Cycle route: Eastern suburbs of Paris by bike (part 2)

Route Summary:

Vincennes - River Marne trail to Chessy (Disneyland Paris) - Dampart - Claye Souilly - Ourcq Canal towpath - Bassin de La Villette (Paris) - Vincennes

Distance: 78km   Climbing: 250m

Route on Strava

Route in detail:

(Continued from the previous post)

As my route would not be straying from the river I didn't venture that way, and in fact it was a treat to have woodland emerge before me, and this landscape was quite attractive. 

From here on, the route continued further into the countryside where there people doing associated activities like trail running, horse riding, and fishing. 

Lac de Vaires - Watersports venue for Paris 2024 Olympics

In fact, near Noisiel at Vaires sur Marne, was a large watersports area which I believe will be hosting rowing and canoeing events at the Paris Olympics, and there were a few rowing clubs practicing along this stretch of water, and also on the River Marne at Lagny.

By this time I had crossed the river again and cycled briefly through Lagny to get back on the riverside. A lot of people were out walking, or were in the cafés. There was nothing special about this suburb, but I guess if tourist en route to or coming from nearby Disneyland Paris wanted to sample a French town, why not stop at Lagny, which is what some people may have done. Or maybe they were hoping to spot Manchester United footballer Paul Pogba, who is from there.

What was noteworthy for me was how the river path up-to-now had been a mixture of tarmac and compacted gravel, but then became a twisty stretch of single-track with tree roots bumps, pot-holes. Maybe I had missed a sign to get me back onto the road, but here I was on a proper off-road trail like in Surrey. 

It should have been fun, especially as I was on a cyclocross bike, but the cumbersome pannier made it difficult to get between the trees at times and on a couple of occasions my tripod, which was on my back got caught in the branches and yanked me backwards!

My overriding (pun intended) worry was that I would see the bridge I'd been hoping to go over, above me and I would have no way of reaching it due to being a long way from the road leading to it. Furthermore, I didn't know if bikes were allowed on this trail and I was worried about the path just leading to a mass of undergrowth that it would be impossible to get through. 

Chessy-Dampmart footbridge set in a sculpture park and among cyclocross/MTB trails

My fears were soon assuaged when I crossed paths with a guy out walking his dog, and he bid me a friendly "Bonjour" like seeing a cyclist was an everyday thing. 

Shortly after, I noticed a guy riding up behind me on Canyon cyclocross bike. As I gave way to him he greeted me and zoomed along. Yay, a kindred spirit. Another guy rode along the trail on a cross bike. So it's fair to say this is cyclocross country. 

This area, known as Chessy, is also within spitting distance of Disneyland Paris. All I needed was to head onto the roads to my right, and four miles later I would reach Alice's Curious Labyrinth. Well, I had already been through one maze in the woods; I didn't need to go through another one. So I continued my planned route to cross the River Marne via the bridge which turned out to be a wooden footbridge, to Dampmart and eventually Claye-Souilly.

Eventually the path took me to the Jardin de Sculptures where the pedestrian bridge was located. As well as cyclocrossers, there were a number of mountain bikers too. 

It's worth making a mental note that this area of Marne la Vallée is a place to do off-road training.  After a short break for my lunchtime snack, I crossed the river to get onto the road to the Ourq Canal.

My route took me along some undulating roads to reach a village called Claye-Souilly. This was no longer the nearby suburb. In fact, Meaux, a stage town for the upcoming Women's Tour de France was just 10 miles from this point, and on these country roads Paris seemed a world away.

On my arrival at Claye-Souilly it was easy to find the Ourcq Canal. It was a case of look at the road from where lots of cyclists were emerging (just near the town hall), and that was the place to go.

It was good to be on the homeward trek, as it had seemed quite a long day. This area was not far from Charles de Gaulle Airport, and knowing how long it can take to get to Central Paris told me it would be a while before I reached my entry point into Paris, at La Villette. 

