Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse is the sort of town you are glad to find after a morning in the forest. It lies on the river Yvette, in the heart of the valley, with a main street of bakeries, bistros and small shops, and it is big enough, with about eight thousand people, to feel lively, but small enough to keep a village rhythm. It is the last stop of the Paris RER B line, so on weekends the pavements fill with walkers and cyclists in hiking boots and Lycra, heading for the hills. The surrounding slopes are wooded and green, and the air has a pleasantly damp, earthy smell.
The valley has a serious history. A few kilometres away, in the hollow of Port-Royal-des-Champs, a community of nuns and scholars became a centre of Jansenism in the seventeenth century, a stern and intellectual current of Catholicism that clashed with the king, and the philosopher Blaise Pascal and the playwright Jean Racine both had ties to the place. Louis XIV had the abbey destroyed in 1710, and only ruins remain. Chevreuse, next door, has the ruins of a medieval castle on a hill above the town and a pleasant old centre of half-timbered houses.
As a food stop, Saint-Rémy is straightforward. The main street has a good number of cafés and restaurants with terraces, and bakeries sell sandwiches and pastries for a picnic. You will find a market here a couple of times a week, with local cheese, vegetables and bread. Fuel is available in town, with a station or two on the main road, and Chevreuse is close if you need more. Parking for bikes is easy near the centre, and the streets are calm enough to leave the machine and wander.
The roads in and out of the valley are among the best in the region for a gentle ride, winding through woods and meadows with small bridges and stone walls. They are busy on fine weekends, so an early start gives you the best of the quiet. Order something hot, sit outside if the sun is out, and watch the cyclists puff past.