To Chambéry

April 30, 2022

Well, I could have saved myself some lost sleep and taken more time with yesterday’s post because this morning the forecast has improved. It looks like we’re going to stay dry on our ride to Chambéry, with rains not expected to arrive until late afternoon. Still though, as long as we’re awake anyway we might as well improve our odds and leave early. We’re out the door on the sidewalk about nine. An easy ride along Grenoble’s impressive network of bike lanes soon brings us to the river and biking north on Route 63, the Isère Veloroute. It’s the same route we followed on our ride from Valence to Grenoble and continues all the way to its end in Chambéry.

For the first ten miles we enjoy a fantastic ride as we stay on 63 and enjoy a smooth, quiet ride along the river with one astonishing mountain or river view after another. Definitely, we’ll be back to Grenoble for a longer stay someday.

Leaving Grenoble on Route 63, the Isère Veloroute. Ahead are they mountains of Chartreuse, which will be on our left flank all morning.

Looking back toward Grenoble we get an impressive view of the western face of the Vercors, with its entire extent visible here.

Ahead, the high Alps. I think that’s Mount Blanc in the center, although it’s hard to tell here because of the lighting issues.

And here, let us offer some free advice - your reward for following along so faithfully. If you bike from Grenoble to Chambéry yourself someday, stick with the excellent Veloroute the whole way. It’s easy to follow, well signed, you can’t go wrong. Don’t do what we did.

I mapped out today’s ride at a time when we were worried about weather. There was even some thought that we’d be taking the train if conditions worsened. With that in mind I was looking for a short, efficient ride, not necessarily the best ride. RideWithGPS shows an alternate bike route on the opposite bank of the Veloroute that saves a few miles, so I routed us across to this about ten miles into the ride and planned to follow it the rest of the way to Chambéry.

Don’t. Bad idea.

It’s unclear why RideWithGPS offers this alternative, because it stinks. It’s on a busy arterial the whole way as it crosses through a string of villages. Outside the villages there’s a decent enough marked bike lane - safe enough, but not quite as pleasant as blissfully rolling along through the woods next to the river. Inside the villages though the road narrows, the bike lane disappears, and traffic intensifies. It’s awful, and at times unsafe.

It didn’t take us long to realize this was a terrible idea and to look for side roads or paths to get us off of it, none of which led us anywhere useful. After a couple of miles we were stopped at an intersection staring at the Garmin trying to figure out how to get back to the other side of the river again when a couple biked up and offered their help. He tried to explain the route to us, quickly realized it was to difficult to communicate, and offered to lead us to the bridge. Saviors!

Five minutes later we’re at the turnoff to the bridge, and he points us the right way. We offer our profuse thanks to both of them and bike off toward the river. A minute later here he is again, having realized he’s set us free too soon. He and his partner ride with us up the bridge, which is barricaded. He says we can cross here or follow a dirt path upriver to the next bridge. We’re in luck, because just yesterday this bridge reopened to pedestrians only, as long as they walk on the sidewalk. A longish bridge, but an easy choice. We thank him again, and start walking.

The only photo I stopped for on this side of the river. Here we’re off on a side road, hoping it will lead us somewhere useful. It doesn’t.

So we’re across the river but still have issues because there’s an autoroute in the way that we also have to cross to get to the Veloroute beyond. Our friend gave us instructions for it, taking the first small road across the river until it eventually crosses the autoroute. That works, and a mile later we’re crossing over the autoroute on a farm road on a small overpass, staring up in amazement at the towering cliffs of Chartreuse rising straight up in front of our faces, with about a dozen hang gliders soaring down from the top.

I should have taken the time to zoom in better on the hang gliders, which just appear here as white flecks. Actually I didn’t even see them at first because I was taken by the red field.

So we’re back on the Veloroute finally, after having spent about an hour covering just four miles. And since we haven’t mapped this route we don’t really know how far from town we are now. And since the clouds are starting to pile up we’re getting anxious about the weather. And because we’ve picked up a 15-20 mph headwind and this is our sixth straight cycling day, we’re getting tired. And since the navigator is just a bit dim-witted today we leave the Veloroute for what looks like a more direct and flatter route and end up back on a busy shoulderless highway again.

Our advice, in case you’ve forgotten already: just take the Veloroute. Finally we find a spot to leave the highway, pull up in the shade beneath the first tree we find, and regroup over lunch. After that though the rest of the way is brilliant, or would be if we weren’t already tired and windbeaten. The rain holds off for us until well after we make it to our hotel at 3. Not bad - 42 relatively flattish miles in just six hours!

We’ll be in Chambéry for three nights. We’ll talk about it later.