Seek out the green roads

Leave Paris on the N-3, heading northeast, go through Meaux (where the lovely Brie de Meaux is produced) to the town of La Ferte sous Jouarre. From there, look for the network of little green-marked roads. Park your car on a wide spot in a quiet hamlet, and enjoy a country walk.

You know how your roadmap marks pretty roads with green? Well, so far, in France, all green roads are worth following. We approve.

France is also riddled, positively riddled, with hiking trails -- known as 'randonees', which are conveniently marked with discreet paint blazes - red, blue, yellow, white -- and elaborately documented on specialized maps and books which give incredible detail about the walk, and the surrounding area. These walks often send you into woods, then deposit you out on a little quiet road, send you through a village, then back to the countryside.

Layers and layers of roads, trails, villages, forests, history.