The straight towpath back to Paris, along the Ourcq Canal

My ride was straightforward, with the emphasis on straight! Ourcq is a very straight canal. There only seemed to be about three turns on the whole ride back. Granted, I was kept on my toes when  the signposted route took me onto the opposite side of the canal, and a section between Villeparisis and Aulnay sous Bois had a few steep rises and falls. But overall, it was just a case of following your nose for 15 miles along this straight, mainly tarmacked towpath that ran parallel with the RER B suburban line.

In the early part of the canal the area looked pretty as the route ran through parkland and woodland. However, after Aulnay sous Bois there was definitely a "banlieue" kind of ambience, with rough-looking flats and wasteland nearby with graffiti on the walls. There were lots of young lads on scooters, skateboards, or doing tricks on their bikes, as well as well as teenage girls hanging out with their mates on this late Saturday afternoon.

Yeah, it was Saturday - what was I doing still on my bike ride when I could have been hanging out with some young people?! Or more like enjoying a glass of wine with some middle-aged folks in Vincennes! 

Even though there was a route that would take me straight down from Bobigny, where I was to my suburban base, it only seemed right to complete the route properly by going right up to the Bassin de La Villette, and continuing through Paris to reach Vincennes. So, on I plodded.

Bassin de La Villette - A popular hangout with boules and beer

Once in the vibrant area of La Villette, I felt quite motivated. Apparently the cool thing to do these days is boules. It's not just the preserve of old "Marcel" blokes, but loads of groups of young people were doing it on the many pitches that had been set up, while having a beer. That's another thing to do next time I'm there. 

From La Villette I headed to the Stalingrad junction to pick up the segregated cycle path along the Grand Boulevard to reach Porte de Vincennes and back to base. 

When I entered my hotel the receptionist asked me if I'd enjoyed my little bike ride, to which I replied, it was super. If only she knew it was just 80km little! 

Nevertheless, it was a fun day out.

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Cycle route: Eastern suburbs of Paris by bike (part 1)

Route Summary

Vincennes - River Marne trail to Chessy (Disneyland Paris) - Dampart - Claye-Souilly - Ourcq Canal towpath - Bassin de La Villette (Paris) - Vincennes

Distance: 78km   Climbing: 250m

Route on Strava

Route in detail

Whenever I go to Paris I take my bike. I either cycle all the way there including a ferry crossing in Dieppe. Or, of late I get the train all the way there. If you do the Dover-Calais crossing you can get a regional train from Calais Ville station or a much faster (and more expensive) TGV from Calais Frethun station to Paris Gare du Nord. 

Arriving in Paris from Calais by TGV

Being in Crystal Palace I prefer to go to East Croydon, get to Newhaven, take the ferry to Dieppe, and a regional train to Paris Gare Saint Lazare from there (with a change at Rouen).

Once in Paris I use my bike to get around the city. I also use ot for longish bike rides into the outer suburbs and towns. 

In the past, I have been West to places like Versailles and Rambouillet. I have also been South, to Fontainebleau. 

Although I tend to stay on the East side of Paris when I visit, I haven't tended to go much further than Vincennes. 

So on my recent visit there, in October, I cycled out to the Val de Marne and Seine et Marne departments (counties), which are named after the River Marne, the main river in the area, and is a tributary of the River Seine. I headed out towards Chessy, close to Disneyland Paris.

The thing about this ride is that it was largely traffic-free as it involved cycling along a river (the Marne), and then later on, a canal (the Ourq).

Bois de Vincennes

My ride began from Vincennes, where I was staying. I headed through the woods along a gravel path behind the Parc Floral, passed the lovely Lac des Minimes and left the woods to go through the suburb of Nogent sur Marne, and joined the traffic. 

There were a couple of segregated cycle lanes, but they weren't on all the roads - and not on the roads I needed to get to. But I didn't feel unsafe, particularly as the traffic was very slow-moving due to road works (plus ça change!). 

The noteworthy thing was how the road climbed steeply - something I hadn't been expecting - and then it dropped down really fast to reach another suburb, Le Perreux sur Marne, which was right on the river. The area looked pretty upmarket (or BCBG, as the French would say). Folks often talk a out "La banlieue" (the suburbs) with negative connotations, evoking images of high-rise council flats and neighbourhoods awash with deprivation, crime and the odd riot. I have certainly seen suburbs like that, but I have also seen many suburbs that definitely showcase how the other half live.

