Cote d'Azur to Calais

We are home and already settled into a routine.   Camping Manjastre seems a world away, well at least a country away.   Although we miss the camping ground lifestyle, it is luxurious to sit in our newly renovated house.  And enjoy our morning lattes.

But back to our trip home, which took three days of solid driving, most of which was really enjoyable.

We set off at 8.50 am, after a lovely breakfast at the restaurant of Camping Manjastre.   We drove easily through Hyeres, and Toulon, and congratulated ourselves on leaving early and missing all the traffic. 

But we spoke too soon.  We hit heavy traffic at the second toll booths, but even then we bypassed the queues of cars, as we sped through on the fast Telepeage lane, where our badge gave a reassuring beep.  

But it was Black Saturday, when people were either leaving from, or arriving at, holiday destinations. And on this day, it meant the end of holidays for anyone with children.    So the heavy traffic was to be expected.   And as predicted it got progressively worse as traffic came onto the A7 from Marseille and Nice.  The drivers were not settled either and there was much chopping and changing of lanes which meant extra care needed to be taken.

We turned off onto the A9 just before Salon De Provence, hoping that the traffic problems would ease but no, it become worse until we were virtually at a standstill, once we got to Nimes.  Luckily we turned off the motorway and headed to Ales, and were relieved we did not have to continue on to Montpellier, or in fact have to drive on the other side of the road leading from Ales to Nimes.

We drove through the hills, on a narrow winding road, surrounded by beautiful countryside.  Sadly no photos as I was driving, and practising my hill starts.  We stopped for lunch at a picnic area, the first one, and then realised that there were even better ones further along the road.  Typical.  We also stopped at the one cafe along the route which had carparking opposite it.  Angle parking, with the angles at an incorrect angle to the side of the road.  I had to make sure that I then went over to the correct side when I left the cafe. Great coffee.

We finally came to the A75, which runs from Montpellier to Clermont-Ferrand, by Mende.  Where we caught up with the heavy traffic again.

We stopped at a busy services, filled with tanned people returning home, for a drink and an ice cream.  And were amazed at the sight of huge stone pillars set into a grassed area.  No order, but there must have been about twenty of them.  Stonehenge revisited! 

More bumper to bumper traffic.

The town of Issoire, set high up on the hill beside the highway.   Very picturesque, but in fact the town sprawled out along both sides of the road.

We stayed at Riom, on the other side of Clermont-Ferrand.  As we had not booked a room at the Ibis Budget Hotel, and there were no rooms available, we had to settle for the more expensive Ibis Hotel next door.  A much larger room, and giant bathroom, had its downsides, aside from the high price.  The water from the shower did not drain away, due to the floor sloping away from the drain.   The water puddled on the floor in front of the toilet.  No wearing of socks in that bathroom. The quilt was too thick, even with the airconditioning turned up, we roasted all night,   We made sure we booked our budget hotel for the following night.

Sunday, a day that businesses were closed and with few trucks on the road, we set off to drive on non motorway roads, which were coloured green on our map, direction Montlucon, Vierson and Orleans.  Destination Chartres.

We drove through rolling hills, wooded areas, small villages and towns, all very peaceful on a Sunday.

We must have driven through a more prosperous part of France because most villages and towns were well maintained, and all displayed colourful displays of flowers.   Great pride.

A pleasant stop for coffee, and a slice of cake, and a choice of two cafes and a patisserie open on a Sunday afternoon.  Most unusual.  Walter was very happy with his cake.

Finally the cathedral in Chartres came into view, standing tall above the surrounding fields.  Very impressive.  And the reason why we made a decision to call in to Chartres.  This church was worth a visit.

Chartres was built on a hill on the left bank of the Eure River.  And the medieval cathedral was built on top of the hill during the 12th century.  It is not a particularly high hill by the way, but as the surrounding countryside is quite flat, the enormous cathedral really stands out.

Chartres was bombed heavily during WWII, and some of the rebuilding lacks imagination, as can be seen by the town hall in the photo below.  The town hall, Hotel de Ville, or Mairie, is usually a pretty impressive building.  But not this one, sadly, but apparently the original building which also housed the library was also very impressive.

I am not sure just what these sculptures represent, no signs on display, but I thought they were very jolly.

At long last, a close up view of the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Chartres, (Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Chartres).  The cathedral is in an exceptional state of preservation and is one of the finest examples of French Gothic arcitecture.

And we are very fortunate that we can view this magnificent cathedral today.  It was saved from being bombed during WWII by an American Officer, who pleaded with his superiors that the cathedral did not need to be destroyed, and even went behind enemy lines to find out whether the Germans were using the cathedral, which they were not.  So the cathedral, and the surrounding buildings were saved.

The three great facades, are adorned with hundreds of sculptured figures, as are the inner walls inside.  Nothing has been broken or defaced.  It no doubt survived the reformation as well.

Inside the cathedral, there is a pavement labyrinth, as well as a famous relic, the supposed tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ's birth.

I am not sure if this was a genuine old building or an imitation one, but it looked impressive.

The very old vegetable market.

The spire of the cathedral rising above the buildings.

After an excellent sleep in our Ibis Budget room, we set off on our green road, direction Calais.  As it was Monday, we had to contend with trucks, but we still had a very pleasant drive, past Dreux, Evereux, and through the tunnel under the edge of Rouen.  Last time we were caught in a detour which took us through Rouen in heavy rain.

After Boulogne, we travelled via the coast to Calais.

And from here the coast of England could be seen clearly on the other side of the channel.

And luckily we approached the port from the beach side, bypassing the very long queues of cars, holding people returning from their holidays.   And all the sad refugees trying desperately to board a vehicle in order to seek asylum in Britain.

And I am so thankful there will no more baguettes for a few months.