Wandergliding: A Château and a UFO

February 15^th, 2026

Yesterday was a driving day in blah weather to a small village on a hill in wine country called Pruzilly, about an hour north of France’s third largest city, Lyon. My ferry back to England is on the 18th, so I’m working my way across the country, avoiding the big highways (with their big tolls), which makes for a longer, but more pleasant drive. I enjoy passing through French towns and meandering through the French countryside.

There were a few nice views on the way to Pruzilly.

Today I continued my progress west but planned a few stops, even though the weather hadn’t improved. My first stop was Château de Châteauneuf, which literally translates as the “Castle of the New Castle”. Turns out that Châteauneuf is just the name of the village where the castle was built in 1132 by a guy named Jean de Chaudenay. It is perched up on a hill with a glorious view of the countryside.

Approaching the castle from the valley.

It was quite chilly as I toured around the small castle, with only a handful of other tourists. The village surrounding it was very quaint too.

Walking to the castle, you can see the conical turrets of the towers.

The main entrance.

A dry moat surrounded the backside of the castle.

Looking back at the main entrance from inside the courtyard.

One of the residences which was built hundreds of years after the castle was first created.

A model of the castle with a projected video about the construction.

This is a replica of the effigy on the tomb for Phillippe Pot, the real one is in the Louvre in Paris. He was the owner of the castle in the 1400s and created this newer residence.

One big ass fireplace.

Which would be needed to heat this cavernous place.

In the courtyard, that's the main residence.

You could see for miles and miles from the castle.

Another massive fireplace...they must have gone through a lot of wood!

Suits of armour always amaze me...how one could move around, let alone fight in one of these is beyond me. Especially when you look at the tiny slits that they were looking through...how difficult it would be to see anything!

Looking across the other side of the main room.

And back towards the fireplace.

You would definitely see your enemy coming...for a while!

Every castle needs a chapel.

One of the main bedrooms...

...with a nice fireplace and...

...an en suite!

This looked like it was for the lady of the house.

This area was "modernized" in the 1800s.

I just love their choice of wallpaper and bedding! ;)

Another view of the courtyard, the white building was the first one I visited with Phillipp Pot's effigy.

In the gardens outside of the castle.

This was a yard in one of the houses in the village. My guess is that the animal wood carvings are for sale, but perhaps it's closed for the winter.

This was on the drive, about 20 minutes from the castle...it looked to be someone's residence.

After the castle, I made another stop before finding my resting spot for the night. On Google Maps, something caught my attention. It was simply labelled “UFO”, so I had to go check it out.