The Chapel Oak

The venerable Le Chene Chapelle, Allouville France

In 2009, on our first European motorcycle adventure, one of our first stops was an iconic tree. We caught the 1420 train from Folkestone in the U.K., two hours behind schedule. It took some coercing for them to squeeze two motorbikes on to the 1420, it’s an amazing train. It must be 1 km long with two deck carriages plus single ones for trucks and buses. You drive in one one carriage and then in and along down the train from carriage to carriage. The bike in with us had just been bought in the UK by a Frenchman and he was riding it back to Paris the same day he left Paris! As we were headed in the same direction, at least initially, I asked if we could follow him on to the motorway and he agreed. Only problem was once we got off he got himself promptly lost and we ended up at the check in gates coming back on to the train to England! We had to back out and take a side exit and then a complex series of roads to get on to the correct motorway, then I waved the GT1000 Ducati on. We could have done it quicker without him!

On the train under the English Channel!

By now it was 4.30 and we were finally in Europe. There was a heavy fog about, presumably coming off the ocean. I very quickly adapted to driving on the right side of the road, even the roundabouts are no problem, it’s virtually impossible to go down them the wrong way. We pushed on until we began to get tired and found our way to a small but well run hotel in lovely Abbeville. The countryside through the Somme along the way was relaxing, we chained the bike to a lamp post for the night, I had a shower then we strolled down town for a beer at a bar then across the road for some paté and pizza.

Next morning we found our way out of town, took some country roads to Yvetot and suddenly the trip got a whole lot better when we found our way to Allouville and The Chapel Oak, truly one of the world’s remarkable trees.

The old trunk is covered in little wooden shingles to protect it from the weather

It was nice to have it to ourself for a short while before we had a coffee in the adjacent café. The tree is quite extraordinary, it’s had a chapel inside it since 1696. The Chapel Oak subsequently became a place of pilgrimage each year on the 15 of August, the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. However this was somewhat short-lived as during the French revolution organised religion was banned and many places of worship destroyed. The nearby Presbytery was burnt down but fortunately someone had the bright idea of converting the Chapel Oak to the “Temple of Reason” by way of a sign, and the tree was saved! There is a second chapel inside upstairs as well!

The town square and the Chapel Oak in Allouville

This is such a beautiful demonstration of how one persons effort (Jean-Baptiste Bonheur, appropriate name methinks) to save one tree has given the world a treasure for centuries to come.