Paris · Lyons Forest and Seine Cliffs
A 238 km loop from Paris north-west edge
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Why this ride
North-west forest shade, river views and a quieter line home. Out of Bezons and back again: 238 km, roughly 4 h 51 in the saddle. On the way it passes Vexin ridge road, La Roche-Guyon Seine view, Lyons-la-Forêt and Gisors.
Roadbook
- Paris north-west edge
start · 55 m
It is a hard-working suburban landscape of tower blocks, tram lines, small houses with allotments and the grey sheen of a river that has seen a lot of traffic. La Défense's towers lift above the horizon to the south, and the Seine runs wide and sluggish, with barges and the occasional rower. It is not a place to linger, but for a morning ride it is a useful starting point, close to the motorway and the fast roads west.
The area has some surprises. Colombes is home to the old Olympic stadium Yves-du-Manoir, which hosted the 1924 Games, the ones in the film Chariots of Fire, and it was used again for hockey during the 2024 Games. Bezons, a town of nearly twenty-eight thousand, has its own tram link, the T2, which brings city people out to the riverbank, and the old Seine boating tradition of guinguettes, riverside dance halls, was strong along this stretch in the early twentieth century. A couple of Sunday cafés on the water still carry on that spirit.
Leaving this corner of Paris is easier than it sounds if you know your way. From Bezons, follow the Seine downstream, then take the roads over the bridge toward Montesson and Chatou, and you reach the forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the open land of the Yvelines in half an hour. The ride's targets are the Lyons Forest in Normandy and the white chalk cliffs of the Seine valley, a long loop to the north-west that is well worth the early start. Fuel is plentiful here, at stations along the main roads and in the big supermarkets, so fill up before leaving, because the roads in the countryside beyond have fewer.
Weekday mornings are slow with commuter traffic, so aim to be out before seven, and on Sundays the streets are almost empty. The light at dawn on the Seine, when mist lies on the water and the first trams hum past, has a strange industrial beauty.
- Vexin ridge road
scenic · 120 m
The Vexin is a frontier country, and it shows. The plateau between the Seine and the Oise was for centuries the border between the kingdom of France and the duchy of Normandy, and the river Epte, which flows along its western edge, marked the line. In 911, the Viking chief Rollo and the French king Charles the Simple agreed at Saint-Clair-sur-Epte to give Normandy to the Norsemen, and the Vexin was the buffer between them. The history gives the villages a particular character, with fortified churches and the remains of castles.
This ridge road, at about a hundred and twenty metres, runs along the crest of the plateau between Seraincourt, Vigny and Oinville-sur-Montcient, in the Vexin français regional park. The landscape is open and agricultural, with huge fields of wheat, barley and rapeseed, divided by lines of trees and low stone walls, and long views over the countryside. The soil is chalky and light-coloured, and the fields glow in the sun.
The riding is easy and open: long, gentle curves and straights, a surface that is generally smooth, and very little traffic. On a clear day, you can see for miles over the plateau, and the church spires of the villages mark the horizon. In spring the rapeseed paints the fields a startling yellow, in summer the wheat turns gold, and in autumn the ploughed land is a deep brown. The wind is the main factor: across the open plateau it can be strong, and a crosswind can push a loaded bike.
The small villages have an old church, a few stone houses and a bakery or a bar, and some have farm shops selling local produce, such as honey, cider, and cheese. Seraincourt and Oinville are quiet and unassuming, and give a good sense of rural life. The area is popular with cyclists at weekends, so be prepared to share the road.
Meulan-en-Yvelines, about nine kilometres away, is the nearest town with fuel and shops, and you should fill up there. The smell of the plateau in summer, dry grass and warm earth, is a pleasant companion, and the long evenings make it a good place to end the day.
- La Roche-Guyon Seine view
sight · 65 m
Above La Roche-Guyon, the Seine swings through a great meander, and the view from the cliff road takes in a wide loop of the river, green islands, poplar lines and pale chalk bluffs. The valley here is cut into thick white limestone, and the river has carved long, steep walls on the outer bends, which glow almost pink in the late afternoon. Barges pass slowly below, and the fields on the flat plains inside the loops are patched with wheat, rape and maize. It is one of the most peaceful panoramas anywhere within an hour or so of the capital.
The cliff itself holds history. Some of the houses in the village of Haute-Isle, a few kilometres east, are cut straight into the chalk, with doorways, chimneys and even a chapel hollowed out of the rock, and people have lived in these troglodyte homes for centuries. The cliff and the river were also strategic, and the château of La Roche-Guyon, built against the slope with a medieval tower on the hill above, controlled the road from Paris to Normandy for centuries. Monet's garden at Giverny lies a short ride downstream, and many painters followed the same light along this valley.
The riding is a pleasure. The D913 runs beside the river, under overhanging cliffs and through small villages, with gentle curves and a smooth surface, and it is one of the classic scenic roads of the Vexin. Traffic can be heavy on summer weekends, with cyclists and sightseers, and in places the road is narrow, with chalk dust on the bends. Fuel is not available at the viewpoint, and the nearest stop is Mantes-la-Jolie, a large town about twelve kilometres away, which has stations and supermarkets. Smaller villages along the road have bakeries and cafés.
