Route Napoléon Weekend

A 603 km loop

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Why this ride

A proper escape from Lyon with roads worth waking up for. 603 km round from Lamure-sur-Azergues - plan on about 12 h 34 of riding. The stops in between: Lentilly, near La Motte-Servolex, Scenic stretch near Biol and Guilherand-Granges. near Roanne is the high point. It tops out at about 950 m. The line favours views over speed.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop near Lamure-sur-Azergues fuel

   Lamure-sur-Azergues is a small village in the upper valley of the Azergues, in the Haut-Beaujolais, the wild, wooded northern part of the Beaujolais hills. This is not the country of vineyards that most people associate with the name: up here the hills are covered with forests of Douglas fir and beech, with pastures and small farms in the clearings. The Azergues river winds through a narrow valley, and the villages are small and scattered.

   The area has a long history of timber and textiles. In the nineteenth century, small workshops in the valleys wove silk and cotton for the factories of Lyon and Tarare, and some old mills survive along the rivers. Today, the economy is based on forestry, farming and tourism.

   As a start and fuel stop, treat Lamure as the last easy chance: once you climb into the hills, services become scarce, and if in doubt fill up in Villefranche-sur-Saône or Tarare before heading up the valley. The roads here are superb: they climb from the valley to passes like the Col des Écharmeaux and the Col de Crie, winding through forest with endless bends, good surfaces and very little traffic. The views from the ridges stretch over the Saône valley to the Alps on clear days.

   Weather can change quickly in the Haut-Beaujolais, with fog and rain common, especially in autumn and winter. In summer, the forests provide welcome shade. Food options in the upper valley are limited and hours can be short, so a bakery stop in the morning is a wise insurance policy.

2. Near Lentilly finish

   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.

   The Monts du Lyonnais are farming country, with dairy cattle, fruit orchards and small fields divided by hedges and woods. The villages have stone churches and old farmhouses, and the roads wind gently through them, climbing to small cols with views over the hills. The Col de la Luère, above Pollionnay, is well known to Lyon's cyclists and is a pleasant climb on a bike with an engine, with tight bends through the forest and a view over the city from the top. To the north, the Pierres Dorées area of the southern Beaujolais has villages built of golden limestone that glow in the evening sun, such as Oingt, perched on a hill above the vines.

   This point serves as a finish for two long rides. The Alpe d'Huez and Mont Ventoux day is a huge undertaking, combining the twenty-one hairpins of the Alpe d'Huez with the bare, windswept summit of the Giant of Provence, and returning here after such a day feels like a homecoming. The Route Napoléon weekend follows the road taken by Napoleon on his return from Elba in 1815, from the Riviera through Grasse, Castellane and Digne to Grenoble. Both are long and demanding, and the gentle hills around Lentilly are a fine place to wind down.

   The roads near Lyon can be busy at rush hour, especially the routes leading into the city, and the A89 and the N7 carry heavy traffic. The country roads, however, are quieter and pleasant, though narrow and sometimes bumpy, with farm traffic and cyclists. In summer the heat can be intense, while autumn brings fog in the valleys and colourful woods.

   Lentilly has fuel, shops and a few places to eat, and there are larger supermarkets and services in the western suburbs of Lyon. After a long ride, a glass of Beaujolais and a plate of local charcuterie in a village bistro is a fitting reward.

3. Photo stop near La Motte-Servolex photo

   La Motte-Servolex sits at the western edge of Chambéry, at the southern tip of the Lac du Bourget, the largest natural lake entirely in France. Behind it rises the long, wooded ridge of the Mont du Chat and the Chaîne de l'Épine, and on clear days the view over the lake and towards the Alps is magnificent.

   The Lac du Bourget is a deep, glacial lake, with clear blue water and steep shores. On its eastern side lies Aix-les-Bains, an elegant spa town with grand hotels and a lakeside promenade. On the western shore, the Abbaye de Hautecombe, a Cistercian abbey founded in the twelfth century, served as the burial place of the princes of Savoy. The poet Lamartine wrote some of his most famous verses about the lake.

   For riders, the area is a playground. The road over the Mont du Chat, climbing from Le Bourget-du-Lac, is a steep, narrow, twisting ascent with hairpins and spectacular views over the lake. The Col de l'Épine, just south, offers another fine climb. The roads along the lake shore are scenic, though busy in summer. Surfaces are generally good on the main roads, but the minor passes can be rough.

   La Motte-Servolex has full services, including fuel, food and coffee, and Chambéry, the historic capital of Savoy, is just next door, with its château, its elephant fountain and a lively old town. For a photo, head up towards the Mont du Chat for a view over the lake, or stop on the shore near Le Bourget-du-Lac.

4. Scenic stretch near Biol scenic

   North-west of Grenoble, the hills of the Bas-Dauphiné fold into a quiet country of meadows, woods and ponds that the locals call the Terres Froides, the cold lands, because of their damp, clayey soils and frosty winters. Biol is one of its villages, scattered across the slopes with farms and a church, and it gives a good taste of a part of Isère that most visitors drive straight past on the motorway.

   The riding here is a lot of fun. The roads curl over little hills and dip into valleys, with constant changes of direction and gradient and very little traffic. The landscape is green and pastoral, with cows in the fields and woods of oak and chestnut, and on clear days the Chartreuse and Vercors massifs appear on the horizon, with the snowy summits of Belledonne beyond. Surfaces are variable, and gravel and mud from farm tracks can appear on corners.

