Why this ride
A 280 km round trip from Épernay - roughly 4 h 53 in the saddle. On the way it passes Provins, Palace and Park of Fontainebleau and back through Provins. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou and Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 280 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 53
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
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.
Scenic road chapters
Provins → Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
This part of the ride is 64 km of Provins → Palace and Park of Fontainebleau.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 64 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou
The caves under Épernay are older than most visitors imagine. Long before anyone thought of sparkling wine, the chalk here had been quarried for building stone, and the old quarries, known as crayères, were later turned to storage. Merchants of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries enlarged them into whole networks of galleries, and the cellars along the avenue still hold the wine at a steady, cool temperature of about ten degrees, whatever the weather above. In summer the contrast is dramatic, and visitors step out after a tour blinking in the heat, with their teeth chattering.
Read the complete Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou is where the day begins. Next is Provins.
2. Provins
Provins rises out of the wheat fields of the Brie like something from a film set, and the odd thing is that it is almost entirely real. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries this was one of the four great fair towns of the counts of Champagne, where merchants from Flanders, Italy and beyond met to trade cloth, spices and money. When the fairs declined, Provins simply stopped growing, and so its ramparts, its gates and its medieval upper town survived the centuries more or less intact. UNESCO listed it in 2001 as a rare surviving example of a medieval fair town.
Read the complete Provins write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Provins comes up 81 km in. Next is Palace and Park of Fontainebleau.
3. Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
Fontainebleau is the palace French kings actually lived in, as opposed to the one they built to impress, and for that reason it feels more human than Versailles. Almost every monarch from the Middle Ages to Napoleon III added a wing, a staircase or a garden, so the place is a jumble of styles, held together by its forest and its long ponds. Napoleon called it the true home of kings, and in April 1814 he said goodbye to his Old Guard in the courtyard that is still known as the Cour des Adieux, at the foot of the horseshoe staircase.
Read the complete Palace and Park of Fontainebleau write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
162 km in you reach Palace and Park of Fontainebleau. Next is back through Provins.
4. back through Provins
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Provins write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Provins, late in the day. Next is Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou.
5. Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou to Provins
Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou → Provins is 98 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Provins to Palace and Park of Fontainebleau
Provins → Palace and Park of Fontainebleau is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palace and Park of Fontainebleau to back through Provins
Palace and Park of Fontainebleau → back through Provins is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Provins to Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou
back through Provins → Caves de l’avenue de Champagne - Undergrou is 98 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.