The best traffic-free bike rides around Saint-Hilaire-Sur-Erre

This ancient fortified castle dominates the Huisne Valley at 360° with its imposing keep. The building, with its troubled history, has undergone numerous modifications in its architecture and functions. A visit is essential to understand the complexity of its history and to observe the architectural evolutions.

The Church of Saint-Pierre, under the Ancien Régime, part of the deanery of Bellême, in the diocese of Sées, is located in the heart of the village of Saint-Pierre-la-Bruyère, in the Perche region. This building features a relatively high nave, surmounted by a slate bell tower, extending into a square-plan choir, much lower, flanked by a rectangular chapel to the south. The façade is supported by four powerful buttresses that appear to date from the late Middle Ages. It features a basket-handle lintel entrance door, dating from the late Gothic period. This door replaced a Romanesque doorway whose semicircular arch appears above the Gothic opening. It is surmounted by a pointed window. The northern drip wall is flanked, where it meets the western façade, by a brick staircase turret leading to the attic. The nave was built in the Romanesque period, as evidenced by the small round-arched windows in the upper part of the north drip wall. The bell tower is supported by four posts set within the nave's volume behind the façade wall. The three bays delimited by these posts are covered by a plastered wooden vault, lower than the nave vault, built in the 18th century. The triumphal arch is quite small. It is flanked by two finely crafted stone altarpieces. The choir is adorned with a large stone altarpiece with three sides delimited by four columns, surmounted by a richly decorated cornice crowned with fire pots. The high altar and side altars, in the same style, were built after the episcopal visit of 1706. They are a representative example of the quality of the renovations carried out in Percheron churches in the 17th and 18th centuries. A seigneurial chapel, built in the late 15th or early 16th centuries to the south of the choir, was converted into a sacristy between 1701 and 1706, to satisfy the observations made during the episcopal visitations. The arch opening onto the choir was walled up for this purpose. Aside from the altarpieces, the church contains few furnishings: an 18th-century stone Virgin Mary and a 16th-century baptismal font. The Sauvegarde de l'Art Français (French Art Protection Agency) granted €4,000 in grants in 2005 for the restoration of the roof.

A must-see that overlooks the valley.

Nestled on hillsides painted with ochre, yellow, or pink sand, limestone, and lights, Mortagne-au-Perche is a must-see for anyone wanting to explore Le Perche. A favorite holiday resort of the Counts of Perche and their wives, Mortagne-au-Perche has managed to preserve its monuments and historical heritage. This medieval town brimming with character is recommended for exploring by bike or on foot.

The church has a Latin cross plan. It has a single nave and a flat chevet. A small building is attached to the chevet. A bell tower flanks the building. Buttresses support the drip walls and the gable wall. Pointed arch bays with tracery illuminate the building. The portal, in a low arch, has its external arched voussure.

Always straight ahead. Slightly downhill, through the shady forest.

The Huisne is a river in central France, flowing in the regions of Normandy, Centre-Val de Loire and Pays de la Loire. It rises in the municipality of La Perrière, in the Perche Regional Nature Park, initially drains to the northeast, later to the southeast, finally turns to the southwest near Condé-sur-Huisne and, after around 165[2] kilometres, flows into the Sarthe in Le Mans as a left tributary.

Very beautiful start to the route with an arrival at this magnificent mill