VALLÉ
DE L'EURE
NEAR
DREUX
BACKGROUND
TO THIS VISIT
It is nearly a year ago since I last posted on this site
so I need to explain I've not been entirely inactive during that
time.
After returning to UK last year from Brittany via
Plymouth to visit my friends who live nearby in a beautiful cottage
on the Quayside at Noss Mayo I returned the caravan to its storage
site near Winchester.
But, I wasn't entirely satisfied I'd made the right
choice of van because it did tend to sway rather a lot in high winds
and when being overtaken on motorways by fast moving vehicles. So
I decided to part-exchange it for another with a very similar
internal layout but shorter.
After taking delivery in June I took the new van to
Cornwall to spend time again with my son and his family during their
annual camping holiday and in the October to December period went
again to Southern Portugal whence I returned in late December for
Christmas before flying off to Australia on another visit to my
daughter and granddaughters in Melbourne.
After returning to UK I then hosted a short visit by my
Swedish friend Peter with whom I had sailed along the Venezuelan
offshore islands in 2001 (see Grandpa's Voyages) and this mainly
featured visits to the Historic Dockyards at Chatham and Portsmouth.
There was nothing about these expeditions in the second
half of 2017 and early 2018 that I hadn't written about before so it
wasn't until March 2018 that I had time to think about my next
activities when I decided to go again to France for the Spring and
Early Summer.
This time I resolved to head for new territory and so
crossed the channel from Portsmouth to Caen and went to a site
pre-booked for the Easter holiday at Marcilly sur Eure between the
larger towns of Évreux and Dreux.
MARCILLY
SUR EURE
Marcilly is indeed small being one of many historic
villages located at frequent intervals (every 3-5 kilometres) along
the Eure valley bottom.
The Eure is a tributary of the Seine that rises in Lower
Normandy before flowing East and then north for a total of some 230
km. Marcilly is situated about half way along this north-south
section.
In this area the river is quite narrow and shallow but
fast-flowing and has cut a fairly wide valley (perhaps 2 km), with a
flat bottom and sides gently sloping upwards to flat land about 75 m
higher than the river itself.
Despite population growth the villages retain their
separate identity and the countryside is gently agricultural when
away from the larger modern towns such as Dreux and Pacy Sur Eure.
My time here was largely pre-occupied with van problems.
Once, last year, and again here, the car and van parted
company with one another at slow speed as I tried to move away from
the pitch I'd been allocated to go to another site.
On both occasions I felt sure I had carefully checked
the coupling between the two but of course the van supplier, maker
and chassis builder all denied liability and said I hadn't been
sufficiently careful to take all the necessary precautions.
The new van was easier to tow but had less galley and locker space
than the first and I'd not had this sort of problem with my first
purchase (though there had been others) but my priority here was to
make repairs and check the safety of continuing to tow.
At time of writing I hope I am nearly at the end of this
process and able to move on but am not yet completely sure that is
the case.
Despite my concerns at possible crowding on the few
sites open at Easter time I was practically the only transient
visitor. I consequently developed a friendly relationship with
the lady receptionist and site maintenance engineer who helped me
investigate and deal with the van problems.
The weather over Easter was quite cold and mainly wet so
that didn't provide many opportunities for either van repairs or
cycling expeditions. But, 10 days later warmer and dryer weather
arrived and I was able to make a first expedition.
There are relatively quiet roads along the bottom of the
valley on each side of the river (quieter on the more hilly eastern
side) and a disused railway line running between the two has been
converted into a well-surfaced walking and cycling path for much of
its length.
Anyway, one sunny day I took time off from van repairs
and went for a ride starting at Croth then running back along to
Marcilly partly on the rough track beside a lake and partly along the
old railway route.
Disused Railway Station and River Eure at Croth
Water from the river has been diverted in a few places to create small lakes (Étangs) that have been stocked with fish to attract anglers who can access them by rough tracks near the path along which it is also possible to cycle even though that can be a rather bone-jarring experience.
The combination of rain followed by higher temperatures
had resulted in an abundance of flowers starting to shine through
with hawthorn in particular showing masses of blossom. That was
particularly significant for me because my wife used to love that so very much, and
the birds it attracted.
HAWTHORN ABLAZE
I crossed the river east of Marcilly and followed the
D116 up the hill to Sorel where I stopped for a couple of beers in
the sun in a practically deserted village square before going on to
Ézy sur Eure where I could cross back over the river, buy a baguette
and a couple of Pains au Chocolat in a local Boulangerie and thence
find my way back along the Voie Verte to Croth – a most enjoyable
round trip of about 15 km.
Here are a couple more photos of sights along the way.
A CLASSIC RURAL SCENE
WE CALL THEM PRIMROSES
THE FRENCH CALL THEM PRIMVERTS
THE EU WOULD PROBABLY STANDARDISE THEM AS PRIMYELLOWS OR PRIMJAUNES
BUT THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL WHATEVER THEY ARE CALLED
