Day 15 - St Genis to Lyon Airport

Set off this morning from our hotel and stopped a mile or so later for breakfast at St Genis-Laval where we were quizzed on our journey by a couple of old French codgers who seemed reasonably impressed by our efforts. We then followed the road down into Lyon itself,  the road was reasonably busy but the traffic was going slowly and we were going downhill so it wasn't really a problem holding your own with the other vehicles.

Once we got to near the Confluence Museum we had a couple of busy intersections to cross and then we were on to cycle tracks the whole way

The Confluence Museum is in an amazing building and looks as if it is just waiting for Hans Solo to turn up and fly it away.

We were then on to the cycle path along the Rhône past cruise boats and floating pubs.  The infrastructure was brilliant with separate cycle lanes and footpaths right through the centre of the city.

We followed the river and canals through a house park, the Grand Parc Marbella Jonage, with lots of lakes and a load of French kids having a great time with some sailing lessons.

We stopped off at a lovely looking restaurant for lunch, got the bikes locked up and then were told it was full, disaster!  Fortunately there was another restaurant next door where we had an excellent leisurely lunch with a few glasses of the local rosé.

It was just another 6 miles or so to our airport hotel where we got checked in and then went on a reconnaissance mission to check out our route to departures tomorrow, it looks un piece de gateaux.

It has been another great trip seeing new parts of France.  Our daily distances have been a bit shorter than usual and our navigation has worked a treat giving us a bit more time to enjoy the places we have passed through.  But as usual the overall trip has been just too short and we wish we were just carrying on for a few more weeks.  

The usual question has already cropped up "where next?",  we already have a few thoughts on that but those could change.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2724992075

Fwd: Day 14 - A wander around Lyon

> Another sunny day but a good bit cooler than it has been recently. We took the bus into Lyon this morning and then went for a tour of the city on the hop on hop off bus which gave a pretty good introduction to the wide variety of districts. We then went for a wander having lunch in the old town then taking the funicular up to the impressive Basilica and the Roman theatre.
>
> We really only scratched the surface of the place but it has a great atmosphere about it, plenty going on but not over run with tourists.
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> It does however have loads of folk dashing about on electric scooters. There seems to be quite a few hire schemes where you locate available scooters by an app on your phone and then abandon them anywhere once you're done with them. Unfortunately we didn't figure out how it all worked. Maybe next time.
>
> A slight drama when we got back to our hotel and found that the code to our door didn't work. It turned out that there had been some confusion when we checked in and we had apparently only booked for one night instead of the the 2 which I had asked for. There was apparently a bit of a stushie when the staff went to change over our room for the next guests and found all our gear still there! Fortunately they left it where it was and we are now properly booked in for a second night.

Day 13 - unlucky for some

Another change of plan today as Sandra came down with a sickness bug overnight which meant that our only journey today was to the nearest accommodation with en-suite facilities! Luckily we got into a hotel less than a mile away and after a good sleep this afternoon she seems to be on the mend. The bikes are tucked away under the stairs and hopefully tomorrow we'll take the bus into the centre of Lyon for a look around.

Day 12 - St Alban du Rhône to Lyon (almost). 30 miles

https://www.strava.com/activities/2716671804

Breakfast at our excellent campsite, then back down to join the Velo Rhôna cycle path along the river. Even more vineyards today and it looked as though the harvest was underway. Along the riverside plain there was also a lot of different agriculture.

   

We stopped off at Vienne to have a wander around the town and see some of the old Roman sites, after a bite to eat we went and had a look round the Roman museum which gives a really good description of the history of the area.  It was a bit too hot going round some of the outdoor exhibits some were glad to get back on the bikes for some breeze.

Since Grenoble we have been following immaculate cycle paths and quiet roads, however they don't seem to have quite finished the route into Lyon.  After Givors we ended up on a really rough riverside path, followed by a main road, followed by some uphill singletrack with a wee pushy bit, then some more singletrack along the riverside with some dodgy loose bits to test your bike handling skills. It was great fun!

A quick stop for some refreshments at Vernaison wee hit some seriously steep but fairly short climbs and followed a most unlikely route straight to our campsite.  The loading of our route into our garmins has really paid off on this trip.

Day 11 - Toulon sur Rhône to St Alban du Rhône. 41 miles

Last night we had decided we were going to stay another night at Toulon, however although the campsite has a lovely riverside location, it is also beside the main road which had lorries and buses thundering past all night. So we have decided to move on.

