Our Route

In addition to the excellent Veloscenic.com in English, I gleaned information from the slightly different original French site Veloscenie.com and a guided tour offered by Biking France. My schedule is longer than the one by Biking France, covering the full Veloscenic route in 10 days of cycling with 2 shorter recovery ride days. Click the routes below to view each Garmin Course, drawn mostly from the recommended GPX routes but going from one accommodation to the next.

Day 0 (4 Sep) 

Singapore – Paris | Flight

Depart in evening. Arrive next day morning in Paris CDG at 09.30am.

Day 1 (5 Sep) 

Paris

Arrive at CDG at 09.30am. Air France Bus Line 4 to Montparnasse (16 euro; 1hr15min). Departs every half-hour 9.00am, 9.30am etc. Board at Terminal 1 (Exit 32) Terminal 2A 2C (Exit C2); 2B 2D (Exit B1); 2E 2F (Exit E8 F9).

Day 2 (6 Sep) 

Paris – Rambouillet (66km Moderate)

Start on Veloscenic. Leaving Montparnasse, this section of LaVéloscénie gives you a foretaste of the wider green spaces to come. The Coulée Verte greenway leads you southwest, away from motorized traffic, to Sceaux and Massy. Then join the formerAérotrain route – this portion is provisional, taking you on ordinary roads to the Bièvre and Yvette Valleys. Back on cycle tracks, cross the huge Rambouillet Forest.

Day 3 (7 Sep) 

Rambouillet – Chartres (50km Moderate)

Leaving Rambouillet, join the Guéville Valley, with pleasant little roads leading to the pretty town of Epernon, perched above the confluence of three rivers. Epernon, on the edge of Rambouillet Forest, stands in a very green setting. As you head on along roads, the pretty local architecture adds to the pleasure of the trip. You arrive at the town of Maintenon, where Eure and Voise Rivers meet. The Château de Maintenon and the Vauban aqueduct close by will impress you. Heading out from Maintenon, the aquaduct's arches form a grand backdrop to the first part of this stage. Following the Eure Valley, the countryside has a rustic charm. Then Chartres Cathedral beckons, an unmissable goal as you cycle along the roads on this stage of La Véloscénie.

Day 4 (8 Sep) 

Chartres – Illiers-Combray (32km Recovery Ride)

Stay the morning in Chartres. Depart after lunch as Illiers Combrayis very small.

Ride along the peaceful roads of this wheat belt to reach the tiny town of Illiers-Combray, where lived the French poet Marcel Proust. Illiers-Combray has not changed so much and has known how to preserve its charm of past times. Lunch and rest afternoon at Illiers Combray. 

Day 5 (9 Sep)
Illiers-Combray – Thiron-Gardais – Nogent-le-Rotrou (43km Harder)

Depart later in the morning. Let’s cycle to the Perche area, a land of woods, meadows and farming. You will discover lots of charming chateaux and manor houses (like the beautiful chateau de Frazé), picturesque villages and churches. Lunch at Thiron-Gardais before reaching Nogent le Rotrou, overlooked by its medieval chateau. The ride after lunch is harder.

Day 6 (10 Sep)
Nogent-le-Rotrou – Belleme – Le Mêle-sur-Sarthe (43km Easy)

Reach the ‘Basse Normandie’ area, a green and hilly land which offers a beautiful cultural heritage among exceptional landscapes. Along the hills, you will ride from old manor-houses to tiny wash-house until Bellême, a very charming medieval village. Possibility to use the brand new ‘voie verte’ cycling path from Condé surHuisne.

Go through the Natural Parc of ‘Perche’, from Huisne vallée et Sarthe valley, via the nice village of La Perrière, before reaching the ‘voie verte’ cycling path in Le Mêle sur Sarthe.

Day 7 (11 Sep) 

Le Mêle-sur-Sarthe – Carrouges – Orgeres la Roche(53km Harder)

Depart 9.30am after early breakfast in La Meloise. Pack some extra food. Ride 20km, rest and snack near Alencon then continue 25km on harder route to Carrouges (total 50km in the morning). Lunch in Carrouges by 1pm, visit the Chateau de Carrouges (last tour at 5pm; closes at 6pm). This chateau built with red bricks and granite acts as a summary of seven centuries of history, then depart by 4pm for short 11km ride to B&B in Orgeres-la-Roche.

