Mâcon Cluny Vineyard Roads
A 207 km loop
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Why this ride
A rider’s loop: clean exit, memorable middle, calm return. A 207 km loop that starts and ends near Lyon, about 3 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Mâcon and Cluny.
Roadbook
- Lyon
start
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.
The Romans founded Lugdunum on Fourvière and made it the capital of Gaul; two Roman theatres still sit on the slope below the basilica. Down by the Saône, Vieux Lyon is one of the largest Renaissance quarters in Europe, built when Lyon was a banking and printing city, and riddled with traboules, covered passages that cut through courtyards from one street to the next. Later the silk workers, the canuts, filled the tall workshops of the Croix-Rousse hill and rose in famous revolts in the 1830s. The Lumière brothers made their first films here, and every December the Fête des Lumières fills the city with light shows.
Food is the city's religion. The bouchons serve heavy, wonderful dishes such as quenelles, andouillette and cervelle de canut, a soft herb cheese whose name means silk weaver's brains, and Lyon has long claimed to be France's gastronomic capital. Beaujolais lies just to the north and the Côtes du Rhône to the south, so the wine is never far away either.
Getting in and out by bike is the less charming part. The ring roads and the tunnels under Fourvière are congested at rush hour, and the city has a low-emission zone, so check the current rules and stickers for your bike before you arrive. Once you escape, the reward is quick. The Annecy and Bauges rides head east over the plain and into the pre-Alps, where the Bauges massif is all limestone cliffs, pasture and quiet D-roads. The Vercors rides go southeast toward Grenoble and the dramatic balcony roads such as the Col de la Machine, where the road is cut into the cliff above the gorges.
Fuel, food and accommodation are plentiful everywhere. Fill up on the outskirts rather than in the centre, where stations are scarce and parking is tight, and save the bouchon dinner for the evening you return.
- Mâcon
sight
Mâcon sits on the west bank of the Saône, where the river runs broad and unhurried at the southern end of Burgundy. It is a busy, practical town, often overlooked by people speeding down the A6 towards the south, but it has a pleasant riverside, a long stone bridge and a relaxed southern atmosphere. The light here already feels different, warmer and softer, a hint of the Mediterranean that lies further down the Rhône.
The poet and statesman Alphonse de Lamartine was born in Mâcon in 1790, and he is the town's great figure, with a statue, a museum and streets named after him. He spent much of his life in the surrounding countryside, at the châteaux of Milly and Saint-Point, and his romantic poetry was inspired by the landscapes of the Mâconnais. Of the old cathedral of Saint-Vincent, only the twin towers and narthex remain, after it was largely destroyed during the Revolution.
The real riches of the area lie to the west. The Mâconnais hills are covered in vineyards, producing white wines from Chardonnay, including the famous Pouilly-Fuissé. Above the vineyards, the Roche de Solutré, a dramatic limestone escarpment shaped like a ship's prow, rises above the villages. At its foot, archaeologists found the remains of thousands of horses and other animals from the Palaeolithic era, giving its name to the Solutrean culture. François Mitterrand used to climb the rock every year, and the walk to the top is well worth it for the view.
The roads through the Mâconnais vineyards are a delight, winding through the hills, between the vines and the villages, with constant views of the rocks and the valley. They are narrow and twisty in places, with little traffic outside the harvest season. Mâcon has plenty of fuel, food and services, and the riverside quays are a pleasant place to take a break. Summers are warm and sunny, and the vineyards are particularly beautiful in autumn, when the leaves turn gold and red.
- Cluny
food
For about two centuries, the largest church in Christendom stood in this small Burgundian town. The abbey of Cluny, founded in 910, grew into the head of a vast network of monasteries across Europe, and its third church, begun at the end of the eleventh century, was longer than any other until St Peter's in Rome was rebuilt. Popes came from its ranks, kings sought its blessing. Then came the Revolution: the abbey was dissolved, sold, and used for decades as a stone quarry. What remains is a fragment, a single soaring arm of the transept with its octagonal bell tower, and the empty space around it is almost more eloquent than the building would have been.
Walk through the abbey precinct and you can feel the scale. Digital reconstructions in the visitor centre show the church as it was, and the town around it still follows the lines of the old monastery, with Romanesque houses, towers and gates scattered through the streets. The national stud farm, established by Napoleon, occupies part of the old abbey grounds, and you may see horses being exercised.
For lunch, Cluny has a good selection of cafés and restaurants around the abbey, serving Burgundian classics and Charolais beef, which comes from the pastures just to the west. A few kilometres north, the ecumenical community of Taizé attracts thousands of young pilgrims every year, a modern echo of Cluny's spiritual pull.
Getting here from Mâcon is half the fun. The road climbs over the hills of the Mâconnais, through vineyards and woods, with tight bends and fine views, before dropping into the valley of the Grosne. Another route passes near the Roche de Solutré and the vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé. Traffic is light, the surfaces are mostly good, and the scenery changes constantly. The old railway line between Cluny and Mâcon is now a greenway for cyclists, so expect bikes at the crossings. Cluny is small, but it has the basics; for a wider choice of fuel and shops, the towns around Mâcon are the better bet.
- Lyon finish