Next day I was up, packed up, ready to roll early. At the chateau gates by 8.45am (just 4 mins walk from campsite). The doors open at 9 but already the 2 coach loads had just arrived. You couldn’t see anything of the chateau from the gates and I didn’t want to leave without at least seeing it. Equally I hate doing the touristy things. Eventually I paid my 10 Euros had a quick look around and had left within the hour. The chateau was very impressive though.
Croque monsuir
I stopped at a cafe for a croque monsuir breakfast. A croque monsuir, like a croissant is available anywhere in France until about midday. It is a bit like a ham and cheese toasty; they cover both sides of untoasted white bread with kind of runny cheese, ham in the middle and then they microwave it so the bread goes all soggy. Every croque Monsuir is exactly the same, as if they all come from the same giant croque Monsuir factory. Still if its a hot (chaux) petit dejeuner you want, its just about your only choice. Also if you ask for one after midday you are likely to get a look that says “...but it is a full ten minutes after 12!! Where am I supposed to find a croque monsuir at this time of day?”.
Next on the list is the ancient city of Auxerre (pronounced o-zerre). This was quite a long drive punctuated twice by a ‘route barred’ sign. One of which required re-tracing my steps for 22 Km!!! I arrived at 3.05 pm, 5 minutes after the office du tourism had closed. I needed to find a campsite. The interactive map on the front of the building (where you push the button that says ‘campsites’ and the lights light up...) wasn’t working. I had a Europe wide campsite guide on my laptop so I unloaded the car by the side of the river to find my laptop, plugged it in, started the application only to be told there was a problem reading the disk! ‘Arse!!!’ I said... in French of course!
Living in a confined space for a while requires discipline otherwise things get very messy
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