September 11, 2021
Chartres to Nogent-le-Rotrou
We're finally starting to settle into a rhythm of riding, eating, and sleeping. No more jet lag, enough energy to push through a long day, a good sense of where, when, and what to buy to fuel our adventures, and finding our pace and break schedules.
We also fully transitioned into metric distance measurements. First was the journal. It feels right to use the local units for that. I then switched over my bike computer, then our nav app, then Sunyoung's bike computer.
I don't know what else Gerald Ford did during his brief term other than pardon Nixon and promote the use of the metric system within the U.S. I was raised to believe that converting was a foregone conclusion. I've always been a huge metric system booster. Nevertheless, the Imperial units are instinctive to me, and nothing I do (while still living in the U.S.) can change that. I can't speak French much at all, so the least I can do is temporarily adopt kilometers and celsius.
First order of the day after breaking camp, saying farewell to Maurits, and leaving Chartres was to visit a bike shop in search of a patch kit and chain lubricant. You'd think we would've bought these at one of the six shops we visited in Paris, but... Anyway, we found one right off the Veloscenie that had just opened. The patch kit was a bit of a ripoff because it included tire levers, which we already have up the wazoo. Who knows? Maybe we'll need 8 tire levels all at once, and we'll be soooo thankful for this unexpected bounty!
It felt like a long day. In reality, it was what I like to call "clocking in, clocking out". Start at 9 or 10, end at 5 or 6. There were some hills that got our hearts a-pumpin' going up, and our brakes a-pumpin' going down. Lots of georgeous scenery and some cute little villages. It was as if we had ordered the stereotypical French countryside package, and it was prepared exactly to specification.
We arrived in Illiers-Combray in time for lunch. I'm now making a habit of looking up parks ahead of time so that we might have nice surroundings, and with any luck, a picnic table. My dear readers should know by now that I just loves me a picnic table. Here's what we stumbled upon:
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Just as we turned our bikes towards it, an elderly couple approached from the other side with their lunch. We deferred to them. Instead of bemoaning our fate, we turned around and discovered this:
Need I say more?
It turns out that this park has a history, and that this town has a history. Illiers was a childhood haunt of Marcel Proust, who based his fictional town of Combray upon it. 50 years ago, the town decided to change its name to Illiers-Combray as an homage to Proust, and more importantly, as an homage to the almighty franc. I don't know how many Proust fans make pilgrimages there every year, but it must number in the dozens. I kid, I kid. I swear I'm going to get around to reading his stuff one of these days. Maybe I can get an e-book while I'm on the road here and dig into it. Who knows, maybe I'll be the one making a return trip to this town to see more in the future.
We're at the municipal campsite in Nogent-le-Rotrou, another town whose name I have to look up every time I want to speak it or write it. We passed a duo of local tourists on their way to St. Michel, and they said they were headed here today, but I don't think they made it. They were riding très lentement. I hope they found a good place to stay. This place is pretty nice. There's an actual lawn here, and it's right next to a little river. No picnic table though.
Today's ride: 78 km (48 miles)
Total: 299 km (186 miles)
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