River Marne at Le Perreux

Le Perreux, with its beautiful houses bordered by picket fences overlooking the River and with Mercedes SUVs parked outside was clearly in the latter category.

Crossing the river via the footbridge to Bry sur Marne was a good opportunity to make the most of the sunshine on this beautiful autumn day and take some photos. 

Given how peaceful this suburb was, I could even get some clean photos with few people around to photobomb the images.

A few joggers and walkers passed by, but that was not a problem. One couple were curious and asked if I was making a film. Funnily enough ough they washed me good luck in getting descent photos ad it was "really busy on this bridge, with so many people"! They obviously don't get out to Pont Neuf or Pont des Arts in the big smoke of Paris much at all.

Footbridge to Bry sur Marne

Onwards I pressed, along the left bank of the river, to reach Noisy Le Grand.

 This ride felt like a tribute to the RER A suburban train line as all the place names were stops I'd seen on the RATP transport map of Paris. Indeed, the train line criss-crossed my route at various points. 

By this time, the neat houses were behind me, and I got a glimpse of the slightly rough and ready landscape of an area that was distinctly downmarket. 

(Continued in the next post)

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Cycling in Paris - La vie est belle!

When I lived in Paris almost 30 years ago I never thought of travelling around by bicycle. Cycling was something I did while on holiday or as a special excursion out with friends. 

I only knew one person who travelled around Paris by bike, and he was a bit "bohemian" so I just saw it as part of his ways. Seeing cyclists go around the Bastille roundabout, or even worse the Charles de Gaulle Etoile roundabout with its 12 avenues radiating from the Arc de Triomphe made me think they must have a screw loose or are even on a death wish! 

But 30 years on, I have happily joined those folks. There is a difference though nowadays. I have just returned from a trip to Paris with my bike, and I must say it was very pleasant.

Commuting by bike is very much part of Parisian culture, and everyone seems to be doing it!

Over the years, various improvements have been made to the infrastructure to accommodate cyclists. I first noticed changes about 15 years ago, the first time I cycled from London to Paris. At that time the famous Vélib bike sharing bikes had just been introduced (the first major city in the world to have this system), and there was a segregated bike lane that went all along the boulevards north of the River Seine (the right bank) following the same route as Line 2 of the métro (Porte Dauphine to Nation). 

It was great whizzing along there, even if you had to dodge the odd vehicle parked in the bike lane, or the errant pedestrian! Outside of this lane there weren't many segregated bike lanes - just cursory lines painted on the road. So it was no different from London. 

Personally, I was still happy to ride around Paris though, as by then I had started doing a lot of bike riding, be it my daily commute, training rides or cycle races. Also I felt confident navigating around Central London by bike, so I didn't imagine cycling in Central Paris would be much worse. 

The thing I did notice, and continue to see even now, is just how compact Paris really is. Back in those days I lived in the 12th district (arrondissement) next to the Marché d'Aligre. To get to Chatelet-les Halles would be about a half-hour by métro. But by bike you can do it in about 20 minutes. These days when I visit Paris I stay in Vincennes, a nearby Eastern suburb. To cycle there from Gare du Nord just takes half an hour.

Funnily enough when I lived in Paris back then, I thought any suburb was a long way away. But through cycling, I have realised that places really aren't that far away. 

In the last four or five years there has been a massive growth in the number of cycle lanes in Paris. As well as the "line 2" cycle lane there are segregated lanes in many other places. My ride from Chatelet to Vincennes (via the Marais, Bastille, Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Nation, Cour de Vincennes) takes in separated lanes. Then there are cycle lanes along the "boulevard exterieur" (the boundary between Paris and the suburbs), plus along both sides of the River Seine. The right bank is actually a traffic-free path, the Voie Georges Pompidou, with various other activities going on - running, rollerskating, picnics, mini expeditions, and a few hammocks if you want to just lounge and watch the world go by. 

