Normandy Vexin Abbey Roads
A 379 km loop
Open this ride in the planner →
Why this ride
A rider’s loop: clean exit, memorable middle, calm return. 379 km round from Paris - plan on about 6 h 53 of riding. On the way it passes Saint-Saëns, Jumièges Abbey and La Roche-Guyon.
Roadbook
- Paris
start
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.
The honest advice for a rider is to treat Paris as a city to park in. The Périphérique ring road is fast, dense and unforgiving, and central Paris is a web of one-way streets, bus lanes, cobbles and tram lines. Paris also has a low-emission zone, so find out if your bike needs the Crit'Air sticker before you ride in, and look up the latest rules on parking. Motorcycle bays are common at the edges of the centre, and a garage near a metro line is the sanest option. Petrol stations are rare in the middle of the city, so fill up on the outskirts, in Levallois-Perret or Clichy, which are only a few kilometres away.
On foot, the area is easy. You can walk the Tuileries to the Louvre, cross the Pont de la Concorde to the Assemblée nationale, or head up the Rue Royale to the Madeleine and the smart shops of the Faubourg Saint-Honoré. The Champs-Élysées begins at the square's northwest corner and runs gently uphill to the Arc de Triomphe. Early morning, before the coaches arrive, gives you the best light on the stone and the fewest crowds.
If you want a break, take a coffee at a pavement cafe and watch the traffic rotate around the obelisk. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, with soft light and fewer tourists. The metro station at Concorde is a good way to move around if the bike stays in the garage.
- Saint-Saëns
fuel
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.
On its doorstep lies the Forêt d'Eawy, one of the most beautiful beech forests in Normandy. Running through it is the Allée des Limousins, a perfectly straight forest road that stretches for over a dozen kilometres between towering beeches. Riding along it, with the trees arching overhead and the light filtering through the leaves, is a strangely meditative experience, especially in autumn, when the beeches turn gold and copper.
The Pays de Bray is a distinctive landscape: a long, eroded valley in the chalk, where the underlying clay is exposed, producing lush meadows ideal for dairy farming. The region is famous for its cheese, in particular Neufchâtel, a soft, bloomy-rind cheese often shaped like a heart, made around the town of Neufchâtel-en-Bray, about thirteen kilometres away. Cider and calvados are made from the local apples, and you will see orchards everywhere, often with cows grazing beneath the trees.
The roads around Saint-Saëns are quiet and pleasant, winding through valleys, forests and villages, with little traffic. They can be wet and muddy, especially in autumn and winter, and slippery under the trees. Saint-Saëns is small, so fuel and services are limited; Neufchâtel-en-Bray is the nearest larger town. The weather in Normandy is often grey and damp, with frequent showers, but when the sun comes out, the green landscape glows. Late spring, when the apple trees are in flower, is the most beautiful time to ride here.
- Jumièges Abbey
sight
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.
The abbey sits inside one of the great meanders of the lower Seine, in the regional nature park of the Boucles de la Seine Normande. The river here is wide and tidal, carrying ships to and from Rouen, and the meander loops are filled with orchards, meadows and marshes. The road along the river from Duclair to Jumièges is known as the Route des Fruits, lined with apple and cherry orchards and stalls selling cider, juice and fruit in season.
The riding is gentle and lovely, with roads following the river and climbing onto the chalk cliffs that frame the valley. Small ferries cross the Seine at several points, free of charge and a delightful way to change banks. Traffic is light, but cyclists are common, and the roads can be narrow.
Jumièges village has cafés and restaurants catering to visitors, but fuel is limited in the meander. Fill up in Duclair, on the edge of the loop, or in the Rouen suburbs. Allow at least an hour for the abbey, and try the local cider or a slice of apple tart afterwards. The light in late afternoon is especially beautiful on the white stone.
- La Roche-Guyon
sight
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.
The château has a darker chapter too. In the spring of 1944, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel made it his headquarters while he prepared the German coastal defences against an Allied landing, and the caves in the cliff behind were used as shelters and offices. After the Normandy landings, the Allies advanced quickly along the Seine, and the village was liberated in August. Today the château is open to visitors, with a fine kitchen garden and a museum of the 1944 episode, and the village has been named one of the most beautiful in France.
It is also a gateway to the Vexin Français regional park, a plateau of wheat fields, orchards and small stone villages above the river. The hills nearby produce apples and cider, and local farms sell fruit and honey from roadside stalls. The roads here are some of the best in the region for relaxed riding, with long views, smooth tarmac and a pleasing rhythm of villages, though the D913 along the river is narrow and can be crowded on sunny weekends. The village streets are tight, so park near the river and walk the last part.
Fuel is not available in La Roche-Guyon itself, so use Mantes-la-Jolie to the west, a larger town with several stations. A café on the main street serves coffee and pastries, and several restaurants offer lunch. Try a slice of tarte aux pommes with a cup of strong coffee, and sit watching the barges slide past on the Seine, as they have for centuries. The village is calm outside July and August, and the cliff glows in low sun.
- Paris finish