Vanoise Gateway Overnight · short arc

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fuel stop near Tignieu

   A little north of Tignieu-Jameyzieu, the land runs down to the Rhône, and the river makes a broad, braided sweep across the plain before it reaches Lyon. On the far bank lies the Plaine de l'Ain, a wide gravel terrace of farms and industrial zones, and upstream the hills of the Bugey begin to rise. It is a landscape of crossings: bridges at Loyettes and Lagnieu, gravel pits turned into lakes, and long views towards the mountains.

   Read the complete Fuel stop near Tignieu write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Vanoise Gateway Overnight is where the day begins. Next is Food stop in Ceyzériat.

2. 2. Food stop in Ceyzériat

   Ceyzériat lies at the foot of the Revermont, just east of Bourg-en-Bresse, where the flat Bresse plain meets the first limestone ridge of the Jura. Behind the village, the wooded slopes rise steeply, and the hill of Mont July above it offers a viewpoint over the Bresse, with the Alps sometimes visible far to the south-east on clear days.

   Read the complete Food stop in Ceyzériat write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Food stop in Ceyzériat is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point in Neuville-les-Dames.

3. 3. High point in Neuville-les-Dames

   The name gives away the story. Until the Revolution, Neuville-les-Dames was the seat of a chapter of noble canonesses, a community of aristocratic women who lived here under a religious rule but without the strict vows of nuns. To be admitted, a young woman had to prove several generations of noble ancestry on both sides of the family. They lived in comfortable houses around the church, wore elegant habits and could leave to marry if they wished. The chapter was dissolved in the 1790s, but the dames stayed in the village's name.

   Read the complete High point in Neuville-les-Dames write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Tarare.

4. 4. Scenic stretch near Tarare

   Muslin made Tarare's fortune. From the eighteenth century onwards the town wove fine, light cotton cloth that was sold across Europe, and every few years it still celebrates the fact with the Fête des Mousselines, when the streets and façades disappear under kilometres of draped fabric in a riot of colour. Outside festival time, Tarare is a quiet valley town in the hills between the Beaujolais and the Lyonnais, with old mill buildings and a long main street.

   Read the complete Scenic stretch near Tarare write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Scenic stretch near Tarare, about halfway. Next is Lyon / Rhône-Alpes rides return.

5. 5. Near Boën-sur-Lignon, on the way back

   The Lignon du Forez comes out of the Monts du Forez with a cold, clean hurry, and by the time it reaches the plain around Boën it has cut itself a shallow gorge through old volcanic rock. This is the country west of Lyon and north of Saint-Étienne that most people cross on the autoroute without noticing, and that is exactly why it is pleasant. The Forez plain is a wide, flat bowl of pasture and orchards, and the mountains stand along its western edge like a wall with the road folded into the foot of it.

   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 sits at 252 km, late in the day. Next is Photo stop near La Ricamarie.

6. 6. Photo stop near La Ricamarie

   La Ricamarie is a former mining town on the south-western edge of Saint-Étienne, where the coal basin meets the first slopes of the Pilat. For more than a century, the pits here produced the coal that fed the factories of the Stéphanois region, and the town still carries the marks of that history: workers' houses, old slag heaps grown over with trees, and a strong sense of community.

   Read the complete Photo stop near La Ricamarie 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 330 km.