This corner of the Isère département lies between Lyon and Grenoble, in a broad, gentle valley called the Bièvre, the work of glaciers that once poured out of the Alps and left a plain of gravel and clay. Saint-Jean-de-Bournay, Beaurepaire and Eyzin-Pinet are market villages of two to four thousand people, with stone churches, farmhouses and fields of maize, orchards and pasture. It is a rural, unhurried landscape, rarely visited by outsiders, and the roads are quiet.
The area has its place in French folklore. The smuggler Louis Mandrin, a sort of Robin Hood of the eighteenth century, was born in the region, and for years ran a gang that carried contraband salt and tobacco across the Alpine borders, taking on the tax collectors of the king. He was captured and executed in Valence in 1755, but his legend lives on in songs and local stories. Many of the old farmhouses here have walls of rounded river stones set in lime mortar, a style typical of the region.
For a rider returning from the gorges of the Loire, the Bièvre makes a restful end. The roads are mostly straight and fast, with a few gentle bends, and the surfaces are good. Heavy lorries use the main roads, so choose the smaller lanes if you can. Fuel is available in Saint-Jean-de-Bournay and Beaurepaire, both about four thousand people, so you will not be stranded. Cafés and bakeries are in the centre of each village, and a market day brings stalls of cheese, vegetables and cured meats. Late in the afternoon, the light slants across the fields and the Alps are sometimes visible on the horizon, a pale blue line.
The only real difficulty is the occasional dense fog that can lie on the plain in autumn and winter, which can make the roads treacherous. In spring, orchards bloom and the hedgerows are bright. Stop for a coffee and a pastry, and let your legs recover. The long journey from the Loire is over, and the evening is yours.