   A short ride away lies the Lac de Paladru, a long, clear glacial lake that is a popular swimming spot in summer. Its waters hide archaeological treasures: the remains of a Neolithic settlement and a village from around the year one thousand, preserved in the mud, whose finds are displayed in a museum by the lake. The idea of medieval knights and farmers living on the shore a millennium ago gives the place a special atmosphere.

   Biol has few services, so fuel and food are best found in La Tour-du-Pin or Le Grand-Lemps nearby, or in Bourgoin-Jallieu, the largest town in the area. Beyond, the ride continues towards the Route Napoléon and the Vercors, where the roads climb into the mountains and the scenery becomes truly alpine.

5. Near Guilherand-Granges, on the way back swim

   Across the Rhône from Valence, the Ardèche bank rises fast. Guilherand-Granges and Saint-Péray sit at the foot of the slope, and above them the ruined castle of Crussol stands on its limestone crest like a broken tooth, visible from half the valley. This stop is on that western side, between Toulaud and Soyons, where the suburbs give way to scrub, vines and the first real hills of the Vivarais.

   Do not be tempted by the Rhône itself. It looks broad and lazy, but between barrages, barge traffic and undertow it is no place to swim. The honest options are the pools in Valence, or the cooler side streams that drain the hills, where a paddle is more realistic than a swim. Think of the water here as a rinse for hot wrists after a long day rather than a plunge.

   The land around is worth the detour. Soyons has caves and a prehistoric site in the cliffs above the village, and the slopes north of Saint-Péray grow the wines of Cornas, dark and serious syrah, and Saint-Péray's own whites, some of them sparkling. Crussol can be reached on foot from the village below for a view straight down the river towards the Alps on a clear evening.

   For riders this side of the valley is a gift. The D533 climbs west from Saint-Péray towards Lamastre in a long series of bends, and smaller roads branch off into the chestnut country with tight, uneven corners and very little traffic. The surface on the minor lanes can be broken, and summer storms leave grit in the hairpins. The east-facing slopes cool off early in the evening, which makes the return leg pleasant even in July.

   Guilherand-Granges has everything a town of eleven thousand offers: fuel, supermarkets, bakeries. Valence over the bridge adds more of everything, including traffic. If you want a quieter coffee, stay on the Ardèche side and let the city glow across the water.

6. Food stop near Ambert food

   Ambert has a round town hall, and it is not the strangest thing about the place. This small town in the Livradois-Forez, deep in the Massif Central, is also the home of fourme d'Ambert, one of France's oldest cheeses, a mild blue made in tall cylinders. And in a valley just outside town, the Moulin Richard de Bas still makes paper by hand, as it has done for centuries, using water power and old wooden hammers. The writer Jules Romains set his comic novel Les Copains here, and the town has a good-natured, slightly eccentric feel.

   Ambert lies in the valley of the Dore, between the forested hills of the Livradois to the west and the Monts du Forez to the east. The landscape is green, with meadows, pine and fir forests and scattered farms, and in the higher areas, the Hautes Chaumes, wide open moorlands with heather and stone shelters where cattle once spent the summer.

   The riding here is superb. Roads climb out of the valley in long series of curves, crossing passes like the Col des Supeyres, with views over the hills and the plain. The surfaces are generally good, traffic is light, and the scenery changes constantly. In winter, snow can cover the higher roads, and fog is common in the valleys in autumn. In summer, the hills offer a cool escape from the heat of the plains.

   Ambert has fuel, a supermarket or two and places to eat, making it a good base for exploring the region. Try the fourme in a local restaurant, perhaps in a sauce or simply with bread and a glass of wine later in the day. Next, the road continues east towards the Rhône and the Alps.

7. High point near Roanne pass

   You top out here; the road stops climbing.

8. Back to Route Napoléon finish

   The Azergues valley is the quiet back door into the Beaujolais, and this is where the day ends. Mont Saint-Rigaud, the highest point of the Beaujolais, rises to the north.

   The riding is a pleasure in a low-key way. The valley road follows the little river between wooded slopes, with bends that tighten as the valley narrows and then open again, and a surface that varies from good to patchy. Traffic is light, and you will meet more cyclists and tractors than cars. The side roads climbing out of the valley are narrower and steeper, with hairpins and short, sharp gradients, and a few have views over a patchwork of fields and woods that deserve a stop. Early autumn is the best time, when the vineyards turn red and gold and the air smells of crushed grapes.

   The area has a long working history. The Azergues valley was a centre for textile weaving in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the old mills and weavers' houses still stand in some villages. Lamure itself was a small industrial town for a while, and a former railway line along the valley now provides a quiet walking and cycling route. The granite and pink sandstone buildings give the villages a warm look in the evening sun.

   Fuel is not guaranteed in the valley, so plan on Gleizé, which is nineteen kilometres away and has a full range of stations and shops. Lamure and Grandris have a bakery and perhaps a bar, which is enough for a coffee or a bite, and the local farms sell cheeses, sausages and wine if you are lucky enough to find one open.

   Because the ride is a weekend loop that ends here, take your time over the last kilometres. The descent into the Saône valley is quick and easy, and it is worth lingering over the last of the Beaujolais light before you leave the hills.

Where this sits

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