Fougères

After touring the Normandy beaches in beautifully sunny weather, though sometimes a bit breezy and chilly, we decided to head inland for warmer climes. The primary attraction is the superb Château, that dominates the town. There are not enough superlatives to describe this castle. It is spectacular and is the largest medieval castle in Europe. You will need a good few hours to fully immerse yourself in the history of the Dukes of Burgundy, though you are left with the impression it was all about siege and bloodshed with the French and English kings being among the main protagonists, followed by the Wars of Religion and the French Revolution. To cap the angst the town was heavily bombed in WW2 with many of the old medieval buildings destroyed. You still, however, get the feel of this medieval town with its cobbled streets  and fortified walls leading to the old Château. There has been a fortification here since the 11th century, though what you see dates from the 12th to 15th centuries and the restoration is superb.

The entry fee is incredibly reasonable and includes an audio guide in English and there are some additional visual guides as you go around and there are loads of parapets to walk around. Additionally the town is worth a wander, which is what we did on the first day but we needed a second full day to do justice to the castle. After a late finish, what else must you do but to have gallettes and crepes with Breton cider in the shadow of this magnificent castle. 

There are some delightful gardens below the town walls, though we were frusrtated by the number of closed paths which appeared  to frustrate our attempts to get up to the higher town.

We stayed at the excellent municipal campsite which is located in a parkland setting with spacious pitches, about a 30 minute walk to the centre of town. The facilities are suberb complete with motorhome service point, which you would expect in France. It also has the advantage of having an Aldi within a 5 minute walk for bread etc.

We did have some fun finding it. We came down the D155, after calling into Intermarche Super and despite a sat nav which is programmed to avoid unsuitable roads, it tried to take me down a no entry and then a ridiculous left turn, totally unsuitable for a motorhome. We eventually found the one way road which led directly to the campsite, though it was somewhat narrow, this was not problematic. We did, however, make sure that when we left we avoided the town completely but at least on the way in we were rewarded with great views of the Château.