Normandy Vexin Abbey Roads + Sancerre Vineyard Long Day

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Paris

   It is a gift from the ruler of Egypt, about three thousand years old, and it was set up here in 1836 on the spot where the guillotine stood during the Revolution. Louis XVI was executed on this square in 1793, and so, in the Terror that followed, were over a thousand others. Now the square is a roundabout with fountains, ringed by traffic and framed by the Tuileries gardens on one side and the Madeleine church on the other. The banks of the Seine in this part of the city are UNESCO listed.

   Read the complete Paris write-up.

2. 2. Saint-Saëns

   Saint-Saëns is a small market town in the Pays de Bray, in Upper Normandy, and the composer Camille Saint-Saëns's family name is said to have come from here, though he was born in Paris and had little to do with the place. The town sits in the valley of the Varenne, surrounded by meadows, apple orchards and forests, and it has a quiet, rural charm, with brick and timber houses and a market square.

   Read the complete Saint-Saëns write-up.

3. 3. Jumièges Abbey

   The two white towers of Jumièges rise above the trees in a loop of the Seine, roofless, ragged and astonishing. Founded in the seventh century by Saint Philibert, the Benedictine abbey was sacked by Vikings, rebuilt by the dukes of Normandy, and consecrated in 1067 in the presence of William the Conqueror, freshly crowned king of England. After the French Revolution it was sold off and used as a stone quarry, and what remains is often called the most beautiful ruin in France. Walking through the empty nave, open to the sky, with jackdaws circling the towers, it is hard to disagree.

   Read the complete Jumièges Abbey write-up.

4. 4. La Roche-Guyon

   La Roche-Guyon is squeezed between the Seine and a wall of chalk, and the village has the look of a place that has been fitted into the only space available. The château, one of the oldest in the area, backs straight into the cliff, with rooms and a stairway hollowed from the rock, and a medieval keep on the crest above is linked to it by a long covered passage. For centuries, it belonged to the La Rochefoucauld family, whose most famous member, the seventeenth-century moralist, wrote his sharp little maxims about human vanity, and the family still has links to the house.

   Read the complete La Roche-Guyon write-up.

5. 5. Saint-Pierre-lès-Elbeuf

6. 6. Angerville

7. 7. Sancerre

   Sancerre is a hill town in the most literal sense: a cluster of stone houses wrapped around the top of a steep, isolated hill rising above the Loire, with vineyards falling away on every side. From the old Tour des Fiefs, the last remaining tower of the castle, the view stretches across the river valley to Pouilly on the other bank and far over the rolling vineyards. On a clear day, it is one of the most beautiful views in central France.

   Read the complete Sancerre write-up.

8. 8. Pannes

   Pannes is a small town on the northern edge of Montargis, in the Gâtinais, about a hundred kilometres south of Paris, and for most riders it is simply a fuel stop on the way south to Sancerre. It lies in a flat, agricultural landscape of wheat fields, small woods and rivers, with the suburban sprawl of Montargis and Châlette-sur-Loing to the south.

   Read the complete Pannes write-up.

9. 9. Paris

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Paris write-up.