Last day of the holiday for Mick and Bren and we set of to visit another Château, but this time to one we knew was there. The castle was bigger than I thought I was going to be, we drove up the hill on the south side and in through the castle gates (Porte de Soissons) then followed the signs to the car park on Rue des Épousées, near the main square. The village inside the castle walls has bars and shops etc, we decided we would try and walk around the castle walls, then make our way back to the village main square for a drink.
From the car park we walked towards the church (Eglise St Sauveur) in the southeast corner of the castle walls and from there set off in an anticlockwise direction. We walked along this section in the hot sun with wall towering above us. At the end of this part of the wall we turned left and walked alongside some tennis courts to the north gate (Porte de Laon).
Not sure the van would fit through this gate. There was a large open grassed area with young lads playing football, that we had to walk round, it was obviously part of the defences at one time . From here you can look across from the northeast corner, to the northwest corner of the castle and see just how big it is.
The next stretch of the wall is in the shade as we walked along an avenue of trees to the another gate (Porte de Chauny) and a hole cut through the wall for a road (there is a bit of wall like this in York where the A19 passes through the old Abbey walls). We continued along this road (the D5) until we came to a set of steps back up to the wall.
I must mention that there are fantastic views over the countryside, along most of this walk. Along this section we made a friend, a young goat followed us from here for about half the walk, if we hadn't eventually come to a fence and gate, I am sure that goat would still be with us.
At the east end of the castle there had obviously been a very large building, we really should have got more information on this Castle before we set off on this walk. All the way round I wondered when it was built, what had happened to it, who was restoring sections and why. The story is very interesting and it was only destroyed during World War One as an act of Barbarism (see the link at the end of this walk).
From the east end of the castle we were making our way back passed rows of defensive towers towards the gate where we had driven in to start.
Back inside the walls at the end of the walk we were very, very hot, the walk had only taken about an hour and it was just after 12:00, the bar in the square was open, so we had to have a beer (Pelforth blond) to cool down.
If we had, more time we could have explored the insides of the walls, when we are this way again, I definitely will.
After the beer we had another quick look around the village, found an Aire but I am not sure we could get the van through the entrance into the village. Then it was a rush back to the site the watch the French F1GP from Magny-Cours in the van.
Link to History of the Château on Wikipedia, Chateau de Coucy
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