West of Lyon, before the city has fully let go, the land starts to buckle into the Monts du Lyonnais, and the villages around Vaugneray, Grézieu-la-Varenne and Brindas sit on that first rise. They are prosperous, leafy places of four or five thousand people each, half suburb and half country, with stone walls, orchards and views back across the Rhône basin to the Alps on clear days. Craponne, a slightly bigger town, is a few kilometres closer to the city.
It is a fitting place to finish because the riding just behind you is some of the best close to Lyon. From here the roads climb west through cherry orchards and small woods towards Yzeron and Saint-Martin-en-Haut, twisting up wooded slopes with tight hairpins and short straights, and then running along open ridges at six or seven hundred metres with views into the Loire basin. Lyon riders use these hills as their evening and Sunday playground, so expect company at weekends, including cyclists who climb the same bends.
The area is full of quiet history. The Romans brought water to Lugdunum, their capital of Gaul, by aqueducts from these hills, and the arches of the Gier aqueduct still stride across fields at Chaponost, a few kilometres south. It is one of the best-preserved Roman aqueduct remains in France, and it is strange and lovely to see it standing among new houses and gardens. The Monts du Lyonnais are also known for their fruit, especially cherries in early summer, sold at roadside stalls, and for small farms that supply the Lyon markets.
The light is often the best part. Late afternoon, the sun drops behind the hills and the whole basin glows below you, with the Fourvière basilica a white speck above the city. In autumn morning fog can sit in the valleys while the hills stand clear above it, a good reason to climb before you descend.
Everything practical is close: fuel, supermarkets, bakeries and cafés in Craponne and the villages around, and the city itself only a short ride away. Traffic thickens fast towards Lyon at rush hour, especially on the main roads through Tassin, so if you can, arrive mid-afternoon or after seven and the last kilometres will be painless.