Eure-et-Loir, Centre France

Travelled:156km
Stay: Nogent le Roi- aire, free parking, free service point. N48.650478 E1.529100
Visited:Vendome, Chateaudun, Chartres, Nogent-le-Roi

After a quiet night we ventured on up the road to Vendome. 

We parked in the 2 hour blue zone where we have to leave a disk on the dash indicating the time we arrived. We bought some breakfast from the Boulangerie and then went to explore the town. 

The predestrian zone was very well done and the streams and canals through the town added a lovely atmosphere. 

We made our way to the beautiful La Trinite church founded in 1034 with its 16th century flamboyant Gothic facade. 

The surrounding abbey was later used by the military and is now a museum which we visited for free. 

By now our 2 hours were up so we continued our journey north to Chateaudun. We managed to find a parking spot along one of the narrow one way streets. We walked to the main square before making our way to the chateau. 

Unfortunately it was closed for lunch so we explored the streets some more and then drove to Chartres.This is quite a large town and we had difficulty in finding a parking spot. We followed the signs to the Cathedral and found ourselves having to go on a road that had a 'no camper' allowed. We managed to squeeze through and parked illegaly on a footpath with a few other cars, crossed our fingers we wouldn't get booked and raced in to see the amazing Notre Dame Cathedral. Apparantly it escaped destruction  by the religious wars, the French Revolution and the two World Wars. Only old age has required it needing restoration, which is currently being done. The parts already done look fantastic. We will need to come back to see it when its complete and we have more time to take an audio guide (only €2 ) to learn about the wonderfully intricate stain glass windows.

We breathed a sigh of relief when we got back to Bluey and there was no parking ticket. We counted our blessings and wound down through the streets to head out of town to the closest aire in Nogent-le-Roi.The 4 official spots where taken but we found a spot anyway. After dinner we went and strolled in the village which had a lovely church, some really old half timbered buildings and a stream running through it.