ViaRhôna II, 23 - 25 August, 2019

This was our second tour on ViaRhôna, a bike route that runs from Geneva to the Mediterranean following the river Rhône. It mostly consists of dedicated bike paths and quiet agricultural roads, or small residential streets in towns and villages, but also few short sections that travel on busier roads. The first tour was a week long ride from Valence to Aigues-Mortes by the Mediterranean. This was just an extended weekend trip with a goal to ride from Chanaz to Lyon and then take the train back to Grenoble.

Early on Friday morning (at 6:32am. to be precise) we took the train to Chambéry in Savoie department, and from there the bike route V63 to join ViaRhôna in Chanaz. It was cloudy and cool, about +16C, at 7:30am. when we started riding, but the sky was expected to get clear later in the day, and it did.

We had the first break with breakfast sandwiches by Lac du Bourget in a touristy thermal spa town of Aix-les-Bains. The lakeside promenade was full of cyclists and runners (although I took extra care not to get any of them in the pictures :)

North of Aix-les-Bains we tried some more unconventional bike paths, but had to turn back when it got too bumpy.

Actually there was no bike path as we found out later, even if such was marked in the maps posted by the lake.

So we had to join the busy road D991, which was quite narrow and missing proper shoulders. However, it was mostly flat, but due to a road construction we had to take a detour and climb a tough hill to Brison-Saint-Innocent.

Château de St. Innocent.

By the time we reached Canal de Savières in Chanaz the clouds had cleared.

Canal de Savières was crowded with canoes and all sorts and sizes of cruise boats. Sunbathers on boats greeted us cheerily as we pedaled by.

At 12:30pm. we stopped at the restaurant Le Lac de Bart for lunch. We had already tried another place earlier, but they did not accept cards, and we frequently fail to carry cash. We had salads and a pizza Napoli on their nice and shady patio, where no one was smoking! The pizza was very good, the crust was the best we'd had for ages.

We had just few more kilometers to ride to Belley, where we had booked a room at the hotel Sweet Home. They had a garage where we could store our bikes safely.

We had plenty of time to tour the city on foot before dinner. This is La maison dite d'Olivier Le Daim, thus named because Olivier Le Daim (1428-1484), the adviser of the king Louis XI, was supposed have lived there. However, the famous person of Belley was Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), a lawyer and gastronome, who wrote the book "The Physiology of Taste", and also served as a mayor before fleeing to Switzerland, Holland, and finally to the US.

Palais épiscopal.

Cathédrale Saint Jean-Baptiste.

There was a Réunionese restaurant in Belley, but since it did not open for dinner, we opted for the Sweet Home's dinner buffet. For 18 euros per person it was not bad, some dishes even had spiciness in them. On our first day we rode 62.34 kilometers in 4:13'46, with the average speed of 14.7kph and maximum of 32.6kph (I have a wireless CatEye cyclocomputer, so the distance and time accumulate whenever the bike moves.). Total ascent 742m and descent 740m.

Next morning, Saturday, we were up early at Sweet Home's breakfast buffet, which was not bad either, for 9 euros per person. Soon after leaving Belley we saw these nice huts for bicyclists at Les Lodges de la ViaRhôna.

We dreaded the beginning of today's stage we which expected to take us to a busy road. There was supposed to be a new pedestrian/bicycle bridge open this Summer over a branch of Rhône, but it did not look like it will be finished this decade. So we ended up on the busy and steep road, anyway, with all the cars and trucks. The climb was not quite as bad as we expected after all. We also avoided the tunnel of La Balme, since the route turned back to the river right before it.

A nice old stone bridge we just crossed.

Pont de Groslée.

We stopped for lunch at Brangues, where the French poet and diplomat Paul Claudel (1868-1955) retired in his castle from 1936 until his death.

The new mediatec.

The old library.

This little tower dates from the 12th century.

We saw several old and abandoned, and also some working, foundries and cement factories on our way.

Around 3pm. we were in Vallée Bleue, a beach resort in Montalieu-Vercieu, Isère department.

We checked in at a quite ascetic room in Hotel Vallée Bleue, and returned to the beach-side bar for well deserved beers. A little later we were asked to move to another table a couple of meters away, since we were seated in the dining area, and they started to prepare for serving dinner.

We booked a table for dinner as well. The place was fully booked even if the lousy cover band tried their best.

We both had half pizzas and half salads for dinner. Today we rode 78.03 kilometers in 5:15'22, with total ascent of 624m and descent 694m.

Since the hotel did not serve any kind of breakfast we hit the road early at 7:30am. with the hope of finding something within few kilometers.

It was quite chilly, but the fog was enchanting.

In a small town of Sault-Brenaz we found a grocery store open this early in the morning, and got us a couple of sandwiches and yogurt for breakfast.

Our breakfast point with the view to Château de Vertrieu (château neuf). Soon after we left the river and rode on a busy road D55. There is a long way, 40 kilometers, between this picture and the next when we passed towns of La Balme-les-Grottes, Hières-sur-Amby, Chavanoz, Anthon, and Jons. We saw a lot of tomato plants on our way.

When we joined the river again, there were some stairs to descend.

The last 30 kilometers to Lyon were rather scenic, first following the canal de Jonage (pictured left), then crossing the crowded Grande Parc de Miribel Jonage, and finally following the river again, until it was time to depart for the railway station Part Dieu. Today we rode 80.98 kilometers in 5:12'54, with the average speed of 15.5kph and maximum of 33.6kph, with the ascent of 521m and descent of 551m. We had few more kilometers home from Grenoble train station, which took the daily distance to 83.22 kilometers in 5:26'44. Altogether we rode 221.35 kilometers in these three days (223.83km with connections to the railway stations)