Though split by a half hour trip on Le Shuttle, today was the longest as far as driving distance was concerned. Roughly 325 miles. Watford to Folkstone, then Calais to Chartres.

This was to be a long day as well. Starting at 7am (so rising before 6) with an expected arrival in Chartres of between 6 and 7pm local time (so 5 and 6 pm UK time). Two stops for charging would also be required.

With being advised to arrive an hour before Le Shuttle was due to leave (10:50), there was the risk of many a M25 hold up. In reality it was plain sailing with just some minor slow traffic delays round the A1 junction and the lead up to the QE2 bridge. The M20 was empty and there were no lorries queued up in the sectioned off stretch. We had enough time to pull off a junction early to hit the services for a comfort break and possibly to charge the car up there. In the end the chargers were full so we just used the facilities. Arriving at Le Shuttle terminal I was surprised how much time would be required to get through, but with about quarter an hour to go we were on and the car powered off.

Arriving in Calais it was a short trip to the Ionity charger by Citée Europe, located at a Holiday Inn with a publicly accessible cafe. Very useful and one speedy charge later we were on our way for the longest run of the day, down to a charger at Val de Reuil near Rouen. Alas part of the way was by péage. I would find out it needs surprisingly careful planning to avoid these as the satnav in my car does not have an option to avoid tolls and I hate google maps navigation plus dislike Android Auto (later note, towards the end of the holiday I found how to get the sat nav on my side).

Charge complete it was then on to our hotel for the night in Chartres, though a mixture of the hotel having it’s entrance on a minor side road and an apparent car unfriendly policy from the city, meant an odd final stage to the trip in to the Residhome Chartres. An interesting place where the rooms are more apartments with small kitchens. Friendly and helpful staff helped get round the problems of a lack of parking, with what there is being expensive (the reviews of the main public car parks all say, expensive, spaces too small, impractical….).

While at first not appearing to be so, the hotel was just 5 minutes walk from the centre and about 12 from the Cathedral. A recommendation from the receptionist found us at the near by restaurant La Table de Julie, which Tripadvisor actually has listed as the 7th best restaurant in Chartres. To be honest is was a decent enough bistro, but I’m would not rave about it. Our starters were nice but forgettable and the main was good (we had the same) but not great. Still a pleasant meal at a pleasant restaurant.

Post the meal we wandered up to the cathedral and had a drink in a bar near by. Looking at the drinks list I was surprised to see about a dozen listings for variations on chartreuse. Took a few seconds for the penny to drop … – one green chartreuse was then ordered. My mother had a Grand Marnier. Post the drinks we wandered back to the hotel, possibly missing the Chartres en lumières show, which we did not realise would start so late (blurb says dusk, but look like it was at ~22:45).

Thus ended day 1.