After Sarah had taken the dogs for a walk this morning, I nipped out to one of the numerous bakers in Pont-sur-l’Arche to enable us to feast on croissant and pain au raisin for our breakfast. What a treat. We delayed leaving because we knew we would not be allowed onto our new campsite until after lunch. When we finally did depart our journey was trouble free and best of all much of the route was free dual carriageway or motorway.
We arrived at Camping Bords de l’Eure (€17 on the ACSI scheme, 48.436000, 1.498087) at 1.00pm to find it was closed until 2pm. There were a number of others waiting for the site to open, but the beauty of a motorhome is that we were able to simply turn the driving seat around and have lunch while we waited. The caravan owners paced up and down, not being able to use their vans without putting down stabilisers.
The site was fairly empty when we were finally let in and we found a lovely large grassy pitch. Later, when other vans had arrived I realised that our large expanse of grass was probably meant to be 3 pitches not 1! Never mind. Nobody complained and we are only here for one night.
Our main reason for visiting Chartres is the UNESCO World Heritage Cathedral. The Cathedral is about 2 miles from the site, but the walk was along a pleasant path next to the river. As we reached the centre we first came across the church of Saint Aignan. This is not the main attraction, but with its beautiful flying buttresses this church would be the centrepiece of most towns.
The River Eure
The cathedral and the old town is on the top of a significant hill. The cathedral is famous for being the height of French Gothic architecture. The first thing that strikes the visitor is its enormous size. Finished in the 13thCentury the architecture is far more sophisticated that English cathedrals of the same period. The use of flying buttresses has allowed the builders to achieve a height in the nave which is perhaps 50% higher that its English equivalents. In addition the windows are unusually large for the period, enhanced by the fact that nearly all the stained glass is original from the the 13thcentury.
Chartres Cathedral Stained Glass
Chartres Cathedral Stained Glass
On the inside it is surprisingly plain, except for the large number of gorgeous stained glass windows, including several rose windows. From the outside the front is oddly asymmetrical, one tower being 13thcentury early gothic and the other having been rebuilt in the 16thcentury in a highly ornate late gothic style.
Chartres Cathedral – notice the different style towers.
Due to this asymmetry I don’t think it matches more harmonious cathedrals in beauty, but some of the individual architectural features achieved at such an early period makes this an amazing 13thCentury building.
Chartres Cathedral
The rest of Chartres was nothing special. The old town was pleasant enough, but without the Cathedral would not, in my opinion, warrant a visit. I have to admit that we only spent two hours wandering around so it is possible that we missed some gem or other. The original intention was to stay in Chartres until sunset to see the Lumière, where the Cathedral and other old buildings are lit up with multi coloured lights. But the thought of waiting three hours to see them followed by a two mile walk back in the dark put us off.
Door Chartres Cathedral
Neither did we eat out, as we had intended. With the current exchange rate we found the cost of French restaurants too high to justify the expense. Unlike Italy, Spain and even Germany, France is becoming a very expensive place to eat in restaurants, irrespective of the exchange rate.
Tomorrow is a long drive to Oradour-sur-Glane. It will probably take most of the day at 43mph!!