Yet another rainy start but drier by the time we leave to continue sections of a Back Roads route. Once we leave the village we are on a massive, flat grassy plain. At times the road feels like an airbase, as the curves are hidden tarmac but distant straights appear as runways. Approaching Les Andeleys we drop through steep turns down to the town centre which is busy as it it market day. Car parking has no rules on market day with vehicles at all angles across...

The rain started again just before bedtime and continued all night. Thoughts of visiting either Chateau Gaillard or Monet’s garden at Giverny are quickly dismissed. We stay put until 11:00 then set off on part of a scenic route from one of our guide books. First back to Rugles then D830 to Conches en Ouche. The road runs mostly through beech woods, much of which still looks autumnal as many trees still have a lot of dry brown leaves. Around midday we stop ...

Thick frost covers the skylights when we wake and outside it is zero Celcius but once the sun rises the white grass returns to green and the temperature rises steadily. We set a route based on one of the articles in MMM and set off in bright sunshine. We’ve never toured the Perche region before and we find it very attractive. It is quite hilly in places and heavily wooded, with some areas of open farmland. Some of the farms are equestrian with paddocks and ...

The sunset was a con, it rained most of the night and this morning is still heavy rain so for the second morning we abandon our plan, which was to have been to check in to the city centre campsite at Chartres and visit that famous old city. We decide instead just to drive north for a while into the Perche region and take it from there. The service point is €2 with loads of water then we set off. Unlike yesterday we are on lesser travelled routes so fewer lor...

Very heavy rain in the night and still precipitous this morning. The gloomy grey does not bode well for our intended visit to Chateau Ambois so we set off to drive north. The only sign of life was the dog who barked half heartedly this morning. The long straight roads are shiny with rain and the continuous convoy of trucks throws up lots of spray, but the northern sky lightens as we drive. Ninety minutes later we take the roundabout into Chateaudun, a town we...