Bike Tour to Compiègne

[French Mystique Tours]

A bike tour in Paris is great but a bike tour day trip from Paris to go biking in the French countryside is a good choice too. I like doing bike tours in Paris as much as I like doing bike tours as day trips from Paris to go biking in the French countryside. Today's bike journey will take us from the completely unknown town of Villers-Cotterêts to the well known small city of Compiègne. The bike and I took the RER A into Paris then switched to the RER B to get to Gare du Nord to take the TER train to Villers-Cotterêts. What historic event might have occurred at Villers-Cotterêts that would be worth telling you about? Apparently, one very significant event. In 1539 Francis I signed the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts here, making French the official language of the kingdom. Francis I also built a château here, which still remains and is mostly being used as a retirement home and for administrative purposes. Parts of the château are open for guided tours with reservations. Villers-Cotterêts is also the birthplace of Alexandre Dumas.








Here's the back of the château.




Here's the front of the château.



The look from the front was a bit of a downer as the roofing had been redone with a modern metal material, some of the windows had been blocked up and it was obviously missing some original detailing. In other words, it had the look of an administrative building.


More shots of around town.

[French Mystique Tours]

Like most towns in the country, as soon as you move beyond the boundary of development you are in.......the middle of nowhere.




Here I am arriving at the outskirts of Largny sur Automne where I encountered the aptly named Moulin de Largny sur Automne.




The moulin was built in 1516, destroyed in 1532, rebuilt in 1645 and in near ruins again in the 19th century at which time it was being used as a scale to weigh beets. I have absolutely no idea how one turns a windmill into a device to weigh beets, or even where the idea would come from, but apparently there was some expert on doing just this in the old days. It was a ruin in 1973 when the owner of a stone quarry and some friends decided to undertake its restoration. New metal wind fans were added and to turn them a motor from a Peugeot 203 and some Renault and GMC truck parts were used. Good thing this town has a windmill because that's pretty much all there is to see. Similar to most other small towns I visit, the inhabitants were invisible and thus I have no pictures of them. Here, I'll prove it to you.





Don't see anyone do ya? Ha! I told you so.


Leaving Largny sur Automne I entered what I would describe as a beautiful forest. Other fancy pants writers would describe such a forest with all kinds of flowery moon in June type superlative language but what's the point when you've got a picture




The forest broke to reveal a short stretch of a few attractive country homes.

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The stretch of country homes gave way to countryside which I will again describe as beautiful and spare you the flowery moon in June type superlative language since it makes you look like you're trying to be some sort of fancy pants and is pointless anyway when you have a photo.








Here I am arriving in Vez.




The map showed a château of some sort in this town so I decided to take a look. Being that I was in a valley and the town was on a hill I shifted down into the granny gear and snaked my way slowly up the twisty road into the village.




Nearing the apex of the hill I spied the top of what was obviously a pretty cool looking donjon sprouting above the rooftops of the village homes. This type of feature would indicate that Vez was at one time or another an important defensive position of militarily strategic importance. Indeed it has a history going back to Gallo-Roman times when it was a Roman military encampment defending Gaul against Barbarian invasions. After the battle of Soissons in 486 it became the capital of the Valois region for the next five centuries. Various structures were built here during these times until 1360 when the present donjon was constructed. Over time further walls were added as well as an adjacent château. In the 14th or 15th century (not sure which) it was part of a line of defensive fortresses (which included the famous nearby Château de Pierrefonds) protecting the Duc d'Orlean from potential invastion by the Duc de Bourgogne. Like most other château from this period it fell into ruin until the 19th century when it became one of the renovation projects of Viollet-le-Duc. It is in excellent condition today and parts of it are embellished by various artworks from the 19th and 20th centuries. It also houses temporary exhibitions.

The town itself was tiny but cute.

