Day 5 - Thursday 16th September, 2010
La Bonneville-sur-Iton > Chartres
59.9 miles
5:44 moving time, 10.4 mph moving ave
Another first today was the idea of having a breakfast at the campsite. Not least because there's nowhere close by, and we're not sure how far the next place on route will be. So, the eggs we bought yesterday afternoon at the shop come out along with all the cooking gear again for a bit of scrambled eggs action.
It's really nice, and goes down well with a coffee and some bread.
We actually pack down camp pretty quickly (we're getting better and more efficient at it) with John racing ahead, and the only thing that really slows us (me) down is the mammoth task of cleaning the pans. Mental note to self: scrambled eggs don't come off easily. That's the most cooking we've done on the trip so far, and it has to be said it's a bit of a pain dealing with all the gear afterwards.
John's well ahead in the packing down game today...
The clothes haven't fully dried so there's some airing to be done on the bikes today. I also made the mistake of being a bit heavy-handed when hanging my white top up in the bushes. In the cold light of day it wasn't such a great plan as it's got all green stains on it and will need washing again. John's faired far better. Am glad bought two kits.
Country roads. Big haystacks.
We're greeted with lovely scenery and wide open hills and plains today. Lots of pretty villages along the route and we're doing some seriously nice country roads with minimal traffic. There are also decent stretches of flat mixed in among the softer hill or two, and it's all exactly what cycle touring should be and what I thought it would be like from the start. These roads might be slightly less direct, but they're much nicer to ride on.
One interesting feature is the giant, square, hay stacks. I remember something similar from our last trip to Paris. Maybe it's a feature of Northern France, but they look amazing against the rural backdrop.
More scenery
One village we pass is absolutely beautiful (neither of us can remember what it's called), with a little river running right past the church. Interestingly, there's a mobile cinema lorry parked up, with the side wings opened up so its pretty big. As we sit and grab a snack, people are enjoying a movie inside. Brilliant!
We roll into Dreux - again the outskirts don't do it justice - but once in the centre it's very picturesque. We see a cafe right on a bridge over a canal/river and take the opportunity to grab a coffee. An almost death defying trip down to the loo is survived (another mental note: cycling cleats and steep polished stone stairs don't really mix), and after baking in the sun for a bit we do a slight clothing adjustment as it's now pretty hot, and get some sun cream on before setting off.
More similar scenery and roads for quite a while. Heavenly. What an enjoyable day.
Things start getting a bit more developed as we come closer to Chartres, but considering the size of the city, it's actually really pleasant pretty much all of the way in.
The weather's turning though, and as we see what we think is Chartres on the distant horizon, it starts to rain. The sky is moody and we go carefully on the busier roads. But even being careful, I have a slight near miss. Caught out by the wet and the extreme camber of a cobbled street, I find the bike trying to get away from me after we stop at the lights. Once again I can't clip out, and the bike rapidly starts to flip over. I really think I'm coming off, and even though the traffic's static, it won't be nice. In desperation I somehow get my foot unclipped, but the bike still goes down and my inner thigh and groin catches the momentum of it, getting a good bruising and scrape right down my leg. Picking myself up (and thinking how much worse it could have been), I make another mental note to do something about the SPD's. Although a different Shimano model, my other bike doesn't need anywhere like the same release force as these, and these are set to the weakest. They don't feel quite right.
Clouds are building - looks like rain's ahead
A bit sorer than I was a minute ago, but glad I escaped relatively unscathed, we press on up hill. We see another tourer, and he stops in the rain to say hello, and fill us in on camping and places to stay. He tells us he's almost retired from it, but that his bike computer says 9,400km! Impressive.
We'd decided earlier that we'd probably have a rest day in Chartres. It's a bit too early for one if we're honest, but we need to do things like wash clothes, and we're tired, and it would be nice to have a proper bed and a real shower. So having checked out the first 'budget hotel' as we enter the city (and found out it was expensive), we start the task of getting the Garmins and the internet to help us scope out somewhere to stay. Or rather, send us on a load of wild goose chases.
After more than an hour of searching we sense that it's unusually busy compared to everywhere else, and its really expensive, so we end up - with little enthusiasm - in a really crappy hotel right by the train station (never a good sign). It's actually not that cheap, and they've only got a twin room so we have to share - but by this point we're beyond caring and even the guys shouting and generally hanging around outside the Kebab shop next door don't totally put us off. "At least it will have a nice shower" we say to ourselves.
The room's pretty horrible, and smelly as it turns out. This isn't in keeping with what we've seen of Chartres so far which seems a bit more upmarket. But then we're on a budget. It's just that this is just the wrong type of 'on a budget', and we know it's a rip off and we could probably find somewhere better if we had the time/energy/local knowledge.
They let us put the bikes down in the locked basement along with the laundry, so that's one less thing to worry about.
The leaflet we pick up at reception explains why it's so busy. Chartres has a thing called a 'Festival of Lights' where key buildings are lit up with projections, as well as other arts and music activities, and tomorrow night is one of two big 'grand finale' evenings - attracting loads of extra tourists. OK, so at least we've chosen an interesting place for a day off.
We take all our gear out in the room, including the tents, to dry everything out since it was packed away wet.
A huge animated architectural projection
After grabbing a proper dinner - I had an interesting meal of prawns in curry sauce with apple and pear - in what was a bit of an over-fancy restaurant, we have a wander.
Chartres feels like a rich city. Everything seems really well kept, with lots of nice details everywhere. Neither of us know anything about the place, but we check out the lights, and they are quite impressive - a huge undertaking and very brave of a city to put on such a spectacle, neither of us could imagine local governments in England getting their act together and doing something this elaborate and well executed.
Since we're staying tomorrow, we grab some beers after wandering more cobbled streets, and finally head back to the 'hotel' and off to sleep.
That's 214.3 miles done in total at the end of day 5. Something to be proud of for us, but the line drawn on the northern France map is still looking very short, and there's still a long way to go!
Next Day
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