Chartres - 15 May 2022

Sunday, 15 May 2022 - Châteaudun towards Chartres

Dean went up for a fly to the château last evening, and Tintin took some brilliant photos!

Whatever the fete/party was that we had to move Dave for - it was far enough away that we just saw the cars arriving, but didn’t disturb us.

Went for a walk up to the town this morning. The castle (12th - 16th century with a round tower above the Loir dominates the medieval town (population c.14,500). Was only €6 each, but we decided not to visit, it’s been really muggy today.

The timber framed house had ramparts at the rear, and was used to help defend the castle as first line of defense to the city.

There is a large square, with the Mairie, cafes and shops. It all had a pleasant feel to it. We had to queue (!) for the boulangerie. We bought a baguette, and a couple of pain au raisin, which we ate overlooking the River. They felt heavy, were large, and nearly defeated Tintin! Lunch was delayed several hours!

We paid our €2 and filled up with water at the nearby moho parking site - in fact we could have slept there, seemed peaceful - and looked nice and clean. Anyway - Dave serviced again.

Tintin to drive today, about 45 minutes - fair to say a straight and unadventurous drive - which is no bad thing!

This area is considered the bread basket of France - 70% of the Eure-et-Loir dèpartement is given over to agriculture, producing 1.8 million tons of wheat for the nation’s baguettes, plus 0.3 million tons of peas!

I often think about my Dad when we’re driving.  I think he really was ahead of his time. It was over four decades ago that he took me to Germany by himself. No mobile phone, no SatNav, just good old fashioned maps. He often went to Germany when Gary and myself were younger, working as an electrician. It was always his task to get through France as fast as possible. Back in the day, he thought it was a dirty horrible place - but changed his mind later on and had many a holiday cycling around. He set himself targets to beat his previous time (can’t remember how long), map reading as he went, and cursing if he went wrong around Paris!

I digress! We’re parked up near the shade of trees, ready to ride into Chartres tomorrow. Tintin liked the sound of the name, and we’ve never been!

A bit of a nothing afternoon. Apathy set in due to heat. Dave reached 35°, so Tintin turned him around with rear end to the sun, which reduced the temperature by 5° fairly quickly.

I did a quick pedicure, feet get abused wearing sandals everyday!

We sat outside in the shade of Dave, and read - again. Think I’m on my sixth book already 🙂

Dean had another outing - towards Chartres cathedral, nearly 2km away which we can see from here. The cathedral is 113m high so near the drones limit of 120m, however it was quite windy so kept at 90m. Tintin had a few anxious moments - was quite a way away, and coming home against the breeze, had to come lower to increase the amount of minutes left - but came back safely!

Already 7pm, and still too hot to cook. Had the first few rumbles of thunder and a bit of lightning - hoping for a good thunderstorm to clear the air.

It’s now started to rain, first time in over two weeks…