Yup. I rode my bicycle to Chartres and if you want to see what the ride looks like just click on the link below.

http://tinyurl.com/33bksux

Thanks for taking us along on another wonderful trip, FMT!

Thanks again, FMT.

I was afraid Kerouac would be right about the Beauce, too flat to be photographable. We actually avoid driving through that area because the plain is so boring. I just don't like flat, so I did not expect to enjoy your bike trip to Chartres as much as your bike trips through hillier areas.

But once again you found the loveliest route. Those narrow tree-lined roads that go up for a while, and then down to cross a steam, are one of the things we enjoy seeing so much in France. The old lavoirs are still there. I remember actually using them way back, either in France or North Africa. I wouldn't want those days back, but I'm glad the little lavoirs remain and are kept up.

Hey, I even saw a "for sale" sign in one of your photos. You didn't manage to catch the price as you whizzed by, did you? I'm still looking for a small village to locate a retirement community, Fodors-en-Retraite.

Truly super pics, FMT! The history and anecdotes interspersed throughout are a real treat, too. Chartres is already on my bucket list, but now I'll have to add some of those lovely neighboring locales.

Thanks, FMT! You must have travelled the same route through Chartres as we walked . . . even saw the restaurant we ate lunch in. Di

joannyc - I'm always happy to take someone for a ride who enjoys going on the ride.

Coquelicot - A photographer has their work cut out for them when trying to find worthy subject matter in the Beauce. The only benefit of all the flat is that it makes the pedaling super easy.

I think just about any town I've pedaled through that has been around for a few centuries and which has a river or stream running through it has a lavoir which it has managed to preserve. Though I'm not so sure I'd like the experience of having to actually use it to do my laundry.

I didn't get the price on the house for sale but I was thinking us Fodorites might want to find something a little bigger than a house. Perhaps a castle would suit us better.

sap - Nice to see you back. Not to beat my own drum but in your absence I've written several trip reports that might interest you if you feel like reading them. Even though it's a ways off I bet you are in countdown mode for your upcoming trip. I'll be waiting at the bar.

Di - I was just following the designated tourist trail from the map you can get at the tourist office and then poking around the side streets near the trail. Chartres is just a lovely town and one of my favorites in close proximity to Paris.

I just LOVE your reports. Thank you!

BuffaloGirl - And I just love that you read them!

FMT: I've just had a lovely bike ride thru the Beauce, to Chartres, grace a vous! Merci mille fois, it was just marvelous!!
Think I'll try to go back when we come to France in late September to stay in the Dordogne.

^^Thanks taconic.

Keep up the sensational photo posts, FMT. People need to keep being shown that there is more to France than the main cities -- there are so many little interesting bits to see in between.

^^And you don't have to go far from Paris to find them.