LeMans, France 🇫🇷 2023

Date: 24-25th September 2023

Travelled: 320 kms from Angoulême to Saint-Saturnin 

Visited: Crissay-sur-Manse  

Stayed: Saint-Saturnian Aire CC, €13, N48.06190, E0.16640  

Budget: 126 days @ €95 per day

---

Just to be clear we didn’t drive 320 kms today. We travelled about half way yesterday stopping at a lovely little aire CC in a nature reserve at La Celle-Saint-Avant. In the middle a lovely lake surrounded by trees and grassland. So I gave myself a blog free day, yesterday.

---

---

My second admission is that this blog has nothing to do with the race track at LeMans, it’s just that our spot for the night at Saint-Saturnin is a suburb of LeMans.

---

It was our first cold morning as Autumn takes hold. Pam has gone for a walk while I do some chores. We have serviced the Hymer, setting the GPS for Crissay-sur-Manse about 20 kms north.

---

---

From our guide book the Most Beautiful Villages of France you’ll find Crissay-sur-Manse on page 27. The village stands on sweeping farmland. Our guide book tells us Crissay is an abbreviation of the later word meaning where a fortress stands. The village looks down on the River Manse, so that finishes the explanation of the villages name.

We find a spot in the car-park and go exploring.

---

---

In reality there is little to explore, the village is just a few houses a Marie and the church. There is a small hotel and restaurant but it appears closed. The village is neat and tidy like a thousand other villages in France other than the ruin of a castle. The castle is privately owned and despite walking around it the picture below was the best we could do.

---

---

We wander down the hill to the Église Saint-Maurice circa 16th century. It does have some interesting information panels in English so we spend 15 minutes going through the churches history.

---

---

So that was it, our 43rd ‘most beautiful village’ was a bit of a fizzer and I won’t be recommending the 20 kms detour to friends. Not to worry at least a had a few photos for the blog. Other than than we drive north-west for a couple of hours on the autoroute paying another €20 for the experience.

There’s little traffic until we hit LeMans which appears little more than a round-about within round-about. We settle in to the aire and relax another day done.

---

Michael + Pam