Day 8 (12 Sep)
Carrouges - Bagnoles-de-l'Orne – Domfront (44km Recovery Ride)
Depart later after a full breakfast. Proceed towards Bagnoles de l’Orne, famous spa resort, which will reveal you its authentic French ‘Belle Epoque’ way of life. Continue your journey following the ‘voie verte’ cycling path via Mortain, a land of legends and history. Lunch in Domfront (or the B&B itself?) with longer afternoon rest in hotel.

Day 9 (13 Sep)
Domfront - Mortain (35km Easy) | Mortain - Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët (15km Easy)

Take a steep short road out of Domfront, but quickly is very easy the rest of the way. Ride 35km almost entirely on greenways to Mortain for lunch. The village of Mortain stands out on its hillside at the heart of the green Bocage Normand area. It also stands at the crossroads of La Véloscénie and Le Tour de Manche cycle routes. After lunch ride 15km. The enchanting Cance waterfalls are a focal point of the powerful local terrain, carving between steep hills, an untamed heart of ‘Armorican Normandy’. The greenway then heads towards St-Hilaire which precedes your arrival in the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel.

Day 10 (14 Sep)
Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët – Mont-Saint-Michel (53km Moderate)

A last ride on the peaceful ‘Voie Verte’, towards the Mont St Michel right in front of you! Stop at Ducey for a rest or early lunch. Ducey has a chateau to visit and is very picturesque. Enjoy this splendid and unforgettable view over the bay, with the salt marshes on the foregrounand the ‘Occident Marvel’ which slowly appears on the background.

Day 11 (15 Sep)

Mont-Saint-Michel – Pontorson – Paris

Watch the sunrise at 7am. Start riding at 7.30am (8am latest) in case any difficulty along the way. Ride to Pontorson (10km/30min) and take the train to Rennes. Lunch at Rennes, visit bike shop near Rennes train station and take TGV back to Paris. Buy train tickets online before-hand.

Planning for the Veloscenic

Our 10 year anniversary is coming soon and what wonderful years it has been. We are so thankful to God for one another and our lovely children. But this is not a blog about our children - it is about the TWO OF US! It's quite hard to find a picture of just the two of us nowadays. I had to crop the kids out of this one!

They will be cropped out of our 10 year anniversary plans too! We considered going back to Spain, retracing our honeymoon, then we had an option for Kenya but that fell through. So we started looking at the countryside in Italy and France. Renata was actually open to doing a bit of bike riding. Ivan didn't want to push her unwillingly in this direction, but she was game and after some googling, Ivan found the Veloscenic bike route - 443km from Paris to Mont St-Michel. At least we could some of this?

The research began. We decided it was possible to do the whole route, and that we could do this self-supported on 2 Bromptons. Arrive in Paris and bike 30-70km per day, staying in B&Bs and quaint hotels along the way. At the end we would take the TGV (high speed train) back to Paris. We would need some autumn clothes, borrow a second Brompton, and appropriate bike luggage.  Things fell into place quickly as we already had some of the equipment and knowledge. Others would be gleaned in the coming months. 

The Bromptons would be Ivan's S2L-X and a borrowed S6L (both black) for Renata that I previously owned and conveniently sold to a friend! By changing the brake levers it is possible to use a T-bag on an S-Bar Brompton as long as you don't fill it to the brim. We bought a second 2nd-hand T-Bag so we now have couples luggage! Ivan also used this trip as good reason to get a Revelate Designs Pika saddle bag which will allow him to carry more weight than Renata and give us plenty of flexibility for this credit card self-supported tour. 

Our leave is approved. We have 90% of hotels chosen and booked. Flights are awaiting the use of a debit card for cheaper booking! The Garmin has Europe maps downloaded, routes and hotels programmed, and the blog has begun. We are doing it!!