When the weather became much warmer than we’d expected on our journey back to Calais, we were recommended this stopover by a fellow camper as we decided to extend our trip by a couple of days and hadn’t realised we were coming up to a French bank holiday. The town is towered over by the ruins of Chateau-Gaillard, quite a sight to behold on the banks of the Seine River. You can see the castle from the campsite, and just about everywhere else in the town.
However, with a sat nav malfunction and a diversion in place, we ended up approaching the town via the Pont Suspendu des Andelys (the suspension bridge over the Seine). Unlucky for us they were doing repair work on this bridge so had narrowed it to single lane traffic with the biggest concrete blocks known to man placed at one end. As I approached, I noticed a caravan unhitched from its tow car being pulled manually over the bridge as it couldn’t swing into the bridge entrance attached to the car.
This did not bode well I thought, but with a queue of cars behind me and no means of turning a 6.36m motorhome around I put my big girl pants on and lined up to the concrete barriers. The hubby jumped out and waved me through inch by inch as I literally had 2 inches either side to spare, fortunately it was only a metre high so I could keep the mirrors out! It is the tightest gap I’ve ever driven through in the van, and I took a huge sigh of relief when I reached the other side and saw the campsite gates, crisis averted and no adventure stripes on the van! If you come here, approach from the main road avoiding the bridge, it is a normal sized road and doesn’t require nerves of steel to drive on it.
Les Andelys Town
The small town is made up of two areas which gives it the plural name: Petit-Andely and Grand-Andely. These were once separated by marshes but came together during the French Revolution. It is only 60 miles from Paris and 25 miles from Rouen so makes a perfect stop-over enroute to or from Calais avoiding the cities.
There are a few restaurants, a fabulous bakery and a handful of shops set in the square just one road back from the riverside. This surrounds the Eglise Saint-Sauveur du Petit-Andely which is a beautiful church, unexpectedly large and ornate for a small town. Set further back up into the town is a well-stocked supermarket and more eateries.
Walking along the river path you reach the old Hospital Saint Jacques, a beautiful building with a domed tower in the centre, it is now a retirement home but was once a stop for pilgrims on the road to Compostela. It is certainly a grand place to spend your retirement years.
You can walk and cycle along the riverside through the lovely park which has picnic benches for you to enjoy watching the world go by. This is where the luxury river cruise boats dock on their route from Paris along the Seine, we saw a couple docked and this brought an influx of American tourists into the town for a few hours. The river is busy with barges too, and bizarrely each one of them had a car winched on the top, we assumed this was the captain’s car for when he got to his destination but who knows?
Chateau-Gaillard
The town is dominated by the castle on the hill overlooking the Seine. It was built in 1196 by Richard the Lionheart, Duke of Normandy and King of England at the time, with the aim of keeping watch over the valley and protecting Rouen from invasion. The remains of the impressive fortress provide a magnificent view of the meandering river and beyond.
We decided to walk up the very steep hill from the campsite on an unusually hot muggy day in May, mistake number one. By the time we reached the ruins we were sweating buckets and had drunk our water bottles dry. No worries I thought, I’d already noted a sign for a café inside the upper courtyard where they host displays on the history of Chateau-Gaillard.
Alas, mistake number two was borne, my sniffer dog nose that can usually hone in on cake at least a mile away failed me, we arrived at 11.55am and it closed at 12 noon for 2 hours. There was no way I was hanging around for 2 hours to get a drink of water and a piece of cake, even I have limits. We admired the views and headed back down the hill much quicker than we’d climbed it to have lunch at our van, it is hidden in the trees in the picture below.
The uphill climb is well worth it for the amazing vistas from the top, you can take the car up and park close to the Chateau, but it was tight to take a motorhome up. There is ample parking at the bottom of the hill for larger vehicles. Note that the lower courtyard where the ruins are is free of charge, open all year round and all day, but the upper courtyard and interior has a fee and is only open March to November, closing for lunch 12-2pm.
Things to Do in the Area
There are many cycle routes and quiet side roads all along the river in both directions out of Les Andelys that are very well signposted. There is also a walking trail from the town up Le Mont Pivin that is 10.8km and signposted to start near to the old hospital.
We had a spare day, so we donned our helmets and road a nice flat track following the Seine for 6 miles to Villers-sur-le-Roule, another small town in the Les Trois Lacs loop of the river. As it was the French bank holiday everything was closed but we had taken a picnic and enjoyed the peace and quiet in the village square eating our baguettes and French pastries from the fab bakery in Les Andelys.
Where to Stay
We stayed for three nights at the 3-star Flower Camping L’Ile des Trois Rois (Island of the Three Kings, relating to the Chateau’s past ownership). This site opens from mid-March to mid-November so is ideal for early and late season stop-overs. It has good sized camping pitches, some overlooking the Seine, and there are chalets and teepees for rent too. It has a couple of toilet blocks spread out over the site, standard showers with hot water although the floors were very wet inside and outside the shower cubicles.
There is a nice, heated swimming pool, large play area and a restaurant serving good food; we ate there on two nights as the restaurants in the town were either closed or fully booked for bank holiday, I can recommend the pizza and huge profiteroles! There is also a fishing lake on one side of the site, hubby gave it a try one evening but didn’t catch anything. I would definitely use this site again for a stop-over, but 3 days was enough to see the immediate area. If you had a car, it would be a good base to venture farther afield, or to Rouen and Paris.
Summary
Les Andelys is a lovely little town with some surprising and unusual architecture. Worthy of a couple of days to see the Chateau-Gaillard ruins and the stunning views from its vantage point, and great for gentle cycling around the area (or speedy if you’re a good road cyclist). A perfect stop-over point on the way to or from Calais as it is only 2.5 hours’ drive, and the campsite is well kept with good facilities on offer. We were grateful for the recommendation from a fellow camper, so I hope this helps some of you on future trips too.
Enough waffle for this week, if you have been to the area, please drop me a comment on the blog letting me know what you thought of it. If you enjoy reading my blogs, please like and subscribe to my website so you get notified when the next blog is published. It’s completely free, I don’t fill your inbox with unwanted spam, and it really means the world to me to know my experience has helped someone else.
Happy Travels
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