Before leaving Crémieu we have to say a few words about our spacious and comfortable accommodations there at Villa des Contamines. A B&B, it’s an excellent place with a quality and character to match the town. It’s probably our favorite accommodation of the tour so far. I should have taken photos of the room, but I at least remembered to take one of the view from our window last night.
The best part of the stay though was visiting with our warm and cheerful host, Vincenta. Originally from a small village near Valencia, she speaks just enough English that we were able to have a broken but meaningful conversation. And, she presented us with a simple but fine breakfast - one the ten-jammer conoisseurs in particular would find favor with. Highly recommended.
After yesterday’s exceptional experience probably any normal day would have been a letdown; and so it was. Crémieu is about five miles off the Via Rhona and it doesn’t look like there’s a natural and quiet route back north to it if you’re bound for Lyon. Our thoughtful host even provided a hard-copy map for their recommended route, which we followed at first. It’s certainly quiet, but rougher than we’re comfortable with so after a few miles we went back to the pavement and traffic for the rest of the way to the river. Not bad, but we’ve gotten very spoiled lately. It looks like this is a gap in the Via Rhona, and I wouldn’t be surprised to return in a few years and find that it had been filled with a new, smooth, well marked greenway.
Once we hit the river though the remaining miles to Lyon are an easy, quiet ride that bring us right to the heart of the city. Lyon, the second largest city in France, is remarkably easy to bike into from the east. The Via Rhona follows the river along the opposite bank, and it’s a simple matter of picking the most convenient bridge to cross over and weave through the marked bike lanes to your destination. Offhand, I can’t think of another city of this size that was so easy to bike into the center of.
Quiet and pastoral, but not quite up to Team Anderson’s exacting standards. We gave it a few miles and then returned to the pavement to duke it out with the cars.
Much of the remainder of the day’s ride was on a surface like this. Clay and crushed rock, or something like that. A very smooth ride, better than many paved roads we’ve ridden on.
After a few miles in the shade we cross to the other bank and ride the top of the bank in the full sun. It’s getting hot, and the gnats are coming out.
It’s 2:30 when we arrive at our hotel, a few blocks from the central train station and the university. It’s hot and humid and we feel grimy after biking through clouds of gnats and cottonwood dander for the last fifteen miles. We’re just passing through and not really here for an urban experience so we’re happy to shower, cool off, and lie around the room until the day cools down.
Finally about six we step out, allowing ourselves an entire hour to get a feel for this city of two million before making our way to the Italian restaurant we’ve booked a table for. It’s enough to see the possibilities, but we’ll be ready to move on in the morning when we finally leave the Rhone for good and head north.
The scene looks like this for miles along the banks of both rivers, with folks precariously perched along the edge just passing the time. Today it was the most attractive feature of the city to me.
Keith AdamsWe had a couple days to see Lyon, ahead of our 2019 tandem tour in the Isere valley. Unfortunately I was suffering ill effects from the flight and consequently failed to be able to fully appreciate the city. But it definitely has some virtues and some interesting reasons to return for a more thorough visit. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