Come on a weekday, and in the late afternoon if the weather is clear. The river catches the sky, swallows dart around the cliffs and the chalk turns a warm cream. It is a good place to open the visor, let the engine tick, and look at the water.
- Lyons-la-Forêt lunch
food · 150 m
Beech trees are the point. The forest of Lyons, a few kilometres from the village, is one of the largest and finest beech woods in Europe, about ten thousand hectares of tall, silver-trunked trees that stand in cathedral rows, and in spring, when the leaves are just out, the light under them is green and gold. In autumn it turns copper. The roads that cross it are some of the best in Normandy for easy riding, with long, smooth curves, a good surface and little traffic, and the sense of riding through a vast, quiet hall is hard to beat.
The village of Lyons-la-Forêt sits in a clearing at about 150 metres, and it is one of the prettiest in Normandy, with half-timbered houses, brick and flint walls and an old covered market hall dating from the eighteenth century, in the middle of the square. The film director Claude Chabrol used it as the setting for his Madame Bovary in 1991, because it looks so much like the Normandy of Flaubert's novel. A few kilometres away, the abbey of Mortemer, with its ruins and small museum, is a quiet place to stop. The village is listed among the most beautiful in France, and in summer and on fine weekends it fills with visitors from Paris, so it is better on a weekday.
Lunch here is a pleasure. Normandy is dairy country, and the food is rich: Neufchâtel cheese, a soft, white-rinded cheese in a heart shape, cream sauces, apple tart and cider or the apple brandy called Calvados. Restaurants and tea rooms around the square serve lunch until about two, and you should book on Sundays.
The forest is also home to deer and wild boar, so be careful at dusk, and in wet weather the leaves can make bends slippery. The nights are cool and the air smells of damp wood. It is a very good place to turn for home.
- Gisors return gate
fuel · 110 m
Gisors is a Norman town that stands guard on the border with the Île-de-France. It lies on the Epte, the old border river, and its great castle, a motte-and-bailey fortress with a tall octagonal keep, was built by the Normans in the late eleventh century and strengthened by the kings of England, before it fell to the French king Philip Augustus in the twelfth. It was one of the key strongholds on the frontier, and the walls and keep still dominate the town. A local legend says that the Knights Templar hid treasure in the castle, and it has kept treasure hunters busy for generations, though nothing has been found.
The church of Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais, a large, richly decorated building that mixes Gothic and Renaissance styles, stands in the centre, and its richly carved facade is among the finest in the region. The town has about twelve thousand people, a market, a handful of restaurants and a pleasant, slightly sleepy feel. In the nearby village of Neaufles-Saint-Martin, the ruin of a huge round tower stands on a mound above the houses.
As a return gate, Gisors is practical: it has fuel, supermarkets and a railway station, and the road to Paris is clear. The route home follows the valley of the Epte and the plateau of the Vexin, a quiet, open landscape with a good surface and light traffic. The air smells of hay and warm stone in summer, and woodsmoke in autumn.
The riding in this region is relaxed and unhurried, with long views and not much to disturb you. The Lyons Forest, to the north, is among the finest beech forests in France, and the cliffs of the Seine, to the south, are a dramatic sight, which makes this a good place to turn for home with a sense of a day well spent.
A word of caution: fuel stations in the smaller villages can be few, so take advantage of Gisors before heading south. The temperature here can be several degrees colder than Paris in winter, and fog is common in the valleys.
- Back to Paris
finish · 55 m
The ride that began on the north-west edge of Paris comes back to the same place, and there is a pleasure in returning to a starting line after a long loop. It is a hard-working landscape of tram lines and tower blocks that looks better in the evening, when the sun sinks behind the towers and the river takes on a pale glow.
A few minutes upstream lies the Île des Impressionnistes, an island at Chatou where the Maison Fournaise, a riverside restaurant, once hosted the painters of the Impressionist circle. Renoir painted his Luncheon of the Boating Party on its balcony in 1880, and the building has been restored as a small museum. The island is a pleasant place for a walk if you have a quarter of an hour, with a path along the water, benches and a few cafés. It shows that the Seine here was once a weekend playground of Parisians, who came out by train to row, swim and dance.
After a day in the country, the last miles back are mostly about patience. The main routes into Paris from the west, the A86 and the N13, fill up with commuter traffic from about four in the afternoon, and weekends see long queues of returning day-trippers. Smaller roads along the river are more relaxing, with plane trees and old walls, and traffic lights that, at least, keep you moving. Fuel is no problem, with a choice of stations, and cafés and bars open late. A cold drink and a sandwich by the water is a decent way to wind down.
If you finish before dark, walk to the riverbank and watch the barges slide by, heavy with sand and grain. The Seine here still works for a living, and the lights on the water look very good after a long day.