Cattle graze here in a landscape that few tourists see. The hills are low, the villages are small and the sky is big, a very different world from the limestone cliffs of the Chartreuse that gave the ride its name.
The roads are slow, quiet and curvy in a gentle, rural way. They follow ridges and cross shallow valleys, with bends that are tight enough to keep you awake and not so tight as to be dangerous. The surface is usually fine, though farm traffic leaves mud on the road in wet weather. The area is sometimes called the Terres Froides, the cold lands, because of its heavy clay soil and chilly winters, and the mist that lies in the hollows on an October morning explains the name. In spring and early summer, the hedges are full of flowers and the air smells of hay.
Local history is rooted in farming. The old Bonnevaux forest nearby was a medieval monastic estate, and the Cistercians who settled here cleared and managed the land for centuries. Bourgoin-Jallieu, an old textile town, printed cloth for the whole of France in the nineteenth century, and its museum tells the story of the trade. The villages have large stone farms and old churches, and a number of châteaux hidden among the trees.
For fuel, Bourgoin-Jallieu is the nearest town of any size, with stations, supermarkets and restaurants, and the larger village of Saint-Jean-de-Bournay lies closer. Champier and Châtonnay have bakeries and small shops, but you should not rely on them late in the day or on Sundays. A local walnut cake or a plate of cheese from a village shop is a good snack, as the Isère region is known for its walnuts and for Saint-Marcellin cheese.
As a finish, it is gentle and unpretentious, with open skies and quiet lanes that let the day end slowly.