Checking out Chartres, France

Zagan has been living it up, hooked into campsite electricity, just outside the city of Chartres (N48.43662, E1.50004), for a couple of days (€15 a night with ACSI discount and local taxes). All our tech is brimming with charge – even our shared electric toothbrush is back up to speed.

It seems ages ago since we were in the small town of Auffay. The aire there was beautifully designed, just a shame it was right next to the train line. I didn’t hear any trains after 10pm though, and I didn’t have my ear plugs in, so I guess they must have stopped running. Looking out of the window at 8am, through the sheets of rain, I could see the station car park full of cars. It was still dark and I thought back to all the rainy, dark mornings I’d dragged myself out of bed and headed to work – but today wasn’t one of them, so I popped the heating on and climbed back into bed to wait for the daylight.

We thought about stopping a couple of days in Auffay, but as it was now good driving weather we decided to set off after breakfast. We stopped by at the service point on the other side of the tracks, emptied our grey water tank and loo and attempted to fill with fresh water, only to find we needed an attachment like the one we saw at a previous service point (a new one to us). As I worked out how to ask for one in the local hardware store, Jay looked in the box of attachments that came with the Zagan, and guess what we found!

With the hose connected we tried to fill up but the machine wouldn’t accept any of our credit cards. Never mind, the next aire we were heading to promised free water, and less weight means better fuel economy – winner winner.

Not long after setting off we reached our nemesis, Rouen. About eight years ago we got so lost here that we ended up getting out of the Harvey (our van at the time) to look at a street map at the side of the road. Our friend Jamie was navigating using the same map we use today, which is useless in towns, and a satnav with slightly dodgy maps and Ozzy Osbourne doing the instructions. Ever since then the name Rouen causes a shudder of dread to go up our spines. This time it was fairly straight-forward and we breathed a collective sigh of relief as we reached the other side of the mad-cap road system.

We were aiming for the city of Chartres because its Cathedral came up number two on the Trip Advisor list of best things to see in the Loire region when we had a look the other night. To break up the drive we chose to stop in St Andre de l’Eure (N48.90659, E1.23912), a nice little village with a few shops, some fountains and a very noisy aire. Behind us three vans, which looked semi-permanent fixtures, ran their generators, in front of us was a busy road with HGV’s gaining access to a factory and across from that work was being done on the local fire station – with a jack hammer. But the service point was free, we managed to find some free wifi to upload some videos and with ear plugs in we settled in for the night.

Free but noisy

The following morning we were up early to set off for Chartres because we had decided to stop at the campsite there and wanted to be sure we got maximum time for our money.  Driving along the free motorway the silhouette of the cathedral appears on the horizon, guiding in pilgrims en route to Santiago de Compostella and motorhomers alike.

Chartres Cathedral guiding us in.

We got to the campsite around 11.30am and decided to take a jog along the riverside path to the cathedral, the sign said it was 3km each way, but as we had to take a few detours my legs reckoned it was a lot more. Almost at the cathedral a lady in a thick coat with a scarf wrapped around her head saw me in my t-shirt and shivered, if my breathless lungs would have let me talk I’d have pointed out I was English so it wasn’t cold. Making our way back I had to stop and walk quite a bit, and actually she was right, it was rather chilly, so the electric heater went on as soon as we got back to Zagan (and moved him to a pitch with slightly less mud on it).

Chartres – jogging in it wasn’t as easy to spot the cathedral as I thought it would be!

After a spot of lunch I headed for a long, hot shower, only to find myself shivering under the tepid flow, the campsite facilities are in need of a serious upgrade (seven showers, two proper loos and six squatter loos are not enough for a site of this size).

Wrapping up we headed back out along the path to the city, this time for some sightseeing. We stopped off in several churches famous for the ‘Chartres Blue’ stained glass windows, and gazed at the tasty treats in the gourmet food shop windows.

St Aignan church with beautiful, if tired decoration

Chartres Pate only €38 each!!!! Looks delicious though.

Should get the job of window display model – after all they named the shop after me!

We spent ages wandering around the massive cathedral, craning our necks to see details you couldn’t imagine possible carved in stone and stained glass from the 11th Century. By six o’clock we were both physically shattered and hungry, so we nipped into a shop and bagged a bottle of wine to have with dinner, and a large bag of crisps for the walk back.

The Cathedral

Wouldn’t fancy the job of scaffolding here around the hundreds of years old carvings.

Chartres Blue

More amazing stained glass

The cathedral is undergoing a €14m refurb, it’s controversial but should look amazing when done.

Last night it rained a bit, but being parked under trees turned it into some sort of water torture, waiting for the next drop to hit. Or a double drop that sounds like someone tapping on the door. This morning it was still drizzling and our limbs ached, so we rested up for a few hours, heading back into the city after 2pm so we missed the closed for lunch hours.

We were both tired and Charlie was struggling too, while he didn’t join us on either trip yesterday he claims to be still recovering from his exertions on the beach. We wandered around some more beautiful timber housed lanes and agreed that we need to come back, but next time we’ll make sure it is when the Chartres light festival is on, it ended a few days ago and we can see the kit around the city, it looks like it was fantastic.

The route from the campsite to the cathedral is marked out for the pilgrims, and campers.

After a spot of lunch on a terrace overlooking the old town – by which I mean bread, cheese and ham from the supermarket on a park bench in the drizzle, it’s not all glamour you know – we decided to head back. Tired legs took their toll, but we both loved Chartres and will be back.

Ju x

Bonus Photo –

Cheeky method to get tourists into your tat shop!