Why this ride
194 km one way from Blérancourt - plan on about 2 h 54 of riding.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Milly Forest Roads and Gâtinais · part 3
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 194 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 54
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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. Paris / Île-de-France escapes
Blérancourt is a village of about twelve hundred in the Aisne, in the green country between Soissons and Noyon, and it houses an unexpected museum: the Musée national de la Coopération franco-américaine, in the remains of a seventeenth-century château. It was founded by Anne Morgan, the daughter of the American banker J. P. Morgan, who came here after the First World War to help the villagers rebuild, and the museum tells the story of the friendship between France and the United States, from the American Revolution to the world wars. A fine garden and a pair of pavilions survive from the old château.
Read the complete Near Blérancourt, 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 is where the day begins. Next is Milly Forest Roads and Gâtinais checkpoint 8.
2. Vélizy-Villacoublay
Vélizy-Villacoublay is a modern town on the plateau south-west of Paris, between the forests of Meudon and Verrières, best known for two very different things: one of the biggest shopping centres in the region and a military air base. The base at Villacoublay is where French leaders and foreign heads of state usually land when they come to Paris, and you may hear a government jet coming in low over the trees.
Read the complete Vélizy-Villacoublay write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Milly Forest Roads and Gâtinais checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is Back to Milly Forest.
3. Back to Milly Forest
Fouquet's château is on your doorstep here. Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's finance minister, built it from 1656, with Le Vau as architect, Le Nôtre as garden designer and Le Brun as decorator, and in August 1661 he gave a lavish party there for the young king. Within weeks, Fouquet was arrested, and the king took the same team to build Versailles.
Read the complete Milly Forest 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 194 km.