Not the Cheese Town

After Reims, we had reservations at a chateau in a town called, "Cambremer" which, of course, is a bunch of kilometers (as in a lot of miles times 0.6) from the town of "Camembert".

The drive was long and rainy. When we arrived in "not the cheese town", the town had been attacked by highway/sewer/electrical repairmen with heavy equipment. As far as we could tell, they set up their equipment at all points of the cute little village and started digging at the same time in a "shot-gun start". They then left for a Bank Holiday. The townspeople could have taken black and white photographs of their village and posted them as "Cambremer - 1945."

The address of our chateau was "Route du Cadran", which is kind of like saying you live on Broadway Avenue, but not giving any particulars. We found Route du Cadran in "not the cheese town" and started up. Like many small country villages, it was cute, there were rock walls on both sides and it was only wide enough to accommodate one small car and one very skinny, cautious pedestrian. We twisted around a couple of corners and came to a warning traffic sign "Route Barree" - this did not bode well.

However, we were tired and hungry (and I was a bit thirsty), so we would probably have driven down a large aisle of a grocery store if it was available (with Karen saying, "watch out for the cheese display" and Mrs. Tom Tom saying, "At the meat counter, turn right and then proceed to the second exit"). We pressed on, ignoring the sign and going over a number of bumps and holes and around idle equipment. After we had been on "Route du Cadran" for some time, Mrs. Tom Tom stated with satisfaction that "We had arrived". If that was the case, we were sleeping with cows. It was clear to us that Mrs. Tom Tom was just tired and cranky and wanted the trip to be over, who could blame her?

We drove for awhile further and then started to think, "had we missed it?" "Is it just a small chateau with a little driveway?" We turned back, went down the hill over the bumps and holes and around the idle equipment and determined that we hadn't missed it. So we re-turned back and went back up the hill, over the bumps and holes, etc..., got back to where we thought we had driven too far and drove further. Finally, around a corner, was a sign, indicating that Chateau les Bruyeres was just a little ways further.

We came to it and turned down a lovely tree-lined road that guided us to the chateau, we had really arrived! I could sense Mrs. Tom Tom sulking in the background.

The place was lovely, we had a wonderful dinner with all sorts of apple products. In this area of France, they make apple jams, butters, desserts, ciders, aperitifs, wines, champagnes, brandies, etc... I'm pretty sure they can make anything with apples. I also imagine that the people in this area might view apples like we view zucchini, great at the beginning of the season, but when the hell does the stuff run out? The William Tell story would make a lot of sense in this area, he was just trying to do something different with apples. In any event, I had a sampling of "apple-stuff" and nodded appreciatively. They wanted us to stock up on bottles, boxes and jars, but we declined.

We were there for a couple of nights, so the next day we decided to drive to the town of Bayeux. To get there, we had to drive back through "not the cheese town". The workers had returned from their Bank Holiday and at this point the "Route Barree" meant there was a large piece of equipment which took up the whole road, from the rock wall on one side to the rock wall on the other. We turned around and went off on a side road, figuring we would get into trouble somewhere and Mrs. Tom Tom would figure a way to get us back. It worked, sort of. We wound up and down single lane farm roads, fortunately not meeting any cars, trucks, horses or large birds until we got to wide enough spot. Mrs. Tom Tom eventually came to life and guided us back to civilization.

We finally made it to Bayeux. The town was lovely, with winding cobblestone roads and a beautiful cathedral.

It also had an Irish pub that served Guinness on tap and excellent fish and chips, so all was right with the world!!!!

We toured the Bayeux Tapestry, which was incredible! This was a 230-foot long tapestry which told the story (the Norman version) of how and why William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066. It was while Wild Bill was still alive, so it was 900+ years old. The church in Bayeux would bring it out every year and display it for the townspeople for a couple of weeks, probably the 11th century equivalent of HBO.

We ambled back to Not the Cheese Town, had a lovely dinner and some more apple products and called it a day.