[French Mystique Tours]

Knowing about history is all fine and well but I wanted to get behind the walls to have a close up look at this pretty cool donjon and château. I rode this way and that way along the length of the wall looking for a gate or some sort of opening until I came to a sign directing me to follow a dirt trail to the bottom of the hill. All that pedaling uphill only to be redirected back down to the bottom was not what I was hoping for. It was all pointless anyway since the château didn't open until 2:00 in the afternoon and it was maybe around noon while I was there. This was the only picture I was able to get which adequately showed any portion of the donjon. The adjacent château was impossible to photograph.




Aside from the photo of the top of the donjon I took from the village there didn't appear to be any other viewpoints from which to get an appropriate picture of the donjon so I just took off down the road to continue my journey. Good thing I turned to look over my shoulder one last time or I would have missed this.






Turning back around and off I go.




Next the map showed a ruin called Abbaye Royale Notre-Dame de Lieu-Restauré. What is left of it dates from the middle of the 16th century. It's open on weekends from April to October and the entry fee is 3€ and free for under 14.

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Moving on here are some shots from the road. As you can see, the weather was absolutely horrible on this day.

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I biked through a village or two and perhaps a few small hamlets before arriving at the outskirts of Pondron, where there were some cows, a château, a small village and then another country road leading out of town.














I arrived at the village of Vattiers-Voisin and it didn't look like much at first.



Having acquired extensive experience in finding little tiny quaint villages due to my numerous countryside bike excursions, my built-in charm detector instinct was drawing my attention to a small row of houses uphill to my right. I sniffed out a little side street that seemed to lead up to the village area, which was essentially one east-west oriented street and that was pretty much it. But the homes were of an older vintage and well kept with lots of flower boxes in the windows and gardens and little bits of decor here and there to give it just the right look of authentic country charm.

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Next town was Fresnoy la Rivière, which was pretty typical of a lot of country villages I've been to. Pictures of the village will be followed by the now familiar ''back into the country'' picture.










The next town on my route was Morienval. Morienval is noted for its 11th/12th century church which displays one of the oldest ribbed vaults and houses several polychrome wood and stone statues. The church is part of an abbey complex which features what is left of the 11th century abbey building and a lovely park. I thought I would try to impress you by doing some research on Morienval and writing about what I had discovered. After over an hour of google searching I found next to nothing so sadly, for me, I will not have the opportunity of making you think I am smart. I did find a link to a website that provides an adequately thorough analysis into the history and evolution of the term gothic and its attendant architectural style. If this interests you check out the link.

www.newadvent.org/cathen/06665b.htm


Now that I have not impressed you with acquired knowledge I'll distract you with some pictures of pretty little Morienval. And don't ask me ''Where are the people''? I've given up looking for them.














This is a picture I took of a statue in the church. There were other statues in the church but I didn't take any pictures of them. Just this statue. If you go to a church you too may encounter a statue and if you have a camera the decision to take a picture of it is up to you. This is the only picture of a statue I took today. In retrospect, I have no idea why I chose this statue to be the subject of a photograph. It's not even a very good picture. The sign next to the statue said it dates from the 16th century and I have no reason not to believe that.

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The following is a series of photos I took riding through anonymous little towns and villages and stretches of countryside.













I was starting to get hungry and since I was in the middle of nowhere that meant I was probably going to get hungrier. I should have gone to the supermarket or a boulangerie or pâtisserie in Villers-Cotterêts and bought some food to put in my backpack but I hate weighing myself down with extra stuff, even if that stuff is meant to prevent me from ending up in my present hungry state.

If there was a restaurant around here it was after 2:00 so nothing would be open. This rarely happens in the country but at this exact moment I happened to be passing by some sort of food selling establishment. My increased expectations were lowered as I entered the building and saw a rather drab looking bulk food vending store, half of which was occupied with various cases of soda and water and the rest with mostly boxed dry goods. They had a meager shelf with a few offerings of packaged snack foods so I chose what looked to be the heartiest among the disappointing selections.

