There is a rose in L'Haÿ-les-Roses, and a very particular one. In the late nineteenth century a Parisian businessman named Jules Gravereaux planted a rose garden here, with thousands of varieties, and it became a world reference collection. The Roseraie du Val-de-Marne, as it is now called, still draws visitors in May and June, and the name of the town was changed to honour it. So the first thing a rider sees when leaving Paris by the southern gate may be a hedge of petals.
Otherwise the surroundings are humdrum. Near 30,000 people live here, among apartment blocks, ring roads and the buzz of nearby Orly airport, whose planes pass low overhead. The famous Rungis wholesale market, which feeds Paris and much of the region, lies just beyond, and from three or four in the morning the roads around it fill with lorries. Avoid the area at that hour if you can.
The two rides that start and end here point in opposite directions: one heads south-west toward the plains of Chartres, the Perche hills and a return along quiet lanes, the other drifts down into the Gâtinais, a region of sandy forest, pale fields and small villages south of Paris. Both take you out of the sprawl quickly. The N20 and the A6 are the obvious roads, but they are slow at rush hour, so take D-roads through the villages of the Bièvre valley and the Essonne countryside, where the traffic eases and the corners start to appear.
Fuel is no problem here, with stations all around, and the many bakeries open early. Park the bike securely, as theft is a real worry in dense suburbs, and plan to leave before the morning traffic gathers. If you pass by in early summer, a quick detour to the rose garden is worth it, even in a leather jacket, and its scent on a warm evening will linger longer than any petrol fumes.