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A day that had a little bit of everything….

Yesterday our household goods were delivered to friends who have kindly offered a room at their house to store our possessions while we meander across Europe. Delivery was a little chaotic, and certainly more so than Niki was hoping for. In any case, we carried 25 cubic meters of furniture into a room and then played Heavy Tetris as the afternoon temperature climbed into the 30’s. Beer after the event seemed to do more than just rehydrate, a trend that continued as we watched England – Bolivia streamed to a Mac Air. Got to take what you can!

Said goodbye to the Langston’s in Central France and headed north(ish) towards Dunkirk, having decided to do this in two stages. Wise decision as by 5:00pm I was very tired, obviously feeling the effects of the previous day’s rehydration exercise. Being very new to this, we both have outsized concerns about overnighting. I’m sure we’ll relax soon, but at the moment we would like some idea of where we will be spending the night.

On the way up to Nonancourt, our designated overnight stop (more later), we stopped at Chartres Cathedral – What a fantastic 2 hours! I’m so sorry that the photos do no justice, but what an awe-inspiring edifice – and I use the description with knowledge aforethought 🙂 Had to take a photo of the Camino Trail for Lewis – perhaps one day a ‘Cathedrals of Europe’ cycle tour is in the offing.

I found a free aire in Nonancourt, plugged in the gps coordinates, and off we set. Nonancourt proved to be a bit of a challenge. The town centre (??) has blue lines through the square, either indicating traffic direction, pedestrian passage, parking places, or all three. Consequently cars were seemingly at all angles, at all directions, in various places. Extricating the van proved difficult. We then proceeded down a narrow, perhaps two-way street, after waiting obligingly for all oncoming traffic to pass us. About hallway up the hill, however, local impatience took precedence and a car came down towards us. I kept going, he got gallic, Niki smiled, I didn’t, and he reversed in time for us to squeeze by in the narrowest of gaps. Then things got interesting us the GPS had us turn right onto a narrow road that turned into a path, happily indicating that ‘You have arrived at your Destination’. NOT.

All’s well at the end of the day. Niki found a wider spot, we retreated to find the sought after aire on the other side of the road, next to a wonderful wooded area with a river flowing by. Some more vino rehydration and we were, if not happy, at least Contented Campers.