The geologist Déodat de Dolomieu, born in 1750 in the village that bears his family name, gave his name to the mineral dolomite and, through it, to the Dolomites, the most spectacular mountains of Italy. The village of Dolomieu lies a couple of kilometres from the point, near La Tour-du-Pin, in the rolling hills of the Bas-Dauphiné, between Lyon and the Alps, and it is a pleasant reminder that even quiet corners have their stories.
The landscape here is gentle and green, a patchwork of meadows, woods, orchards and small villages, with views of the Chartreuse and the Belledonne on clear days. It is the kind of countryside that riders cross on the way to the mountains without paying much attention, but on the way back, tired and hot, it is a welcome sight. La Tour-du-Pin is a small market town on the Bourbre river, with fuel, shops and restaurants.
For a swim, there are two fine lakes within reach. Lac de Paladru, about fifteen kilometres south, is a long, clear lake in a glacial valley, with beaches and bathing spots, and at its southern end, near Charavines, archaeologists have excavated the remains of a lakeside village from around the year 1000, preserved in the mud of the lake. Lac d'Aiguebelette, a little further east in Savoie, is one of the warmest natural lakes in France, and motorboats are banned, so the water is calm and clean, with wooded mountains rising above it.
The roads in the Bas-Dauphiné are quiet and winding, with good surfaces and little traffic, ideal for a relaxed ride back from the Alps. The hills offer gentle curves and changes of gradient, and the villages are pretty, with old stone houses and churches. On the way back from the Alpe d'Huez and the Oisans, the route to Lyon passes through Grenoble or skirts the Chartreuse, before descending to the plains. Summers are warm, and a swim in one of the lakes is the perfect way to cool off.