Fairly easy cycling today along the excellent cycle route through vineyards and orchards, passing a few huge hydro electric barrages which all have canals alongside to let the barges, cruise boats and other river traffic past.

Their were a lot of cycle tourists going in the opposite direction, this is apparently a very popular route following the Rhône south towards the Mediterranean. Although the cycle paths were great, we wouldn't fancy following the river day after day, you need some hills for a bit of variety.

At St Pierre de Boef we took a detour up into the village to find a cafe and decide on our destination for tonight and to try to work out a plan for our spare day.  After some steep climbs we found that the cafe was shut, but found some shade to drink the juice we had in our panniers and to have a look at the maps.  We decided to carry on a few more miles to St Alban du Rhône but we also noticed on the map an interesting area to the north of Lyon with hundreds of small lakes spread out over the countryside.  So our latest plan is to head towards the outskirts of Lyon tomorrow, have a day in Lyon on Wednesday then carry on north before turning back towards the Airport for our flight on Saturday.  This plan may well change!

It got pretty hot this afternoon so thankfully their were no big hills and their were a couple of handy roadside showers.

 As tonight's campsite is a bit out of any towns we took a detour into a nearby Aldi where we took our time in the air conditioned oasis to get some supplies in for dinner in case the campsite restaurant was closed.

It was just as well we did as the restaurant was closed but the pool was open and we've had a relaxing evening chilling without any traffic noise at all superb 😎

https://www.strava.com/activities/2713736063

Day 10 - St Nazaire to Toulon Sur Rhône

A bit of a change of landscape today as we left the mountains behind and followed the Isere down to where it meets with the Rhône. Great cycle route again which according to the signs has had 12 million euros spent on it. It was pretty hot again today, around 35 degrees but not too bad when the terrain was fairly flat.

Eventually joined the Rhône with vineyards on either side and huge barges going up and down the river.  As usual, Sundays in France are a bit of a challenge for finding restaurants and shops open.  At our destination in Toulon there were very few restaurants or bars open and they were all absolutely heaving as there seemed to have been some big fete on earlier in the day.

However they eventually quietened down and we had a really nice meal in a wee Italian restaurant.  

We had a spare day built into our schedule for this trip which we haven't had to use, so we think we'll probably stay here for a couple of nights and have a wee explore tomorrow 
https://www.strava.com/activities/2710752037

Grenoble to St Nazaire

An easy exit from Grenoble today following the cycle path along the Isere river. The first 24 miles were pretty flat with lots of local cyclists out on a Saturday morning jaunt,  there were also a few hunters out who seemed to be flushing out their prey with radio controlled dogs.

We then left the river and climbed up through the walnut groves to Vinay where we had some lunch.

We then crisscrossed the Isere a few times before ending up in St Nazaire.

Beautiful quiet evening at the campsite so decided on a couple of takeaway pizzas for tea.  It was all going so well until Sandra spilled her pizza all aver her shorts!  Second washing now done and chilling with our books.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2707602518

Day 8 - Bourg D’Oisans to Grenoble. 34 miles almost all downhill

Beautiful weather today again, a cool start in the town as it was in shadow whilst the tops of the mountains were bathed in sunshine.  We were retracing our tracks from 2 days ago, the first 9 miles  were flat along riverside cycle paths and quiet back roads until we turned down the Romanche gorge on the main road towards Grenoble

We stopped off to have a look at a wee suspension bridge crossing the river. I had considered trying some of he nearby Via Ferrata on this trip but judging from the look on Sandra's face crossing the bridge I think we might give it a miss.

We carried on down the valley passing loads of hydro electric schemes and stopped off at Vizille for a quick snack and to book a hotel for the night in Grenoble as the reviews of the campsite there were a bit uninspiring.

Our route from Vizille to Grenoble was again on the main road but with a decent cycle lane all the way.  Once into the city we followed a huge straight boulevard, again with cycle lanes, right into the centre of the city.  We got booked into our hotel, our bikes got parked in a tiny wee space behind the reception desk, and we set off for a wander round Grenoble.

We took the cable car up to the Bastille which has some fantastic views of the surrounding countryside and shows the great long avenue we came in on.

An easy day today with it being virtually all downhill but we reckon we deserved it after yesterday.
https://www.strava.com/activities/2704453914