Alpe d’Huez and Oisans + Mont Ventoux Long South Day

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fuel stop near Mornant

   Mornant is a small town in the Monts du Lyonnais, about twenty-five kilometres south-west of Lyon. It sits on a plateau among orchards, vineyards and farmland, with views east over the Rhône valley and, on clear days, all the way to the Alps. The town has a medieval core with a fortified church and remains of its old walls.

   Read the complete Fuel stop near Mornant write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Alpe d’Huez and Oisans is where the day begins. Next is High point near Chazelles-sur-Lyon.

2. 2. High point near Chazelles-sur-Lyon

   For more than a century, if you bought a good felt hat in France, there was a decent chance it came from Chazelles-sur-Lyon. This hill town in the Monts du Lyonnais was the capital of French hat-making, with factories turning rabbit fur into felt and felt into fedoras, bowlers and cloches for customers across Europe and beyond. The industry faded in the twentieth century, but one of the old factories now houses the Atelier-Musée du Chapeau, where you can watch the old machines at work and see hats worn by film stars and statesmen.

   Read the complete High point near Chazelles-sur-Lyon write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Alpe d’Huez and Oisans checkpoint 8.

3. 3. Pollionnay

   The road from Lyon over the Col de la Luère is a local institution. It climbs west from the suburbs into the Monts du Lyonnais, through woods and meadows, with a series of bends that every rider and cyclist in Lyon seems to know by heart, and Pollionnay, a small village at the foot of the climb, is where many of them end their rides. It has a church, a few houses on the slopes and views back over the city, and it feels much further from Lyon than it actually is.

   Read the complete Pollionnay write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 819 km. Next is Scenic stretch in Chaleins.

4. 4. Scenic stretch in Chaleins

   Chaleins is a village on the western edge of the Dombes, close to the river Saône, about thirty-five kilometres north of Lyon. It sits on the gentle slope between the plateau of the Dombes, with its countless ponds, and the broad valley of the Saône, with its meadows and poplars. Across the river, the hills of the Beaujolais rise in a green wave of vineyards.

   Read the complete Scenic stretch in Chaleins write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Scenic stretch in Chaleins, early in the day. Next is Photo stop near Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne.

5. 5. Photo stop near Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne

   Flowers are Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne's calling card. In summer every bridge over the little River Chalaronne is hung with geraniums, and the town has won national prizes for its displays year after year. Underneath the colour sits a fine old centre: half-timbered houses, a brick Gothic church and a huge covered market hall whose oak roof timbers were rebuilt after a fire centuries ago and still shelter the weekly market.

   Read the complete Photo stop near Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Photo stop near Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne sits at 218 km, early in the day. Next is Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return.

6. 6. Near La Tour-du-Pin, on the way back

   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.

   Read the complete Near La Tour-du-Pin, on the way back write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return comes up about 242 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop near La Côte-Saint-André.

7. 7. Food stop near La Côte-Saint-André

   Hector Berlioz was born in La Côte-Saint-André in 1803, and the town has never let anyone forget it. His family home is now a museum, and every summer a festival in his name fills the courtyard of the château with orchestras. It is a fine reason to linger, but the town has other charms too: a huge medieval covered market hall with a timber roof, steep lanes, and the distillery of Cherry Rocher, which has been making liqueurs here since the early eighteenth century.

   Read the complete High point near La Côte-Saint-André write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   A break here. Next is Back to Alpe.

8. 8. Back to Alpe

   Saint-Martin-en-Haut and Saint-Didier-sous-Riverie lie in the Monts du Lyonnais, a range of rounded, wooded hills about thirty kilometres west of Lyon, where the city's suburbs give way to orchards, cattle and small farms. It is gentle country, the sort of place where Lyonnais go for a Sunday drive, and for a rider, the roads are fun and quiet, with lots of small curves, short climbs and pretty views toward the Alps on clear days. The dot marks a point on the long ride home after a day in the high mountains.

   Read the complete Alpe write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at Back to Alpe. That is the ride. Next is Mont Ventoux Long South Day.

9. 9. Fuel stop near Haute-Rivoire

   Planning note

   Next is High point near Feurs.

10. 10. High point near Feurs

    Planning note

    High point near Feurs tops the climb. Next is Food stop near Saint-Uze.

11. 11. Food stop near Saint-Uze

    Saint-Uze is a small town in the northern Drôme, tucked into the valley of the Galaure a few kilometres east of the Rhône at Saint-Vallier. For two centuries it was a pottery town. The clay here was excellent, and workshops turned out stoneware and earthenware in huge quantities, from jugs and pots to tableware, giving the place a long tradition in ceramics. Look for old kilns and potters' marks around town; the craft shaped the place.

    Read the complete Food stop near Saint-Uze write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    A break here.

12. 12. Near Rives, on the way back

    Beaucroissant and Renage lie in the green hill country of the Bas-Dauphiné, between Grenoble and Lyon, near the little town of Rives, and not far from the Lac de Paladru, which is why the point is tagged for swimming. The lake is a glacial one, about five kilometres long, with clear water, a few beaches and shallows that warm up quickly in July and August, and the water and woodland setting make it a favourite with the people of Grenoble and Lyon. Entrance to some of the beaches is charged in season.

    Read the complete Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return, late in the day. Next is Photo stop near Tossiat.

13. 13. Photo stop near Tossiat

    Tossiat sits at the foot of the Revermont, the first wrinkle of the Jura rising out of the flat Bresse plain east of Bourg-en-Bresse. Stand at the edge of the village and look west, and the whole Bresse lies spread out below, flat and green to the horizon. Turn around, and the wooded slopes of the Revermont climb steeply behind you, with limestone cliffs breaking through the trees.

    Read the complete Photo stop near Tossiat write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Photo stop near Tossiat sits at 655 km, late in the day. Next is Scenic stretch near Chalamont.

14. 14. Scenic stretch near Chalamont

    Chalamont stands on the highest ground of the Dombes, the plateau of ponds north-east of Lyon, and from its slopes you look out over a strange, watery landscape. There are well over a thousand ponds in the Dombes, most of them created by monks and landowners in the Middle Ages to raise fish and drain the poor, clay soils. They are still farmed in a rotation that dates back centuries: a pond is filled and stocked with carp for a few years, then drained and planted with cereals, before being flooded again.

    Read the complete Scenic stretch near Chalamont write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Scenic stretch near Chalamont comes up about 742 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mont Ventoux Long South Day checkpoint 8.

15. 15. Near Lentilly

    West of Lyon, the land rises into soft hills, and the city's suburbs dissolve into villages, orchards and woods. To the north lie the vineyards of the Beaujolais, and on clear days you can see the Alps, even Mont Blanc, far to the east across the plain.

    Read the complete Near Lentilly write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Mont Ventoux Long South Day checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Back to Mont Ventoux.

16. 16. Back to Mont Ventoux

    The plateau of the Monts du Lyonnais, west of Lyon, is the closest thing the city has to a country backyard, and this spot, near Haute-Rivoire, Saint-Laurent-de-Chamousset and Sainte-Foy-l'Argentière, lies in the middle of it. It is a landscape of rolling pastures, orchards and woodland at around six or seven hundred metres, with small farms, stone villages and long views, and on the clearest winter days the Alps show as a pale line on the eastern horizon. To the west the land drops toward the plain of the Forez and the Loire, with Feurs, a market town of about eight thousand people, in the middle distance.

    Read the complete Mont Ventoux write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Back to Mont Ventoux closes the day.