Day 27: Chartres to Chateaudun

September 22, 2023

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The weather pattern for today was similar to yesterday, with heavy rain in the morning, ending in the afternoon. This time the low starting temperature of 11 was thrown in, and high wind to boot. One of the effects of rain on the phone we are using for GPS is that the drops close the app - Osmand. Consequently as we tried to leave Chartres, Dodie had only literally two seconds of guidance at a time, before having to relaunch the app. It turned out that the track we were following, created at home with an algorithm, corresponded to the Veloscenie, and there were lots of Veloscenie signs about. The glitch was that in the early going we were not sure that our track was really the Veloscenie, plus in Chartres centre the Veloscenie signs were confusing and hard to interpret. As a result, we went round and round, wasting perhaps 5 km before getting anywhere. Take a seasick pill and have a look:

Because of the rain, the camera was buried deep, but we did manage one shot of the famous cathedral from the river side, during a very brief break in the rain.

While you are able to read me here whining about various standard aspects of cycle touring - from snarly hotel staff, poor signage, to heavy traffic etc. riding in rotten weather is something I rather accept. That's good, because today found us out in open fields with no buildings or shelter visible anywhere, with heavy rain driven in our faces by high wind. Except of course when the rain was sleet. (Dodie does chip in that she feels the sleet was rather gratuitous).

The open fields part looked like this. We think we were in the Beauce, which is a large flat agricultural plain between the Seine and the Loire. The Beauce to us, though, is a region of Quebec. According to Wikipedia, the Beauce was the setting of the Emile Zola novel La Terre.

By mid day we were close to the town of Illiers-Combray. We encountered two cyclists on the path with their bikes this way and that. They had had a flat, and of course we offered to help. But they had the flat fixed and were just putting things back together. I was glad that no help was needed, because by then my hands were so cold they were all but useless. When we did roll into town, we came to a small square - probably the town centre - with a church, a bar, and two restaurants. Dodie had suggested that an unaccustomed hot meal might be what we needed just then. I randomly walked into the bar and asked to see a menu. But I was told there was no menu. "Ok, no menu",said the gormless tourist, "But do you have any food?" "No food" was the reply. Grampies don't drink and inherently do not recognize or understand bars. I stared at the man, confused, and went back outside to make my report. Dodie said ok let's just eat our sandwich on the church steps. But restaurant #2 was a kebab place, not usually favoured by Dodie. I went and had a look, and found they had lots of space and it was warm inside! Done. I collected Dodie off the church steps, and soon we were lounging at a large, warm table.

The kebab place, with the no food cafe on the left.

Anything with fries is good. In fact, it was all good, especially the salad.

Also in the square was a statue of the young Marcel Proust. Proust is famous for his seven volume novel cycle called A la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time). The seven have over 3000 pages and 2000 characters. I think the novels are autobiographical and based on Proust's early life, accounting for the youth of his statue in the square.

The books are set in "Cambray" but this is really Illiers. In recognition of its role in the famous books, the town renamed itself to Illiers-Cambray.

Proust on the bench. Dodie's church steps were on the right.

We spotted some pea fowl as we passed one farm.

We briefly passed through Bonneval, which featured an original medieval gate. Below you see Dodie passing through with no opposition at all!

We next found ourselves beside the Loir. If memory serves, the Loir is a tributary of the Loire, and had some decent chateaux on it, but nothing like the Loire itself.

We were drying out and getting happier, with the rain ended. But anxious glances behind us revealed the storm systems were not done.

We are staying at an Ibis Budget (that's Eebee Boogit out here) in one of those dare I say Americanized corners, with grocery superstore, McDonald's, Buffalo Grill, and Burger King nearby. Tomorrow after tanking up at the superstore, we will go try to see some of the medieval part of Chateaudun!

Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,445 km (897 miles)

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