We had a slowish start to Day 20.  It was our 15th wedding anniversary and we decided to make it leisurely.  We finally mosied down to breakfast around 10ish.  Hubert and Norbert had put on fresh croissants and baguettes, with plenty of butter and jam, coffee and juice.  We tucked in.  We were the only ones there still.  Soon Norbert came out and introduced himself.  He looked like his brother.  We got talking, and told him how our friends Simone and Ian had recommended the place. He’d actually lived in Australia, for ten years, no less, back in the 80s and 90s.  When we visited Echuca on the Murray in January ‘88 with Scott and Anne, he was living there.  We had a good old yarn and he told us some more about the place. His family had bought the place after the war and he and his brother had grown up there.  He also gave us some tips about some good places to visit around and about, suggesting Saint-Valery-sur-Somme in particular, so we added it to our itinerary for the day.  

So it was that an hour later we were steering the Mercedes in that direction.  We arrived and found a bench with a view and enjoyed some more of our pate and cheese from the night before. Then we had a wander around the town, and up to the old section.  There was a remnant of a fortified part of the town, and in a tower there in the 1420s Joan of Arc was held prisoner, prior to being taken to Rouen and executed. She would have had a view of the wide flat expanse of coastal country that we could see.  While there we bought a little half-bottle of local champagne to have that evening to celebrate our anniversary. After a while we hopped back in the vehicle and made for Mers les Bains, another spot Norbert recommended, but we didn’t worry about getting out because there wasn’t anything particularly earth-shattering to look at and we still had to get to Chateau de Rambures.

Rambures is  a 15th century castle that has survived with very little change, and like Tattershall Castle, is unusual in that it is built almost entirely of brick.  It’s been in the Rambures family the whole time, and that family had a castle in the area going back to the mid-twelfth century. We got there about 4pm, and were very lucky to just make it into a guided tour, as you could only see it that way.  The guide spoke French of course, but he was good enough to make a few remarks to us in English from time to time.  We had a good look through.  Some of the rooms were quite interesting, and the whole place is fully furnished.  It was pouring with rain as we left, and with Jen’s cold that was the last thing we needed, but we made it back to the car under our little umbrella without getting saturated, unlike the guide who had to sprint, and headed back towards our chateau.  By the time we got back it had stopped raining and was sunny again.  

We got ourselves showered up and dressed in our travel finest, and had our nice bottle of champagne, which we’d let cool in the fridge for a bit after getting back.  It was very nice!  We then made our way downstairs and availed ourselves of the very nice apéritifs that the brothers had left for us in the drawing room.  Very civilised indeed! By and by we went into the dining room for dinner.  We were by ourselves for most of it, as the Italians who were due didn’t arrive until after 9. We started with a delicious cheese and ham crepe, which just about filled us up!  We then had pheasant for main course, done to a tee.  We had this ginormous candelabra on the table.  It could have been the 18th century. It was a very special evening in a beautiful chateau.  After mains they brought many cheeses to have, and by some miracle we actually found a little room for them, though just a taste.  We thought that was it but then Nobert wanted to bring out dessert!  We just couldn’t do it - I don’t think either of us have ever been quite so rassasié.  We certainly slept well that night, and despite all the cheese, we didn’t have any dreams, not even of launching V1s.

Saint-Valery-sur-Somme   Chateau de Rambures