Lyon · Beaujolais Golden-Stone Roads

A 161 km loop from Anse

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Why this ride

Vineyards, ochre villages and short-radius rhythm north of Lyon. Out of Anse and back again: 161 km, roughly 2 h 47 in the saddle. The stops in between: Oingt golden village, Beaujeu vineyard roads and Mâcon river. It keeps to quiet secondary roads.

Roadbook

1. Anse fuel gate fuel

   Anse is a small town of just over five thousand people on the Saône, at the point where the little river Azergues joins it, and it is the gateway to the Pierres Dorées, the Golden Stone country of the southern Beaujolais. The villages of this district are built of a soft, honey-coloured limestone that glows in the evening light, and the vineyards that cover the hills produce the lighter Beaujolais wines. As a fuel gate and start and finish of the ride, Anse is a convenient place, with fuel stations, a supermarket, bakeries and cafés, and it is easy to reach from Lyon, about twenty-five kilometres to the south.

   The town has a long past. In Roman times it was a staging post called Asa Paulini on the road from Lyon to the north, and its position on the Saône made it a trading centre in the Middle Ages. The Château des Tours, on the edge of town, dates from the thirteenth century and was a residence of the archbishops of Lyon, who held much of the surrounding land. It is a solid fortified building with towers and a moat, and today it hosts events and exhibitions.

   Leaving Anse, the road quickly climbs into the hills, with vineyards on the slopes and villages perched on ridges. The bends are gentle to medium, the surface is mostly good, and the views open across the Saône valley to the Dombes plateau and, on a clear day, the Alps. This is a classic day-trip landscape for Lyonnais riders, which means that weekends, especially sunny ones, can be busy, and cyclists share the roads. A weekday ride is calmer.

   For a final or first meal, the local restaurants serve the food of Lyon and the Beaujolais, with sausages, andouillette, cervelle de canut, a herb and cream cheese spread, and the local wine, light and fruity and best served slightly cool. Fill the tank before the climb, because the hill villages have few stations, and enjoy a cup of coffee on the terrace before setting off.

2. Oingt golden village sight

   Oingt looks as though someone has poured honey over a hill. The village stands at the heart of the Pierres Dorées, the Golden Stones country of southern Beaujolais, and its houses are built of a limestone coloured by iron into every shade from butter to rust. Steep cobbled lanes wind up toward a medieval tower and a church, and the whole place is on the list of France's most beautiful villages, a title that here feels earned rather than marketed.

   It is also a very small place, and the nearest town with real services is Gleizé, just beside Villefranche-sur-Saône, around ten kilometres away. Theizé, a smaller twin among the vineyards, is closer. So arrive with a full tank, and plan lunch in advance on weekdays, when some of the village's few restaurants are shut. Parking lies outside the walls, and the lanes inside are for feet. Wear boots rather than slick soles, since the stones are smooth and often damp.

   Oingt has a literary footnote. Marguerite d'Oingt, born in the village in the thirteenth century, became a Carthusian prioress and wrote some of the earliest known mystical texts in the Franco-Provençal language, a quiet voice from a world of stone and candlelight. From the old tower the view runs across vineyards and orchards toward the Monts du Lyonnais, and on a clear day the Alps hang pale on the eastern horizon.

   The roads around the village are some of the nicest in the region. Narrow, winding and well maintained, they loop through gamay vines and cherry orchards, past farmhouses with golden walls and terracotta roofs, and the corners are tight enough to be fun without ever being savage. In spring the hillsides are pink and white with blossom, and in autumn they turn red and gold, the colours of the stone repeated in the leaves. Wine is the thing here: Beaujolais, of course, made from gamay, and often drunk young and a little cool, which suits a warm afternoon on a terrace. It is a good place to begin a day, or to end one with a glass.

3. Beaujeu vineyard roads scenic

   Beaujeu gave its name to the whole region, and then quietly let the more famous towns take the credit. The lords of Beaujeu were powerful in the Middle Ages, and their lands, the Beaujolais, were named after the town, which was the capital until the sixteenth century. Today it is a calm, small place of about two thousand people, with a main street of old houses, a Romanesque-Gothic church, a handful of cafes and a sleepy confidence that comes from knowing its own worth.

   The town hosts one of the Beaujolais's most colourful events, the Sarmentelles, a festival held just before the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau in November, with a parade, music and wine tastings, in which the town celebrates the end of the harvest. The name comes from sarments, the vine prunings that were once burned in bonfires. It is a rowdy, cheerful tradition and a good time to be here, if you can find a bed.

   Around Beaujeu, the vineyards roll in every direction. To the south-east rises Mont Brouilly, a conical hill crowned with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of the Grape, a place of pilgrimage for winemakers, and the slopes around it produce the Côte de Brouilly. Nearby villages such as Quincié and Villié-Morgon are the home of famous wines, the first with the Brouilly vineyards and the second with Morgon, a deep, powerful gamay that can age for years. The hills here are steeper and the wines more serious than in the south of the region.

   The riding is excellent. Narrow lanes wind between the vines, climbing and dropping with views over the valley to the Saône plain, the surface is generally good, and the traffic is light outside harvest. In spring, the vineyards are a fresh green, in summer a dense dark green and in autumn a blaze of red and gold. Rain makes the lanes slippery, and the grapes dropped from trailers at harvest make an unpleasant surprise.

   Belleville, about thirteen kilometres away, is the nearest large town for fuel, and Beaujeu itself has cafes, a bakery and a small market. Stop for a tasting at one of the small producers, and bring a spare bag for the bottles, because it is easy to leave with more than you meant.

4. Mâcon river food food

   Mâcon turns its face to the Saône, and the river is the reason to stop. The town stretches along the west bank of the slow, wide river, with quays lined with plane trees, a long stone bridge to the village of Saint-Laurent-sur-Saône on the opposite bank, and terraces where you can eat and watch the barges. It is a town of about thirty-five thousand people, the capital of the Mâconnais wine country, and it has a pleasant, easy-going air that suits a food stop.

   The poet Alphonse de Lamartine was born in Mâcon in 1790, and the town celebrates him with a statue and a quay bearing his name, since he was the great Romantic voice of French poetry, famous for his lyrical verses about nature and love. On the other side of the river, the Bresse begins, the country of the famous chickens, and the food on this bank takes the best of both regions. A plate of poulet de Bresse in cream, with a glass of white Mâcon or the more famous Pouilly-Fuissé, is the thing to order.

   The wines of the Mâconnais are mostly chardonnay, grown on limestone slopes to the west, with a freshness and minerality that suit river fish, goat's cheese and local ham. Not far from town, the great rock of Solutré rises over the vineyards, a limestone cliff that gave its name to a prehistoric culture, and a ride to its foot is a fine afternoon's excursion. The old story is that, for thousands of years, hunters drove wild horses over the cliff, though the details are debated.

   The riding around Mâcon is a pleasant mix of river road and vineyard lane. The surface is generally good, traffic is moderate, and the best moment is early morning when mist lies on the Saône and the light turns soft and golden. In summer, the quays are busy with walkers and cyclists, so ride slowly.

   Fuel is easy at the edge of town, with several stations near the bridges, and parking along the quays is possible but busy at midday. Aim for a table by the water, order the plat du jour and let the river do the rest.

5. Back to Anse finish

   Back at Anse. That is the ride.

Where this sits

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