BRIONNE, on the Rouen–Lisieux rail line, is a small town with large regional markets on Thursday and Sunday. The fish hall is on the left bank, the rest by the church on the right bank. Above them both, with panoramic views, is an excellent example of a Norman donjon (keep). If you decide to stay, try the lovely old half-timbered Auberge du Vieux Donjon, 19 rue Soie (tel 02.32.44.80.62; €40–55; closed Mon & Sun eve in low season & last fortnight in Oct), which has a good restaurant.The River Charentonne joins the Risle near Serquigny. the town is also the meeting point of rail lines and main roads and the banks are clogged with fuming industrial conglomerations. But 7km upstream, at BEAUMONT-LE-ROGER, you are back in pastoral tranquillity. The ruins of a thirteenth-century priory church slowly crumble to the ground, the slow restoration of one or two arches unable to keep pace. In the village, little happens beyond the hammering of the church bell next door to the abbey by a nodding musketeer. The next riverside village, LA FERRIÈRE-SUR-RISLE, has an especially beautiful church, with some interesting sculpture, and a fourteenth-century covered market hall. Paddocks and meadows lead down to the river and a small and inviting hotel, the Vieux-Marché (tel 02.32.30.25.93; under €30; closed mid-Sept to mid-Oct).
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