I love Paris, all of it! I love Dieppe, where several of the impressionists enjoyed the light. I love Albi where both my parents have their ashes sprinkled.
Albi is near where our dearest friends live in St Sulpice. Jean and Mado, but equally on a sunny day, I love Les Andelys. It is not so much of a tourist attraction really but it holds such fond memories for me. Holidays in our camper van, parked under a weeping willow tree is one of them.
Nicolas Poussin was born in Les Andelys on June 15th 1594. However he left Normandy for Paris at the age of 17. He was a controversial painter, some found his work lacking in spirit but he was a highly intellectual man and was sometimes nicknamed the ‘philosopher painter’
The castle on the hill was built by Richard the Lion Heart, it was built within a year but was taken by the king of France in 1204. It makes a good walk up the hill to see the ruins and the outstanding views across the valley.
Les Andelys is not for from Giverny and Monets garden. I filmed that last time I was here. Link here incase you missed it on the home page.
The River Seine runs through Les Andelys and down to Rouen. Working barges run along the river to this day as well as being a stopping off place for people on expensive cruises. Luckily the latter only stay for a few hours. On the quieter side of our campsite the river creates a small branch that attracts the odd Heron and even Kingfishers.
I love this place not least because it was on the route I took in my late teens as a two bit actress in a ‘rite of passage’ film which started on a small yacht in Cowes in England. The company employed aspiring actors as sailors, unfortunately none of them had ever sailed and neither had I, which led to a very hairy journey through France to St Marie in the south. It was to have been a second feature film for the cinema called ‘Tom Boy’ but as the film crew travelled by car along the side of the river following the boat, getting drunk most evenings I think the company ran out of money. I saw some clips but not the final film.
I might find some old photographs of this spectacular event and add them later!
It’s more likely that I’ll manage to download a little bit of film of the Kingfishers and the person who caught the enormous fish (which was carefully returned to the river and swam away at speed) which I will pop on to youtube – the link will be added soon.
Fish film link
Kingfisher link
Ann Perrin 