontaine, a boulangerie hoved into view. So we parked easily and scuttled across – they had the most delicious selection going and we did go a bit mad. We bought up half the shop including some delicious little cream cakes and we staggered back with our arms loaded. The cream cakes didn’t last very long.
Clairefontaine was very upmarket with large detached houses set back behind high hedges – when we looked on the map, we realised that we were only about 30 minutes from the very edge of Paris – we had just past a big car share car park by the A10 motorway and nearby Rambouillet had a train station, so it was easy to access Paris.
Once past Rambouillet, the countryside was very pretty with woodlands and plane tree lined avenues. It was 8 degrees outside – by now we were west of Paris – it had practically stopped raining and it raised our spirits. At Mantes, we were in wide open countryside with a mixture of farmland and woods – we went through some very handsome towns and villages.
Finally we arrived at Lyons-la-Foret and found our camping car site, just outside the little village. We had a cuppa and ate our sandwiches as it was past three o’clock and decided to go for a walk into the village which was less than ten minutes away. We were briefly followed by a little Jack Russell and hoped he wouldn’t join us, but he was happy just wandering around. Lyons was a charming place full of half timbered houses and buildings – we walked into the main square dominated by the stunning 18th century timbered market place, surrounded by pretty shops. It was beautiful. We had a good wander down different streets, peering into shops and admiring the architecture. The village nestled in the nearby woodlands so the autumnal backdrop made it even more gorgeous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyons-la-For%C3%AAt
The light was starting to go, so we strolled back to the camping car site. It was one of those classic November days with a watery sun peering through high cloud, where you would go for a long walk through the woods, kicking leaves, all wrapped up from the chilly air. Then you come back to a roaring fire, curl up on the sofa with a hot coffee and either read a book or watch a good film, all warm and snuggly. We didn’t have an open fire, but the Van’s heating system had kept us warm these last few days.
We met one of our fellow campers walking her dog and she was British so we fell into conversation with her – it’s nice to chat to people from your own country once in a while. They were finishing a big European trip too and heading home in the next few days. As it got dark, we said our goodbyes and settled down in the Van.
Tomorrow it’s the coast!
