Why this ride
From Paris it runs 220 km to Paris; allow about 3 h 27 of riding. The stops in between: Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner, Chartres Cathedral and back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Paris and Chartres Cathedral
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 220 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 27
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
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.
Scenic road chapters
Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner → Chartres Cathedral
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 89 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 81 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Paris is where the day begins. Next is Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner.
2. Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner
On a gentle rise above the Seine at Poissy, set back from the road in a meadow ringed by trees, a white box floats on thin columns. Villa Savoye is perhaps the most famous house of the twentieth century, designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret for a wealthy family as a weekend retreat and completed in 1931. It is the purest built expression of Le Corbusier's five points of a new architecture: pilotis, a free plan, a free façade, horizontal ribbon windows and a roof garden. Since 2016 it has been part of the World Heritage site of his architectural work, along with the small gardener's lodge at the entrance, a miniature echo of the main house.
Read the complete Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Chartres Cathedral.
3. Chartres Cathedral
You see Chartres from miles away across the wheat. The Beauce is a vast, flat plain, one of the great granaries of France, and the cathedral rises out of it with two mismatched spires, like a ship on a green sea. After a fire in 1194 destroyed most of the earlier church, the townspeople rebuilt it in about thirty years, a remarkable pace for the time, and as a result the building has a unity that few Gothic cathedrals can claim. It was one of the first sites to be added to the UNESCO list, in 1979.
Read the complete Chartres Cathedral write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 106 km into the recorded legs you reach Chartres Cathedral. Next is back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner.
4. back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner, late in the day. Next is Paris.
5. Paris
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Paris write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Paris. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Paris to Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner
Paris → Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner to Chartres Cathedral
Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner → Chartres Cathedral is 81 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Chartres Cathedral to back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner
Chartres Cathedral → back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner to Paris
back through Villa Savoye et loge du jardiner → Paris is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.