Framedlight

The last couple of days of our trip to Northern France we spent inland, not far from Rouen. I had bought a guide book on Normandy for our trip and it contained a mouth watering picture of the Seine, shrouded in autumn mist, with a mystical castle rising up from a rocky outpost. Despite that it was now April and there was still snow on the ground we thought we would pay Les Andelys a visit. The castle is called Chateau Gaillard and was built by Richard the Lionheart in 1196, but fell to the French under Philip ll in 1204 after a lengthy siege. During  the 100 year war between the French and the English it passed back and forth, finally resting with the French. By 1573 it was uninhabited and ruinous and its destruction was ordered by King Henri lV in 1599. After we arrived at the castle a coach load of tourists came in and climbed the draw bridge up to the main door. I was only pleased with one general picture of the castle that I had taken. Here it is in two versions. ...

Travelling along the coast of France due west towards Le Havre you come across the lively port of Fécamp. Looking towards the west you can see a shingle beach, backed by the white chalk cliffs. Again there is that wonderful soft light typical of this shoreline. Hettie giving it some on the beach East is the town of Fécamp, with it's lighthouse and hundreds of bobbing boats. Here are some Lensbaby shots of the views from the wooden piers Our journey was taking us to Étretat, a haunt of many painters including Monet. We stopped for some lunch in Yport, a little town depicted by Renoir and Corot, amongst others. There was a row of distinctive beach huts. And the white cliffs appeared opalescent. Here you can really see the source of inspiration to those painters.

Further west along the coast from the Somme estuary lies the seaside town of Ault. The beach here has fantastic white cliffs and a wave cut platform of chalk. While we were in the car park I saw this man in the garage of his mobile home. I particularly liked the slippers. Moving on down towards Dieppe we came into the town of Le Treport as the afternoon was getting on and the wind was up. The light was beautiful and the gulls were wheeling in the wind. Inland the windmills had been stopped, presumably to stop them flying away! The next morning things had quietened down, but the light was still wonderful, a source of inspiration to the Impressionists.