These days there are loads of people on all kinds of bikes - all shapes, sizes, genders, race, levels of fitness (and competencies), dressed however they want - some even with mini sound systems blaring out. It's great to see this democratisation of cycling. 

The improved infrastructure has largely been as a result of the policies of Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who is aiming to reduce pollution in Paris by slashing motorised traffic, and promising a bike lane in every street in Paris.

Last year I interviewed Jean-Sébatien Catier of Paris en Selle, Paris's answer to the London Cycling Campaign and they had similar gripes to their London counterparts - not enough was being done. 

However, it was acknowledged that for changes to be made to the cycling infrastructure, the road layout is altered and this needs approval from the Home Office (Ministère de l'Interieur). So it's all in the bureaucracy - just like London Mayor Sadiq Khan has to get the green light from each London Borough before he can change the road layout. 

A couple of other points of interest around the Paris cycling network are a) they took ideas from the London Cycle Superhighway network when they designed their lanes, which is interesting considering that folks in London regularly slam the London Cycling network and b) Anne Hidalgo was up for reelection last year (postponed to this year due to the pandemic). She was unanimously voted in for a second term, and now she's just been confirmed as the Socialist Party candidate in the upcoming Presidential elections. 

Does that remind you of a trajectory of another Mayor of a capital city across the English Channel who put in place a decent cycle network and later ended up as head of state....?? 

That aside, I would certainly recommend taking a bike to Paris. It really enhances your experience of a trip to this beautiful city. Granted, it's not yet Amsterdam or Copenhagen, but it's definitely going in the right direction.

Cyclists of Paris

When I was in Paris to attend the launch of the Groupama-FDJ bike racing team, I took a stroll around the centre of the city and did a bit of people watching as it was quite a sunny day. By people watching, it was more about watching all the various cyclists go by. I didn't need to go very far to see cyclists as there were quite a lot of them around, so I just stayed within a narrow zone between Hotel de Ville, Rue de Rivoli, and the Pont Notre-Dame.

It's good to see that more segregated cycle lanes have been built around Paris, and the Velibs seemed to be back in use again as well after the catastrophic failure of the system over the last couple of years. There weren't quite as many cyclists as you see in some of the cycle superhighways in London at rush hour, but the lanes were still well used by scooters and skateboarders as well as by cyclists.

Rue de Rivoli

Velibs at Hotel de Ville

Commuters on Pont Notre-Dame

Quai de Gesvres

Boulevard de Sebastopol

Rue de Rivoli

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Paris Vélib - the love affair is over!

Last weekend I went on a whistlestop trip to Paris. For once it didn't involve me cycling from London to Paris, but when I got there I had planned, as usual, to use a Vélib bike sharing bike as my mode of transport.

The reason for my visit had been to do reconnaissance of the route for the Paris marathon, which I will be doing in about 10 days' time. Given that at this stage of my preparation it would not have been possible to run the whole 26.2 miles, I decided to cycle most of the route using a Vélib, and then run roughly the last 6 miles.

Being based in the south-east of the city, near the Bois de Vincennes, I had hoped to pick up a bike from near my hotel, ride the route from there to somewhere after the Eiffel Tower and then run the rest of the route through the Bois de Boulogne, up to the finish on Avenue Foch in the shadow of the Arc de Triomphe.

I could then pick up another Vélib somewhere off Champs Elysées and then ride down the famous avenue, carrying on along the route all the way back to the Bois de Vincennes.

I had been looking forward to this alternative duathlon tour of Paris by bike. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. It appears that I had missed the memo about Vélib bikes!

I set off from my hotel and ran to the docking station at Avenue Gravelle on the edge of the woods, where there were lots of bikes. However, the console for getting membership and renting a bike was down. There was just a blank screen and nothing else. I then ran on to other places near Charenton - the same result. Then I found another docking station at Porte Dorée where it said that you could pick up and drop off bikes if you already had membership, but other functions at the docking station would be available "in due course". Not having membership I then ran on to Michel Bizot, Picpus, Daumesnil, Reuilly, a number of places within a 2-mile radius. No functioning docking stations for love nor money.

