Why this ride
Scenery first, traffic last, with checkpoints that make sense on a bike. 430 km round from Lyon - plan on about 6 h 32 of riding. The stops in between: La Clayette and La Machine. Much of it runs through woodland.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Col de la Machine Vercors
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 430 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 32
- Journey
- Loop
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Lyon
Two rivers meet in Lyon, and the whole city arranges itself around them. The Saône comes in from the north, slow and green, under the hill of Fourvière with its white basilica; the Rhône rushes down from Switzerland, wide and fast; and between them lies the Presqu'île, a long peninsula of squares and grand streets that ends at the modern Confluence district. For riders, Lyon is a start and finish more than a destination, but it is a fine one, especially if you arrive hungry.
2. La Clayette
La Clayette is a small town in the Brionnais, the hilly southern corner of Burgundy, and its centrepiece is a castle reflected in a lake. The château, with its towers and turrets, rises straight out of the water, and on a still morning the reflection is almost perfect. It is privately owned, so you can admire it from the lakeside but not usually from the inside.
3. La Machine
The name sounds like a joke, but it is a piece of industrial history. La Machine, in the Nièvre in central France, grew up around a coal mine, and it takes its name from the machine, a steam-driven pump installed in the eighteenth century to drain the mine shafts, which was such a novelty that it gave the place its identity. Mining continued here for centuries, and the last pit closed in the 1970s. Today, the Musée de la Mine, built around the old headframe, tells the story of the miners, with a reconstructed gallery where you can see how they worked.
4. Lyon
Return visit. Read the place description above.