CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
Out of Saint-Jean-de-Bournay, one way: 459 km, roughly 7 h 57 in the saddle. The stops in between: near Cognin, Scenic stretch in Buellas and Saint-Yan. near Saint-Martin-du-Frêne is the high point. It tops out at about 1,300 m. Much of it runs through woodland.
There is a particular kind of French country town that exists mainly to serve the farms around it, and Saint-Jean-de-Bournay is a good example: a square with plane trees, a church, a café where the same men have been drinking their morning coffee for decades, a pharmacy, a bakery and a weekly market. It sits in a shallow valley in the hills of the Bas-Dauphiné, about twenty-five kilometres east of Vienne, and it does not try to be anything else.
Read the complete Fuel stop near Saint-Jean-de-Bournay write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Loire Gorges and Le Puy is where the day begins. Next is Food stop near Cognin.
Food stop near Cognin is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point near Saint-Martin-du-Frêne.
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch in Buellas.
Buellas is a small village in the Bresse, just west of Bourg-en-Bresse in the Ain department. The Bresse is a flat, fertile region of farms, hedgerows, ponds and woods, known above all for its chickens: the Bresse chicken, with its blue feet, white plumage and red comb, matching the colours of the French flag, is the only poultry in France with its own protected designation of origin. Farmers here raise them in open pastures, and they are prized by chefs across the country.
Read the complete Scenic stretch in Buellas write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scenic stretch in Buellas, about halfway. Next is Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return.
White cattle, hedges and Romanesque bell towers: that is the Brionnais, the corner of southern Burgundy where the Loire bends towards Digoin. This stop lies on the plain near Saint-Yan, a village best known in France for its airfield, where the national civil aviation school trains its pilots. Small aircraft circle overhead most days, and the open grassland around the runway gives the place an unusually wide sky.
Read the complete Near Saint-Yan, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return sits at 350 km, late in the day. Next is Photo stop near Noirétable.
Noirétable is a small town in the Monts du Forez, close to the border between the Loire and Puy-de-Dôme departments, on the old route between Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand. Its name comes from the dark forests of the Bois Noirs that cover the surrounding hills, and the town has the feel of a mountain market town, with granite houses, a church and a cool, fresh climate even in summer.
Read the complete Photo stop near Noirétable write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 459 km.
Fuel stop near Saint-Jean-de-Bournay → Food stop near Cognin is 86 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Cognin → High point near Saint-Martin-du-Frêne is 118 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
High point near Saint-Martin-du-Frêne → Scenic stretch in Buellas is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch in Buellas → Near Saint-Yan, on the way back is 108 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.