The best traffic-free bike rides around Beaulieu

In the center of Randonnai, the 16th-century Saint-Malo church, enlarged in 1836, houses several works classified as Historic Monuments, including a classical altarpiece with paintings of Saint Andrew and Saint Sebastian. Funeral slabs serve as threshold steps. Inside, a plaque commemorates the departure of Pierre Tremblay (whose birthplace is in La Filonnière) in 1647 for New France. He is the ancestor of the Tremblays of Quebec and North America.

Since 1823, the commune's territory has united the former parish of La Trinité, which was under the bishopric of Chartres, and that of Beaulieu, under the bishopric of Evreux, located on either side of the Avre River, which marked the separation. The tall brick bell tower-porch was added in the 19th century to the older nave (15th-16th centuries?), rectangular in plan, whose wooden vault rests on an exposed roof frame. This modest rural church houses, as a counterpart to the Curé d'Ars, a 15th-century polychrome stone Virgin of exceptional artistic quality. The two sculpted doors of the sacristy come from La Trinité, as well as the engraved "flat tomb" attached to the nave wall. It dates from the 15th century. and the inscriptions are difficult to decipher: Jean Fillon, wearing a canon's hood and a chasuble, his hands clasped and his feet resting on two small dogs, is depicted in a Gothic setting with two angels, silhouettes of altar boys, and canons. Near the baptismal font decorated with three fleurs-de-lis is a large painting of Saint Gilles the hermit, with the doe lying at his feet. A beautiful series of stained-glass windows from the early 20th century illustrate scenes from the New Testament, and two others show Joan of Arc at the king's coronation in Reims, then taking communion in her prison before being led to the stake.

Located 5 km northeast of La Ferté-Vidame, the Saint-Denis de Morvilliers church stands in the very center of the village. The rectory was the abbot of Saint-Père de Chartres, whose monks owned the church from the beginning of the 12th century. Two charters, dated 1126 and 1127, attest to this. This building comprises a single nave ending in a semicircular chevet. A timber-framed bell tower has crowned the western part of the roof since the 18th century. The west portal through which one enters this building is made of gray stone, unfortunately cemented with a decoration of false stones. The south wall is pierced by five narrow bays, probably from the 12th century. Four windows were installed in the 15th century on the north facade. A fifth, now blocked, was pierced in the apse at the same time. Inside, despite alterations, the church retains an exposed rafter frame forming a medieval truss. Curiously independent of the church structure, it rests on two rows of posts along the drip walls. The vault is paneled. The presence of frescoes could be detected under the plasterwork of the north wall. For the restoration of the apse's frame and roof, the Sauvegarde de l'Art Français (French Art Protection Agency) awarded a grant of €16,769 in 2001.

very beautiful section of greenway in very good condition and shaded thanks to a beautiful forest.

Before, this place was so unsanitary that the villagers called it the valley of the devils. Monks of the Carthusian order settled and transformed this place so much that they renamed it the "ValDieu". That was before. Now, when modern man transforms his environment, it is to pollute it. I can't wait for the wisdom of the monks to be rediscovered! 🙏🏻😇

After seven and a half years of experimentation, malfunctions and a yield well below expectations, this solar road was finally dismantled in the summer of 2024, signaling the failure of a certain technological utopia. The electricity production was never at the level of the hopes raised: in 2022 for example, the figures indicated that the road could only supply electricity to three homes. The idea of powering the village's public lighting, which had been launched at the start of the project, was quickly abandoned. From the first weeks of operation, many problems appeared: subsidence, fouling, noise pollution, etc. Technical problems that led to frequent closures of the road. And the dissatisfaction of locals and users ended up sounding the death knell for this pioneering experiment. In the end, the project turned out to be three times more expensive than conventional solar panels. Despite these setbacks, the manufacturer behind the project insists on the importance of the lessons learned. Recognizing that their photovoltaic panels are not suitable for a conventional road, the company decided to direct its technology towards cycle paths, parking lots or sidewalks, and other passages subject to less damaging traffic constraints. In any case, the idea of covering our roads with photovoltaic panels, where cars, trucks and various agricultural machinery circulate, remains, in the current state of technology, a utopia.

Église Saint Madeleine is a church where beautiful various statues of Saints, famous and less famous. The reason for so many different statues is that the school of sculpture was established here.

The church of Rohaire, in Eure et Loir, in the Centre-Val de Loire, is attached to the parish of Saint Laumer du Perche, of the Doyenné des Forêts, in the diocese of Chartres. The church is placed under the protection of Saint Martin.