Why this ride
864 km from Lagny-sur-Marne to Mitry-Mory, about 14 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: near Crépy-en-Valois, Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines and Ézy-sur-Eure. The climbs: near Creil and near Persan.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Chantilly to Ermenonville Flow + Seine Loops and Roche-Guyon
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 864 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 14 h 48
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel stop near Lagny-sur-Marne
Lagny-sur-Marne sits on the river Marne about thirty kilometres east of Paris, a busy town with an old centre, a riverside quay and a large, unfinished Gothic church, Notre-Dame-des-Ardents, all that was completed of an ambitious abbey church begun in the thirteenth century. The town was an important market in the Middle Ages, part of the network of Champagne fairs, and Joan of Arc fought near here in 1430, shortly before her capture at Compiègne.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Lagny-sur-Marne write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chantilly to Ermenonville Flow is where the day begins. Next is Food stop near Crépy-en-Valois.
2. Food stop near Crépy-en-Valois
Crépy-en-Valois was once the capital of the Valois, the old county whose name passed to a whole dynasty of French kings. Today it is a busy market town of some fifteen thousand people on the plateau north-east of Paris, a natural place to refuel before heading on to Laon and the Aisne valley.
Read the complete Crépy-en-Valois write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Food stop near Crépy-en-Valois is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point near Creil.
3. High point near Creil
Creil is an industrial town on the Oise, about fifty kilometres north of Paris, and it would be easy to pass it by. Yet within a few kilometres lie some of the finest forests and châteaux in northern France, and the high ground around the town gives you a good sense of how the river has carved its way through the chalk and limestone plateaux of the Île-de-France.
Read the complete High point near Creil write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines.
4. Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines
Meulan-en-Yvelines sits on a bend of the Seine, about forty kilometres north-west of Paris, where the river divides around an island. The old town climbs steeply up the hillside from the water, and from the top you get a fine view over the river, the bridges and the valley. Across the water, Les Mureaux has a long aerospace history, and parts of the Ariane rockets are made there.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines, early in the day. Next is Paris / Île-de-France escapes return.
5. Ézy-sur-Eure, on the way back
Ézy-sur-Eure is a modest town of three thousand on the river Eure in Normandy, close to the border of the Eure and Eure-et-Loir, and its neighbour, Saussay, is a hamlet. The place is a few kilometres from Anet, a small town with one of the most celebrated châteaux of the French Renaissance, built in the 1540s by the architect Philibert de l'Orme for Diane de Poitiers, the favourite of King Henri II. The château, with its elegant courtyard and its famous carved entrance gate, is open to the public, and the story of Diane, who was about twenty years older than the king and ruled his heart for decades, is told in the rooms.
Read the complete Ézy-sur-Eure, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paris / Île-de-France escapes return sits at 222 km, early in the day. Next is Photo stop near Corbreuse.
6. Photo stop near Corbreuse
Planning note
Photo stop near Corbreuse comes up 278 km in. Next is Chantilly to Ermenonville Flow checkpoint 8.
7. Pierrefitte-sur-Seine
Pierrefitte-sur-Seine is not where anyone dreams of ending a ride, and that is fine. It is a dense northern suburb of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis, just above Saint-Denis, with tower blocks, small houses, busy junctions and the steady rumble of the routes nationales that carry traffic between the capital and the plain to the north. You arrive here because it is the doorway back into the city after a day in the forests of Chantilly and Ermenonville.
Read the complete Pierrefitte-sur-Seine write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chantilly to Ermenonville Flow checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Back to Chantilly to.
8. Back to Chantilly to
Mickey Mouse is the unavoidable neighbour here. On a summer afternoon the roads around this part of the Seine-et-Marne are full of coaches and rental cars, and the air in the car parks smells of fried food and hot tarmac.
Read the complete Chantilly to write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Back to Chantilly to. That is the ride. Next is Seine Loops and Roche-Guyon.
9. Fuel stop near Mitry-Mory
The aircraft give it away. Mitry-Mory lies just south of Charles de Gaulle Airport, and the planes descending over the fields are a constant presence. This is the Plaine de France, a flat, open country north-east of Paris where large-scale farming mixes with logistics parks, motorways and suburban towns. It is not a place you come to for scenery, but it is a practical gateway for riders heading out of Paris towards the north or the west.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Mitry-Mory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Next is Food stop near Mouy.
10. Food stop near Mouy
Mouy is a small town in the valley of the Thérain, in the Oise department, about sixty kilometres north of Paris, halfway between Creil and Beauvais. The valley is green and pleasant, with water meadows, poplars and old mills along the river, and the town has a modest centre with a church and a market square.