Finally, after 3 miles of running I rang the helpline to ask what was going on. The operator was polite, but she was not helpful. Apparently the system had changed since my previous trip to Paris last summer, and she strongly recommended that I download the app which would tell me which docking stations were working.

But what difference would it make now, given that I had already visited practically every docking station near me and none of them were working. If the app was going to let me know that the nearest functioning docking station is on the other side of town, would there be any point in downloading it at all?? I explained to her that rather than it being a question of me having or not having the app it seemed that there was a more general problem of so many of the Velib docking stations not working. This was also underlined by the fact that I hadn't seen many people actually riding a Vélib!

I think the lady was a little bit frustrated with my complaining and in the end just said that I should download the app after our phone call, and by way of supposedly appeasing me and getting me off the phone she told me to go to a docking station at the nearby rue Dugommier where, according to her, that one was working.

So I ran to Dugommier which was a short distance from where I was, but just like the other docking stations this one was dead in the water too!
Finally, after three miles of running I gave up and took the Métro to Bir Hakeim, near the Eiffel Tower, from where I began my 8-mile run to the finish of the Paris marathon.

During my run I enquired at a few bike shops to see if they would rent me a bicycle, but they weren't doing rentals. At one shop when I mentioned how Vélib didn't seem to be working, the shop assistant replied knowingly, "Yes we know!"

It was only when I returned to my hotel and was browsing the net that I saw the news reports that Vélib had not renewed their contract with their erstwhile supplier JC Decaux, and had instead gone with a new company, Smovengo who had completely messed things up.

These reports dated from January of this year, and stated that things would be resolved by the end of March. But on the day I was there, which was pretty much the end of March there was nothing showing that things would be working any time soon! Out of interest, I did look into downloading the Vélib app, but the feedback was terrible, with people saying that this was the worst app they had ever downloaded and that it was full of bugs! Oh dear!

So Vélib has gotten seriously into trouble. I have enjoyed riding these bikes since they were first introduced in 2007, and that was one of my favourite things during my trips to Paris - just being able to ride freely around one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Vélib had even been seen as the benchmark for many other city bike-sharing systems around the world.

And now, this error of decision-making has led to a costly problem for their image, and who knows if they will recover from it! It has definitely been a case of it wasn't broken, but they tried to fix it!

A few dockless bike-sharing systems have come along (though I am not sure about using those yet) and I note that many people have gone and bought their own bikes. I am not sure if I want to use Vélib even once it's up and running again, as I would want to feel confident that their systems are robust. It is such a shame that this has happened. The best thing this can do is to serve as a case study to others on how to do collateral damage to your brand!

Back to my run - it was very pleasant in the Saturday afternoon sunshine in Paris, and the city was as lovely as ever.

Sans bike at Bir Hakeim bridge

No introduction needed!

Quirky (or Gehry) architecture in the middle of the woods!

Advance publicity in the Bois de Boulogne

Underneath the arches - aka Viaduct des Arts, near Gare de Lyon

The only thing is that I ended up being quite tired in the end as I ran 11 miles!

A lack of a bicycle meant that I couldn't recce the route in the way that I had planned, so on the Sunday I walked 5 miles of the route from Gare de Lyon to Eiffel Tower.

Notre Dame peeping through on Ile de la Cité

Place de la Concorde as I walked along the river

Alexander III Bridge, at Invalides

That meant that over the weekend I only officially previewed the last 13 miles of the marathon route.
In fact, the running around looking for a Vélib I did on Saturday had inadvertently included various parts of the eastern section of the marathon route!

So all that was missing was the initial part from Champs Elysées to Bastille, which is an area I like to think I know, after having ridden and walked there countless times both on visits and during the time that I lived in Paris. So I guess the reconnaissance didn't work out too badly in the end.

It was a good weekend, but sadly it was also the moment when me and Vélibs went our separate ways!

I guess I'll bring one of these for my next trip to Paris!

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