Wen the wifi is good enough I (just) listen to Youtubes in the night, while nominally asleep. One of my favourites is Louis Rossman, who began his career describing (and doing) MacBook repairs, but who moved on to general topics on the "right to repair". Last night Louis described a backup collision sensor in the tail light of a Ford 150. Because the tail light is poorly sealed against moisture, the sensor tends to fail. It is expensive and also hard to get. But worse, the sensor is connected to the main truck computer system, and when the sensor fails, the whole system goes down. So by careless design, the whole "Built Tough" thing is rendered useless.
What does this have to do with cycle touring, in the fevered but half asleep Grampie mind? It's the careless design of cycle ways and general cycle management in the towns and regions we have been passing through in France. They clearly know there is such a thing as cycles on their roads, as they occasionally put up cycles go here signs, or paint cycles on the roadway. And yes, they have voies vertes and regional cycle routes, and even road signage for them. But within this framework they feature: cycle paths that end in the middle of nowhere, cycle paths that cross the road and don't mention it, cycle paths that go from paved to one track dirt, voies vertes that are unannounced and unsigned, cycle paths with car resistant barriers that are almost cycle resistant, cycle path barriers every block, cycle paths that share with pedestrians but that keep switching as to who gets which side, and yesterday's hit - paved shoulders that are just a little too narrow to cycle, and where the white line is filled with speed bumps. We encounter almost all of this daily, and we think how we would love to see whoever designed the roadway come out and try cycling it, just once!
Any dark thoughts like this were erased at wake up time, as we went down to breakfast prepared by Marie, the sunny owner of the L'ile Normande B&B. It wasn't the breakfast or anything she said exactly, but Marie gave our day a good start.
We cycled away through this unique Normandy region, beside the Seine and the Eure, where the houses are often stone and half timber, and the villages look like movie sets. The whole thing is no more than 20 km from Giverny, the beautiful area chosen by Monet to live in, so that gives some idea of where we are at.
I did not even mention Route Barrees in my opening rant! We ran into lots of them today. You have to bust through them, because there is never any cycle detour guidance.
Our next thing was to stumble upon a Voie Verte (bikeway) that actually was a part of our track, but which we would never have found or recognized otherwise, because of lack of signage. We did come to a sign some ways down, and even the map below, which puts the bikeway in context for the region.
Your should be able to make out the Seine and the Eure, and the bikeway running along part of the Eure.
The Voie Verte incorporated one of those stupidities that I listed earlier - barriers every block. We had to dismount and go around them perhaps 60 times.
Dodie was saying (as we often said in England) that it would be good to carry and electric chainsaw to deal with the barriers. But these guys heard us coming, and reinforced the wood with heavy metal!
We had our legal staff analyse this, and the conclusion was that people who could not decide if the obstruction was 500 meters or 9 km away were not serious. So we carried on.
So, we lifted the bikes over an embankment and snuck through!
Our reward for avoiding the bridge collapse was that we got to climb quite a steep hill against a head wind, and then to arrive in Dreux. Marie at the BnB had questioned why we would want to go to Dreux, especially with Giverny nearby, and we had no good answer, except that it was on our route to Chartres. But Dreux turned out to be a bit of a gem, with some interesting half timber and medieval buildings, and an extensive pedestrian shopping district.
The Chapelle Royale is the necropolis of the Orleans family and includes Louis Phillippe, the last king of the French. During the French Revolution the family was dug up and dumped in a mass grave, but one remaining descendant restored them and had the Chapelle built over their grave site.
From 1100 to 1910 this was the Hotel Dieu, a place where the poor, pilgrims, and otherwise needy were cared for. It had two small doors where unwanted babies could be dropped off. This had me speculating whether it was build to handle twins.
Here is an example of a walking street in Dreux, but there was a lot more to it. Over on the right you can buy ice cream. Confusingly if you buy a "boule" you are getting gelato, but if your order Italien, you get soft ice cream.
Dodie thought my brother would somehow get a kick from the name of this bakery. I went in and said I was looking for the cherry and the cake. But I ended with the "Grandma" tartelette. Yumm.
Our hotel for tonight is again a location of the BnB Hotel chain. It is right downtown, and near that bakery! We are used to the small rooms this hotel features, and actually find they work quite well, with plugs in the right places and opening windows, plus breakfast offered early and a place for the bikes. We are looking forward to a good sleep, and tomorrow Chartres, the mother of all gothic cathedrals.
P.S. Remember Natacha from the Auberge de Vauclair, in Vauclair? She remembered our question about the spelling of the town name and sent along some further information. The early version of the town was formed around a farm called Ferme de Hurtebise, but this was wiped out in WW I. But in 1923 half of the lands were reformed into a town that included the name Vauclerc. In 1973, for reasons that are not made clear, this was renamed to Vauclair. Complicating matters is the fact that there had always been the nearby Abbey of Vauclair in the Vauclair forest.
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles) Total: 1,314 km (816 miles)
