Some fly from London to Paris in an hour. Others see the trip differently and get on a bike, turning the journey into an adventure, “where you see more and have more fun.” From London to Paris, the Avenue Verte [Green Avenue] connects bike paths to small, little-used roads and marks out a week-long journey of discovery and cycling pleasure, through a mosaic of landscapes. And you’ll meet a plethora of people too – slow travel makes for endless enjoyable chance encounters! After crossing Normandy from Dieppe, the trail enters the Hauts-de-France region at Saint Germer-de-Fly, 25 km west of Beauvais. Most of this stage is along a recently developed bike path on a former railway line. It passes through meandering green areas and past ponds, large farms and small traditional timber-frame buildings. You then follow the Avelon river, which takes you to the garden of the painter André Van Beek, full of colourful footbridges, asters and waterlilies. You then pass by the Beauvais train station (to which you can also come to directly by train).
Unplug your mind and achieve inner peace along the London-Paris cycle
Stop wherever you like, and above all have some fun! The physical effort, the vibrations of the handlebars, the scent carried by the wind, and your taut muscles reconnect you to the physical world, your senses and living in the moment. The route becomes very bucolic between the Thérain
The majesty of Chantilly
In the heart of one of the largest forests on the outskirts of Paris, the Domaine de Chantilly offers a rich tapestry of emotions to its visitors –surprise (a castle on the water!), wonder at the creations of Le Nôtre, the king’s gardener, incredulity at the amazing Grandes Écuries [Great Stables] and a plunge into the history of France – we’re visiting a cousin of Louis XIV, after all. Classified as an Historic Monument, the Château de Chantilly houses one of the most important collections of French and Italian paintings in France, ranging from Raphael, Watteau and Delacroix to the famous illuminations of the painstaking art of the Duke of Berry. It is also home to a collection of rare books and manuscripts, and even a pink diamond. Today, this vast château offers a representation of the different traditions of landscape art in the West since the 17th century. You’ll find an English park, French gardens, a large canal and water jets, which made Madame de la Fayette write, “of all the places upon which the sun shines, nothing is quite like this.”
