Chartres

We woke up this morning at 7:30am to a toasty warm Wanda. I left the electric fire on all night on low so the temperature never dropped below 16°c and at 5am I woke up and turned the thermostat up a little so it was nice and warm when we woke up.
I put the hot water back on as soon as I woke up and then made coffee. Ellie wanted to wash her hair and once that was done we were ready to leave and at 8:30am we refilled the fresh water and left our quiet little airè in Vatan.
We had 114 miles to cover today, the rain was due to arrive at lunchtime and strong winds are expected tomorrow so I wanted to push further up and try and outrun the worst of it over the next couple of days.
Just after lunchtime we arrived in Chartres our first stop was decathlon to get some winter riding gloves but they didn’t have any so it was a waisted journey and when we came out the rain had started and within 5 minutes of getting back on the road it was helling it down and the road spray was unbelievable. Torrents of water were running down the roads. Luckily we only had 5 miles to get to our park up and when we arrived it was still chucking it down.
Our parking spot was on the outskirts of the city by a park and there was a greenway path and cycle lane that ran from the airè all the way into the city. It’s just a gravel car park by a road but the road seems quiet enough and Chartres is a quiet city compared to others we’ve stayed in.
We’ve been to Chartres before when we did our truck and rooftent adventure and it’s a nice city with a huge cathedral that has 2 spires. 1 gothic and 1 medieval. There are also 2 other huge churches in the city and lots of historic buildings and historic roads.
As it was raining we had no plans to go and visit the city again and this was just going to be a stop for the night but by 3:30pm after sitting around for a couple of hours we were getting itchy feet.
By 4pm the rain had stopped and it had brightened up a little so I mapped a route out on Komoot and we set off down the Chartres greenway into the city centre.
It was a beautiful walk and within 2 minutes we were well away from the roads and walking through a park next to the river. The old buildings on the riverside were amazing with there ancient wooden low balconies almost touching the river.
Within 20 minutes we were in the city centre walking down ancient cobbled roads and passing houses that looked more suited to the set of Harry Potter than a city. The sun was setting now and the old lamps were turning on street by street and it was lovely to see everything lit up at night.
We passed the ancient church of Saint-Pierre and the door was open so we went inside. Unfortunately non of the interior lights were on except for very dim LED lights and we couldn’t really see much or take photos but the inside of the church was one huge building with rows and rows of pews running upto a huge altar. Even though we couldn’t see much it was impressive.
From there we headed down more ancient cobbled narrow streets, some were just wide enough for us to walk side by side and when we popped out Chartres Cathedral was right in front of us.
It is a huge feat of architectural engineering dating back to the 13th century. It’s archway doors are so big they actually hurt your neck when your looking at them. And the stonework statues surrounding the doors are are unbelievably intricate. Unfortunately you can’t view the outside beauty of this building when your right on top of it. You really need to be atleast a mile away on hill to actually admire it but that’s where Chartres Cathedral has it’s own unique draw for you to want to be inside it.
Inside is a unique piece of stonework that runs around the entire centre of the church. It is divided into sections and each section has intricate characters from the bible and history inlayed into it. Then inbetween each section is an intricate carving of one of the church spires . This whole structure is around 150ft in length and it creates a room at the centre where prayer and mass are held. It is the most impressive church we have ever been in and even more beautiful than Notre Damme before it burnt down.
On leaving the Cathedral we saw a sign that said something about Chartres Luminaries where famous historic buildings would have projections on them after 6:30pm. It was now 6pm so we wandered the streets and looked in the shops for 30 minutes and brought some Christmas bits and then started back towards Wanda.
The Cathedral was now illuminated with projections that covered all of the doors, windows and stone work and bit by bit it built a picture of stained glass windows with a clock at the centre of it. It was very twinkly and beautiful.
Next we passed back by the Church of Saint Pierre and that also had projections covering the whole building and it was also twinkly and beautiful. Then we were back into the park where the historic riverside buildings were lit up and reflected in the river below.
We finally got back to Wanda at 7:30pm. For dinner we had a new recipe we had just thought of as we couldn’t get any burgers and put our Cordon Bleurs into burger buns calling them Cordon Bleugers. They were quite tasty.
Then at 8:30pm it was time to wash up and settle in for the night. It was getting cold outside already with the temperature at just 6°c so we put the fire on and watched tv until bedtime.Read more