Read the complete Food stop near Mouy write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Food stop near Mouy is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point near Persan.
11. High point near Persan
Persan sits on the river Oise, about thirty-five kilometres north of Paris, facing Beaumont-sur-Oise across the water. The two towns have grown together along the river, and the old part of Beaumont, with its church and remains of a castle, stands on a hill above the valley.
Read the complete High point near Persan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
High point near Persan is the summit of this stretch. Next is Scenic stretch in Élancourt.
12. Scenic stretch in Élancourt
Élancourt is part of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, one of the new towns built around Paris from the 1970s to absorb the capital's growth. Its landscape of housing estates, business parks and roundabouts is not the stuff of dreams, but the town has two surprises. One is France Miniature, a theme park where the country's monuments are reproduced at small scale. The other is the Colline d'Élancourt, a man-made hill built from construction spoil and landscaped into a park, offering one of the widest views in the west of the Paris region.
Read the complete Scenic stretch in Élancourt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scenic stretch in Élancourt, late in the day.
13. Near Épernon, on the way back
West of Rambouillet forest the land loosens up into a patchwork of wheat, copses and small river valleys, and this stop sits in that gentle seam between the Yvelines and the Eure-et-Loir. Épernon is the nearest proper town, a few kilometres off, built where the Guesle and the Drouette meet before they wander on towards the Eure. It is quiet country, and after a day on the Seine loops it feels like the ride is exhaling.
Read the complete Near Épernon, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paris / Île-de-France escapes return sits at 666 km, late in the day. Next is Photo stop in Boissy-le-Cutté.
14. Photo stop in Boissy-le-Cutté
Boissy-le-Cutté is a small village in the Essonne, south of Paris, sitting on the edge of the Juine valley in the Gâtinais français regional park. It is a place of quiet streets, stone houses and fields, far from the bustle of the capital even though it lies only an hour away. The surrounding landscape is a mix of farmland, woods and river valleys, with sandstone outcrops scattered across the hills.
Read the complete Photo stop in Boissy-le-Cutté write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Photo stop in Boissy-le-Cutté comes up 722 km in. Next is Seine Loops and Roche-Guyon checkpoint 8.
15. Enghien-les-Bains
Enghien-les-Bains is the only town in the Paris region that feels like a spa resort, and that is exactly what it was built to be. The town grew up in the nineteenth century around sulphurous springs and a lake, and the Parisians who came to take the waters left behind villas, promenades and a casino. This finish puts you right on the lake shore, with Montmorency forest on the hills behind.
Read the complete Enghien-les-Bains write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 833 km. Next is Back to Seine Loops.
16. Back to Seine Loops
East of Paris the land flattens into the Brie plateau's margin, and the towns here run together in a belt of low houses, retail parks and market gardens. Mitry-Mory is the nearest place of any size, with about 18,500 people, and Claye-Souilly and Villeparisis lie a little further along. It is not scenic in a postcard sense, yet it has a quiet logic: this is where Paris has always fed itself, and farmland still survives between the suburbs.
Read the complete Seine Loops write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back to Seine Loops closes the day.
Leg by leg
Fuel stop near Lagny-sur-Marne to Food stop near Crépy-en-Valois
Fuel stop near Lagny-sur-Marne → Food stop near Crépy-en-Valois is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Food stop near Crépy-en-Valois to High point near Creil
Food stop near Crépy-en-Valois → High point near Creil is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Creil to Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines
High point near Creil → Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines to Ézy-sur-Eure, on the way back
Scenic stretch near Meulan-en-Yvelines → Ézy-sur-Eure, on the way back is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Corbreuse to Pierrefitte-sur-Seine
Photo stop near Corbreuse → Pierrefitte-sur-Seine is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Back to Chantilly to to Fuel stop near Mitry-Mory
Back to Chantilly to → Fuel stop near Mitry-Mory is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop near Mitry-Mory to Food stop near Mouy
Fuel stop near Mitry-Mory → Food stop near Mouy is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Food stop near Mouy to High point near Persan
Food stop near Mouy → High point near Persan is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Persan to Scenic stretch in Élancourt
High point near Persan → Scenic stretch in Élancourt is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scenic stretch in Élancourt to Near Épernon, on the way back
Scenic stretch in Élancourt → Near Épernon, on the way back is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop in Boissy-le-Cutté to Enghien-les-Bains
Photo stop in Boissy-le-Cutté → Enghien-les-Bains is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Chantilly to Ermenonville Flow · 455 km
- Milly Forest Roads and Gâtinais · short arc · 434 km
- Seine Loops and Roche-Guyon · 381 km
- Vallée de l’Eure Easy Scenic · short arc · 328 km