'Wide Open Spaces'(Dixie Chicks) Breteuil-sur-Iton to Rouen and back

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...........................Peggy, the Peugeot, is still in the car park!

We have decided the ‘unlocking’of the car last night was to do with the fact that we both had the unlocking mechanisms in our pockets when we got close to the car and that automatically unlocked the doors. We have put this down to a feature of the car which the person who wrote the handbook forgot to mention in his/her writings. If anyone can tell us differently we would be pleased to hear from you.

Anyway there was more drama to come this morning because as we prepared to leave for a day of exploring in Rouen I discovered that the money card with our travel funds was not in the moneybelt! It had been there earlier in the morning but not after we came back to our apartment after using the internet in the foyer lounge. A burglary or a simple case of forgetting where one had left the card?

We have things scattered in the apartment and everything had to be picked up from where it was and the area searched.

After half an hour or so and no luck in finding the card there was just one thing left to do and that was to ring back to NZ and report the card missing.

As I made contact with a friendly Kiwi voice on the other end of the line Gretchen shouted ‘hold that phone call’. She had found the card which must have been brushed from its resting place on a cabinet into the depths of her backpack (which had already been searched)

Drama over but a salutatory lesson learned to be more careful about the security of the travel card.

We decided these little situations had occurred to try us and better prepare us for the adventure ahead and with that in mind we hit the road to Rouen.

The day, which was overcast, promises to be free of rain as a high is building in over the region and although it was still cold the air itself didn’t feel as chilling as yesterday.

‘Gina’(yes, the GPS has to have a name too)had us taking the D840 all the way north for the 100km to Rouen, a city considerably rebuilt since the D-Day bombing during WW2.

The road featured long, long straights between small villages and some larger towns and flat rolling countryside punctuated every so often by a small forest of deciduous spindly trees, some of which were being culled for firewood and in the odd situation, logs big enough to be milled.

We have noticed that some of the larger towns are located in the occasional small valley that interrupts the rolling flat landscape.However,unlike what we expected, there was often no sign of a river which one would have thought would run a course through the valley.

Daffodils are flowering and are in abundance and they give a lift to the overcast sky.

We knew we were nearing our destination when we crossed the River Seine and passed through the industrial town of Elbeuf with its massive Renault factory. The car park for the workers seemed to go on forever.

The traffic built as Rouen came into sight and as we had approached the city from the south we decided to follow a Trip Advisor question and answer to park on the southern side of the Seine as parking would be easier and perhaps free, usually a condition for the travellers on the BBA V3.

We would then have a short walk over one of the many bridges that cross the Seine to a walking tour of the old town and its quaint timbered and plastered buildings and a collection of churches and cathedral.

This time the BBA V3 looked like it was going to relent and we would pay a modest amount of €2 for a car park to be close to commence our walk across the Seine.However, we haven’t generated enough coin in our cash spending as yet and we came up short to pay into the meter.T here was nothing for it but to drive on in search of a free parking space which we found a short distance away.

One couldn’t say that the Seine is a pretty river especially where it flows through Rouen constrained in its way to the sea by concrete banks with disused structures alongside.

The signs to the tourist office set us off in one direction which after a short while was the wrong way and so we doubled back to an area where we thought we should have been amongst the timbered buildings and church spires.

The signs to the tourist office were still willing us on but it had been a while since breakfast so a round of frites (chips) and a drink from a burger bar called Holy Moly was in order to revive the flagging batteries. We also now have more coin in change to add to the parking meter stash to be held in Peggy for the future.

As we were amongst the area we had come to stroll and take in we decided to give the tourist office a miss as it wasn’t revealing itself.

The old town dates date to Norman times and the timbered houses, many of which appear to be falling over, have been well maintained and with the streets closed to traffic it made for a pleasant walk admiring the different heights, sizes and shapes of these interesting structures.

There are 3 places of worship in this compact area and one wonders if there different branches of the Catholic religion that built each one to outdo the other.

We say this because we seemed to go from one contrast to another as took a look in each.

The first,Saint Maclou Church. was a smallish building and rather plain inside but had been well maintained with its exterior seemingly recently cleaned.

The second,St Ouen Abbey Cathedral,we couldn’t get inside as it was closed and initially we thought it was because of the rather poor state of repair of the outside.However a notice indicated that it would normally been open but today for some reason it was not.

The third,Notre-Dame Cathedral,reminded us of the grand cathedral in Milan even down to the albeit much smaller plaza in front of the church.

This structure had nearly fallen in on itself when in April 1944, just before D-Day, it was bombed by Allied aircraft softening up the Germans occupying the city for what was to come a month or so later. The area that had to be reconstructed is obvious as it is out of character with the surrounding building but it does go to show that there must be some hope for our own Christchurch Cathedral in NZ to be restored. Perhaps the powers that be in Christchurch should come to Rouen for some lessons?

Joan of Arc (whom my mother was named for) has her own large chapel with a statue to depict her important presence and life in the city in the 1400’s.

We couldn’t get to inspect the whole of the interior as a funeral was taking place at the far end to the entrance. We did get to see the deceased carried out on the shoulders of the 6 pallbearers at a good pace. Perhaps they knew he/she wanted to get to their final resting place quickly!

As we re-emerged from the church and sought a spot to try and take the whole of the front of the building in by photo we spotted the tourist office. Too late!

With the air temperature dropping below 10C we retraced our steps back to the car and joined the traffic for a different route home via Evreux on the N154.This road wasn’t as scenic as the one we came north on but had more motorway type conditions and we sped our way home with only one missed turning in a roundabout that necessitated some backtracking.

A good day out and a well earned gin and tonic once we got home after the drama of the morning but we resolved that cities would be less on the sightseeing plans as the adventure continues.

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