Paris · Chevreuse Valley Dawn Loop
A 106 km loop from Versailles exit
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Why this ride
Small lanes, forest shade and proper bend rhythm outside the city. Out of Versailles and back again: 106 km, roughly 1 h 50 in the saddle. On the way it passes Dampierre-en-Yvelines bends, Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay and Rambouillet forest loop. It keeps to quiet secondary roads.
Roadbook
- Versailles exit gate
sight · 132 m
Versailles is a place that rewards a rider who turns up early. The great château that Louis XIV built, and where French kings lived until 1789, sits at the end of three wide avenues whose scale was designed to impress, and the gilded gates and cobbled courtyard are unforgettable at dawn, before the coaches arrive. At 132 metres above sea level the town lies on a plateau west of Paris, and it makes an elegant starting point for a ride into the countryside.
The history is overwhelming, and well known. The Hall of Mirrors is where the German Empire was proclaimed in 1871 and where the treaty that ended the First World War was signed in 1919. The gardens that André Le Nôtre laid out stretch away with canals, fountains and avenues, and the Grand Canal is a cross of water long enough that the king sailed gondolas on it. The château itself is closed on Mondays, which is worth remembering, but the town around it, with its market halls and its cathedral of Saint-Louis, is lively every day.
The riding begins just beyond. With 85,000 people in the town, fuel is simple, and from the south side the roads lead into the forest of Satory and then down into the Chevreuse valley, a green fold of small roads between wooded slopes. The Vallée de l'Eure ride heads south-west into more open farmland, with long fast bends and a distant skyline of church spires. Early in the morning, with mist in the valleys, both routes feel like secrets that the city has forgotten to guard.
Try not to arrive by the main avenue at midday on a weekend, because tour buses and slow-walking crowds make it impossible. The alternative is to park in a side street and walk. Stop at the market at Notre-Dame for fresh bread and cheese, and let the old royal town show its quieter side. A day that begins at these gates has a great deal to live up to, and the countryside tends to deliver.
- Dampierre-en-Yvelines bends
scenic · 115 m
Dampierre-en-Yvelines is dominated by a house that thinks it is bigger than the village, and it is right. The Château de Dampierre, built in the seventeenth century by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the architect of Versailles, for the Duke of Chevreuse, is a grand brick-and-stone palace set in a formal park with a long canal. It has belonged to the Luynes family ever since, and inside, one gallery contains murals painted by the great neoclassical artist Ingres, a rare example of his work on a domestic scale. The château is open for visits at certain times of year, and is worth a stop.
The village itself is small, barely a thousand people, but the setting is lovely: stone houses, an old church and, behind the château, a long avenue of trees. The area around is part of the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse regional park, and the valley is a patchwork of woods, meadows and ponds. At about a hundred and fifteen metres above sea level, it is not high, but the sheltered position and the shade of the old trees give it a cool, peaceful feeling.
The bends in question are a pleasant string of curves on the lanes between Dampierre, Lévis-Saint-Nom and Chevreuse. They are not dramatic, but they are well-surfaced and well-cambered, and a rider can find a nice rhythm on a quiet morning. The road runs along the edge of the park wall for a while and then dips into the wooded valley, with a view of the church spire coming and going between the trees.
Be careful in autumn, when leaves, mud from farm vehicles and wet stone walls can make the road slippery, and at weekends, when cyclists and walkers arrive in numbers. Cattle and horses graze in the surrounding fields, and there are a few blind corners where a tractor can appear without warning.
For fuel and food, Chevreuse is the nearest town of any size, a few kilometres away, with stations, bakeries and cafes. Dampierre itself has a bar or two and a bakery, and the smell of woodsmoke in the cooler months is a pleasant companion on the ride.
- Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay
sight · 150 m
The Vaux de Cernay is a quiet, rocky, wooded valley in the Haute Vallée de Chevreuse, and the abbey in its hollow is one of the prettiest ruins within an hour of Paris. A group of monks founded it in 1118, and in 1147 it joined the Cistercian order, the austere reformers who preferred remote valleys, running water and hard work. For centuries the abbey prospered, owning mills, fish ponds and forests, until the Revolution scattered the monks and the buildings fell into decay. Gothic arches, a ruined church and sections of cloister now stand among the trees, and ivy has crept over much of the stonework.
In the nineteenth century, the Rothschild family bought the estate and turned it into a country retreat, adding a château and enlarging the lakes, and today the property is a hotel with a restaurant and spa. The ruined abbey church lies in the grounds, and it is usually possible to see it, though access and opening hours vary, so check before you go. Close by, the stream tumbles over boulders through a small chaos of mossy rocks and beech trees, and the valley's ponds reflect the sky. Painters from Paris came here in the 1800s, drawn by the same quiet light that attracted artists to Barbizon, and a Cernay school of landscape painters grew up in the nearby village.
The roads are what make the valley special for a motorcyclist. They are narrow, winding and well shaded, with a succession of short bends, small bridges and old stone walls, and the surface is generally good. Speed limits are low, and cyclists and walkers are common, particularly on weekends, but early in the morning the valley belongs to riders and deer.
Come in autumn, when the beeches burn copper and the air smells of damp earth and fungi, or in early spring, when wild daffodils cover the banks. The lakes are good for a short walk, and a coffee on the hotel terrace is an easy way to spend half an hour.
- Rambouillet forest loop
photo · 165 m
Rambouillet is the town where a king died and a president spends his summers. François I, the Renaissance monarch who brought Leonardo da Vinci to France, died in the château of Rambouillet in 1547, and the building, a mix of medieval towers and later wings, has been a royal and then presidential residence ever since. It is surrounded by a large park, partly formal and partly wild, and by one of the largest forests in the Paris region, over twenty thousand hectares of oak, beech and pine.
The estate holds some real oddities. In the park stands the Laiterie de la Reine, a dairy built for Marie Antoinette as a pleasure house, in the fashion for playing at country life, with a grotto and a little temple. Not far off is the Bergerie Nationale, a sheep farm founded under Louis XVI, who imported Spanish merino sheep to improve French wool, and the breed is still kept there today. A visit gives you a very different view of royal life from the glitter of Versailles.
The forest is the main attraction for riders. Its roads, many of them straight and lined with tall trees, run through tunnels of green, with dappled light and the smell of resin and leaf mould, and it is a pleasure to ride on a quiet weekday morning. The surface is mostly good, but narrow in places, and wet leaves, sandy patches and fallen branches can be treacherous. Deer and wild boar live in the woods, and a boar crossing at dusk is a real possibility.
Rambouillet itself, with nearly twenty-seven thousand people, has everything: fuel, supermarkets, cafes and a pleasant market on Saturdays. The old centre is quiet and tidy, with a few good restaurants, and the park is an excellent place to stretch out on the grass after a ride. The photo spot is at the forest edge, where the trees open to a view across a pond or a clearing, best in the soft light of early morning.
Weekends in fine weather bring many walkers and cyclists, so ride with care and expect to share the road. In winter, the forest can be cold and misty, with ice on the road in shaded sections.
- Back to Versailles
finish · 132 m
Back at Versailles. That is the ride.