Thursday 6th October 2022 – Sedan, France

A relaxed start this morning as it was only a 20 minute drive to our next stop. We had read that Thursday was market day and decided that we would pay it a visit before we left. However, on my way to buy the croissant I found that there were only 4 stalls. After breakfast we did go but only bought a few plums (proper ones not those that are like bullets until they go off) and some green beans.
The road to Sedan was fairly flat but a little rise gave us great views over the Meuse and the surrounding countryside. The aire at Sedan is run by ‘Camping-Car Park’ and we had already stayed at a couple of their sites on this trip. The app that you get when you join helpfully tells you how many of the pitches are free in any selected site, so we knew that there would be room when we arrived. Sure enough, there was plenty of space and we were able to select a pitch with excellent views of the Meuse.
A ten minute stroll from the site found us in the centre of the old town – the Tourist Information Office was closed for lunch but the timing was idea for our lunch. We chose the ‘Loreate’ restaurant in Place de la Halle as it had an interesting sounding ‘Menu du Jour’. It was excellent and highly recommended – we may even go back there tomorrow!
The Tourist Office had an architecture town trail but not in English. This is where Google Translate comes into its own as I used it to translate the text as we walked around. We took a quick look at the castle that dominates the town and decided that we would look around it tomorrow. We spent a little time in the small but interesting Maison du Patrimoine de Sedan that explained the history of the town with a booklet in English that covered the permanent exhibition. There was also a temporary exhibition about the disastrous 1870 war with Prussia when the town was besieged and then occupied for nearly two years. That was all in French but, again, Google Translate was very useful.

Photos: The Mouzon market with the Hotel de Ville in the background; The Meuse at Sedan with the aire hiding in the trees on the right; The mill stream and Sedan mill above it – milling flour since the 15^th century and rebuilt after WWII, it was in use up to 1986 - the huge, fast flowing mill stream must have produced a lot of power; The meal at Loreate, at €16, was excellent value and very tasty.