I’d been following the signs for Chateaudun for some time and I actually can’t recall why. I think simply because it had the name Chateau in the name. I’d stopped for a couple of nights on the way as I’d found a great place to park up in the middle of nowhere.
Anyway when I got to Chateaudun it was very late at night but still very warm. So I got Jack out of the van and we went for a walkabout. I found a very old area and the small chateau hidden away down a side street, we didn’t even bother going into it. I also found a free parking area where I could sleep so I moved the van into that later on after we’d had a wander.
I am on my holidays from work still, so I got up early the next day and there was a market set up in the town square. Typically as I’ve found in France the market is mostly fresh vegetables and fruit, some meat and fish and a few clothes and other items. Like British markets they’re not what they used to be and prices were up to double supermarket prices. I do buy some things though and this time I got some tomatoes and a peach. They were lovely and fresh and tasty, but only as fresh and tasty as those from a Leclerc or a Carrefour.
I found an SFR shop and between my crap French and a sales girls’ crap English we managed to ascertain that a pay as you go USB modem would cost €10 per day to use. No cheaper than Vodafone’s current deal so at the moment not really worth it. Although I may have to get one as Vodafone’s is not working out here either and their £10 per 24 hours is only a 3 month promotion til the end of August. I’ll have to seriously look at that at a later date.
I had a wander around the town which was really nice although probably very boring if you lived there. I found a bookshop and finally paid €5.50 for a French/English dictionary as I was struggling with many of the words. French people by and large are not very helpful in teaching you their language, even though they’re the first to bleat that no-one tries to learn it.
I also found a laundrette, or Lavarie. Whooo hooo!! I moved the van to the other side of town where the laundrette was located, and got 2 bin liners of washing. I set off happily and even had a tin of iced tea which was delicious. I however put one load of washing on a cold wash which didn’t spin and the other one got locked in when the machine stuck! Crikey it could only happen to me! Never mind I rang out the unspun washing and managed to get the other washing out of the machine and for all I know that machine is running to this day. The dryer was so hot though that everything was dry in about a half hour so I set off on the road again a happy chap, on my way to Chartres.
I took a few pictures but the one of the Chateau is not from here, however it was too late to change by the time I’d created the album. Maybe if can be bothered at a later date I’ll take it out. Maybe not 