The best road cycling routes around Le Malesherbois

Lovely decent

photo break for the cycling group.

Former market square in the heart of Milly-la-Forêt.

superb little chapel decorated by Jean Cocteau where he rests. a commentary said by Jean Marais accompanied the visit. a so-called simple garden adjoins the chapel. there are many medicinal plants found there. entrance price 3 euros

Classified as a Historic Monument, this 13th century church is one of the most beautiful in the diocese of Orléans. Its bell tower is in Romanesque style but the rest is part of primitive Gothic architecture, with a Cistercian influence. Its stained glass windows make it a bright building. With beautiful acoustics, it regularly hosts concerts and choirs.

This door, which appears medieval, does not go unnoticed with its two towers and the battlements of its curtain wall. Make no mistake, it was built in 1928 on the initiative of Mrs. Belmont, an American national, then owner of the Augerville castle. This gate now belongs to the commune of Boulancourt.

Standing in the heart of the Gâtinais, the Courances estate extends over 75 hectares and includes a magnificent 17th century castle as well as its park and vegetable garden. Closed during the winter, it opens its doors the rest of the year for fun visits. If you're not pressed for time, don't hesitate to drop by.

Innocuous in appearance, Pithiviers station is totally different from all other stations in France, because it is infamous for having served as a base for the deportation of Jews to Nazi extermination camps. It was in the camp very close to this station and in that of Beaune-la-Rolande, of which nothing remains today, that 16,000 Jews (including 4,500 children) were interned, after being arrested, notably during the so-called "greenback" roundup and the Vél' d'Hiv roundup in 1942. Very few survived. Until the spring of 1942, families were sometimes authorized to visit internees, and these same places saw internees, families, their mail and packages arrive or leave in transit for months. The paroxysm of horror occurred during the summer of 1942 with the shift from a policy of racial exclusion to a policy of genocide. After the Vél d'Hiv roundup, more than 3,000 children will remain for almost a month, alone in these camps, separated from their mothers deported in previous convoys. All these children will be sent to Drancy and most will end up deported and exterminated. In the summer of that same year, there were 8,100 people sent directly from Loiret stations to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. These places have thus been witnesses to the tragedy of history and the implacable genocidal system put in place by the Third Reich. Because here we are at the heart of the process and the workings which made it possible to carry out the Shoah. This station also testifies to the policy of collaboration with decisions taken by the Nazis and implemented by the French administration. Now, no passenger trains arrive at Pithiviers station, and it has been transformed into a Shoah Memorial. Free, the museum is open Saturdays and Sundays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. A few hundred meters away, in Square Max Jacob, located at the intersection of rue de l'Ancien Camp and rue Jules Morin, there are also several commemorative plaques linked to these events. Finally, to bring a less somber note, it should be noted that the station hangars also house a transport museum exhibiting some old locomotives and vintage wagons, some of which are visible from the road.