Happy to have at least something to put in my stomach I left with my package of a dozen chocolate covered gaufres (waffles). No sooner had I left the building than I noticed a little mini-golf course with a crêpe stand so over I went to supplement my diet. If you've ever eaten a tire then you know what a crêpe from a mini-golf course tastes like. At least it had nutella inside. Not the most nutritious meal but I got my essential vitamins and minerals from a bottle of Orangina. Waffles were on the desert menu but since they were a year old they mostly crumbled between my fingers. Luckily I have good manners so I was eating over the package (much like I eat over the kitchen sink) to catch the crumbs in the plastic box, making it easy to tip it into my mouth to inhale the crumbs. Nutella crêpe, an Orangina and a dozen chocolate covered gaufres packed in my stomach and I was feeling better than ever and ready to go.

[French Mystique Tours]

Arriving in the town of Orrouy and found it to be one of those towns that's worth cruising around on the bike to check out its rustic quaintness. It even had a château, some apple orchards, the prerequisite ancient church and a nice little park next to a river.

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Finishing up in Orrouy I was headed to see some nearby Gallo-Roman ruins shown on the map. Had no idea of what to expect to see but the map told me I could expect an uphill climb to get there.




Going uphill usually means a good view.




And then your arrive at the flat as a pancake plateau.

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Here is the first of two ruins shown on the map. It didn't look too Roman to me so I figured it must have been built on a Roman foundation.






Moving on to the next set of ruins.




And voilà!



Okay, now that is a little more like what I had in mind, a clearly recognizable semi-circular burm of earth.





Behind the amphitheater were the remains of a Roman bath, which is what I learned from the informational sign. I also learned that the church ruin was built on top of a former temple.




Movin' on.

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Back down in the valley I stumbled on another quaint little village called Béthisy Saint Martin.












Then off to the neighboring village of Béthisy Saint Pierre.

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There was no château shown on the map but I found one anyway.








Look, a human!




And another one!




This town was too crowded for me so I left in hopes of finding another town with a bit more breathing room.



Another typically deserted village.

[French Mystique Tours]

It was getting late in the day and I started to think about which train to take back to Paris. The smart thing to do would have been to go to Crépy en Valois (since it was closest) so I went to Compiègne instead. I had come this far and I wanted to see Compiègne and it was almost 30km on the small country roads but only about 20km on the busy road so busy road it was. Once I got about 7km outside of Compiègne at least there was a bike lane on the shoulder of the road.




Compiègne has been associated with being a place of royalty since Odo was crowned King of the Franks here in the 9th century. Louis XV had a large château built here and it was during his reign one of three royal seats of government, the other two being Versailles and Fontainebleau. The château was restored under Napoleon. Compiègne was traditionally a summer residence of royalty who frequently hunted in the nearby forest, which still covers a large area near the city today. Lots of historical events occurred in Compiègne. More than I care to recount. So I won't.

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Here is the Hotel de Ville, constructed in the 16th century under Louis XII its belfry houses three figurines known as The Three Picantins, whose mallets ring small bells sounding the hours of the day. I have no idea what a Picantin is, except that its name was adapted to a specific type of chocolate candy manufactured here beginning in 1920. The three figurines named Langlois (English), Flandrin (Flemish) and Lansquenet (?German mercenary pikesman?) symbolize the enemies of France during the Hundred Years War and have been striking their bells every 15 minutes for nearly five centuries.






Here is the château. It was constructed in a neoclassical style under Louis XV, modified to the First Empire style under Naploeon and to the Second Empire style under Napoleon III. Today it houses three museums, The Apartments, The Museum of the Second Empire and The Museum of Cars.



There are several other museums in Compiègne and they all seem interesting. Certainly there is enough of interest in Compiègne to make it a worthy day trip from Paris if you should be considering such an expedition.












The sun was just about setting so that was my signal to get to the train station and head back to Paris. Our bike tour day trip from Pairs to go biking in the French countryside is now over so that is all there is to show you today. Hope you enjoyed the ride. We'll head back to do some biking in Paris, sort of a mini bike tour in Paris, on our way to return the bikes before we part company.

[kziegler786]

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