Day 14: Chambly

There’s no sense in prolonging it, all good things must come to an end. I got up early on the morning of the 6th and packed up the wet tent in record time before setting off for the north. The original plan was for one more day of camping before I hit Chambly, but since it was now only just over 400km away I might as well push on and get there in a day, enjoying the luxury of a lie-in using a real bed once there.

The road took me through the eastern edge of the Loire valley with it’s pretty villages and chateaus, not to mention miles and miles of vineyards. I wanted to stop in Gien for lunch but couldn’t figure out the one-way system and decided that once again the bigger towns and cities were a bad idea. Instead I called into a small restaurant in Boismorand which had been recommended to me by somebody I asked on the street a few villages back. Great salad and a pleasant hour sitting on the deck with a cool beer.

The rest of the day passed without incident if you don’t count getting lost on some tracks with turned out to be smaller than they looked on the map. On the positive side, every so often I’d see a building which stood out from its surroundings, either for being unmistakably French like the Gendarmerie converted maisonette, or for being simply beautiful, like the art deco grain silo with it’s cracked glass lookout façade and resident pigeons.

All too soon I passed Meaux and swung west just below Senlis and Chantilly to arrive at Chambly in the late afternoon. Time to relax, dry out that tent, and spend some quality time with quality people. Been looking forward to this.

Total distance: 298.53 mi
Max elevation: 318 m
Min elevation: 15 m
Total time: 15:57:23