Before washing machines.....

Saturday
Our beautiful weather continues, so once Roger had returned from his church meeting this morning, we had a quick sandwich for lunch, and set out to enjoy it. Earlier in the year we had tried to explore the picturesque town of Chateau Landon, about a 40 minute drive south of Fontainebleau. On that occasion, we had no sooner parked the car than it started to thunder and rain heavily, so we gave up. Today couldn't have been more different - under blue skies and sunshine the afternoon temperature was really warm, if not hot. The town is built atop a rocky promontory, with the gently flowing River Fusain at the foot. I took loads of photos, and I considered posting a general view of the town, or one of the several old sets of steps which lead from the upper town down to the valley - not a place to live if you've got bad knees or can't manage steps (!) - but in the end I decided I would have to go with one of the lavoirs (old communal wash houses) which are quite a feature along the river. Many French villages still have one or maybe two lavoirs - Chateau Landon has 15! Fortunately laundry has come a long way since then! Wash day must have been quite a chore if you lived in the upper village - carrying your washing all the way down the steps to the river, scrubbing it then wringing it by hand, then carrying it back up again. On the other hand, it made a social event out of it! The one shown is the grand communal lavoir, several of the others were much smaller, seemingly serving one or two riverside houses.