The Azergues valley is the quiet back door into the Beaujolais, and this is where the day ends. Mont Saint-Rigaud, the highest point of the Beaujolais, rises to the north.
The riding is a pleasure in a low-key way. The valley road follows the little river between wooded slopes, with bends that tighten as the valley narrows and then open again, and a surface that varies from good to patchy. Traffic is light, and you will meet more cyclists and tractors than cars. The side roads climbing out of the valley are narrower and steeper, with hairpins and short, sharp gradients, and a few have views over a patchwork of fields and woods that deserve a stop. Early autumn is the best time, when the vineyards turn red and gold and the air smells of crushed grapes.
The area has a long working history. The Azergues valley was a centre for textile weaving in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the old mills and weavers' houses still stand in some villages. Lamure itself was a small industrial town for a while, and a former railway line along the valley now provides a quiet walking and cycling route. The granite and pink sandstone buildings give the villages a warm look in the evening sun.
Fuel is not guaranteed in the valley, so plan on Gleizé, which is nineteen kilometres away and has a full range of stations and shops. Lamure and Grandris have a bakery and perhaps a bar, which is enough for a coffee or a bite, and the local farms sell cheeses, sausages and wine if you are lucky enough to find one open.
Because the ride is a weekend loop that ends here, take your time over the last kilometres. The descent into the Saône valley is quick and easy, and it is worth lingering over the last of the Beaujolais light before you leave the hills.