Day 13 - Cloyes sur le Loir (France) to Bosc Geffroy (France)

Previous day   Back to overview page   Next day

It is the spring equinox, but you wouldn’t know as we wake to low and heavy cloud here in Cloyes-sur-le-Loir.  We are up early, breakfast and service the camper, emptying grey water and the toilet cassette (keeping it empty while we can, that's always a good plan). No water to fill up with here as it must to be paid for along with the electric at the Maire (which is closed).

From Cloyes sur le Loir, we take the local road (D-35) through the village, there are long queues for the boulangerie, each person standing two metres from the person in front, it is like a 1950s post war film, when food was rationed. Once onto the N10, a good fast road, we make good time to Chartres.

We pass the city on the ring road and see the cathedral rising like a phantom out of the mist. Was it only six months ago that we visited here! (See France September 2019)

We stop at E.Leclerc Hypermarket and buy supplies: bottled water, milk, bread, fruit, vegetables, cheese, ham and wine. Restrictions are firmly in place here, only one person allowed in with each shopping trolley, some screens already in place between cashiers and the customers too. The huge shopping mall is deserted, just the boulangerie and supermarket are open.

People are wandering about in a daze, are we extras in a survival movie?

We have enough food to last until we get back home. We also fill up with diesel. Keeping all our tanks topped up is important as experiences have taught us that sometimes you never know when or where the next filling station will be. Back on the N123 to Dreux and N12/N154 to Evreux. We stop for lunch in a layby as all the Aires/service areas on the main roads have now been closed off. It is becoming a major problem to find anywhere to stop or park, all open spaces and parking have been closed off with barriers.

The N154 takes us through the centre of Rouen, over the Ile where we stopped in September to visit the city and cathedral. Everything is the same but looks different... the reason being there is hardly any traffic and no people anywhere. Onto A28 and D929 to Esclavelles, and Mesniere en Bray. We were hoping to stay the night at the Aire here as it is in a small village which is a little backwater... you would need to know it was here. But, like all the others it has been closed and barriers put across the entrance, no access to water or emptying either. We check our options and take the D1314 to Clais, a small cross-country road, then the D14 to Callengeville and the car park opposite the church at Bosc Geffoy. This is a large tarmac area on the edge of the village, as it is the bus stop and turning circle it would be difficult to close off with barriers (not that the bus is running)! We park on wedges as the area has a slight slope. We make tea and eat under the hourly tolling of the church bells. At 6.00pm the church bells begin ringing a joyful interlude which entertains us for five to ten minutes. Then we realise that it is Saturday and the bells are calling the faithful to mass. Alan wanders over to see if anyone has turned up. No, no one, the church doors are locked and mass is cancelled.

Everything is closing down, parking areas, Aires for camping cars, water, toilets, everything. Barriers and red tape across entrances are everywhere. This has been our most stressful day and for the first time we face the reality of what we will do if we cannot take on fresh water or find a place to park or indeed what to do it we cannot get home. It is a frightening prospect. We feel the closing down and closing in of everything. 

Summary of motorhome journey