Chartres – Illiers-Combray 20 miles plus 3

I awoke in the night to the sound of heavy rain. I go back to sleep hoping that perhaps it will pass over by morning. I wake up in the morning and the rain is still there. I looked at the BBC weather and the report is that it will rain until around 3pm. With a short cycling day ahead of us we debate the potential of either sitting it out in the hotel, and still make tonight’s accommodation, or making a dash for it. My compatriot is pleased she is not in the Air B&B squat that looked nothing, in reality, like the marketing material. Come to think of it so am I as this will avoid the likely tantrum this morning.

After yesterdays Air B&B swap to the hotel we had been given a complimentary breakfast, so we were not under pressure to go out in the rain. However by 10:30 the sun was breaking through so we decided to set off and take a chance.

Once we had crossed Chartres we picked up the cycleway, which wound its way alongside the River L’Eure, through a linear park, for a few miles, and then out onto quiet lanes.

At one point there is a sign, our nemesis, a diversion off the Velo Scenice. We decide to follow it and, this time, it is well signed for a number of miles. We are making such good headway, we even stop at a Tabac that is conveniently positioned on the new route, and sit for a drink in the sunshine.

We are travelling across, what is known as the bread basket of France, with huge, rolling wheat fields, offering no shelter from the very strong headwind.

Further on the sky starts to become very dark and then we feel a few drops of rain. At that moment I spot a wooden bus stop shelter so, never wanting to waste an opportunity to shelter, we do exactly that. After about 30 mins the sky’s lighten again and, with no sign of rain, we decide to push on.

As we leave the bus shelter I discover I have a slow puncture. My compatriot returns to the comfort of the bus shelter to read and I repair the puncture. Just as I have completed the job and loaded the bike up ready to set off again, the heavens open. So we sit out the storm in the shelter. It is not often that you are glad of a puncture.

Another uk cyclist doing the trip stops to talk to us from outside the bus shelter, he is hard core, not bothered about being wet, and is covering 80 – 100 miles a day and camping. The rain subsides, so we set off again into a strong headwind. Just as we get to the next town there is more rain so we retreat into another, smaller, bus shelter.

The third time we were not so lucky as it started to rain, and with no convenient bus shelter we donned waterproofs. Fortunately it was a short sharp shower and we dried out in the strong wind before we reach our destination for tonight. As we cycle through the town we meet our English cyclist again, along with 3 Parisians on the same trip. They recommended the bar they were just leaving so we stopped for hot chocolates followed by a beer because we can’t get into the hotel until 4:30, and that’s our excuse.

We then use Google to get us to the hotel. As we pull in we see two Dutch cyclist we had passed looking at their map in the centre of Chartres. We meet them again in the Bar and destiny fixed, eventually have dinner together. Fortunatly as with all Dutch their English is impecable. While we chat over drinks three more British cyclist arrive. What a small cycling world!