I awoke this morning to the sound of rain. Checking the weather report I was surprised to find that Meteo France was calling for partly sunny in the morning, followed by rain in the afternoon and the following day. Well, they didn't have the morning forcast right, so I decided to take a leisurly breakfast and see how things progressed. And the rain did stop for a while, so I got my gear packed up and left to find the bike trail around the lake. Getting down to the port, I could see that the rain was not far off, and what's more, it was falling where I wanted to go.

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Time for plan B, so I rode back to the railway station and found a train leaving in a few minutes for Chambery. I knew that the weather there would not be much different from that in Aix, but Chambery is at a railway junction, and so offers more ways to travel. I decided to try for Lyon, but I had a bit of a wait, so I rode out of the gare and into the centreville for a coffee. The bar was nicely decorated with faux-art nouveau "posters" (actually rather well done paintings) advertising the libations on offer.

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Back at the gare, I got a train to Lyon and arrived in time for lunch. I rode downtown to a street full of bistros and selected one that had outdoor seating with a bike rack in front. Lunch was a large salade Niçoise (tuna, anchovies, olives, and tomatoes on lettuce). The sun made a brief appearance, but had vanished again before I finished lunch. Then I rode down the bank of the Rhone trying to find a bike tunnel that connected to the Saone under the hill of the Croix Rousse. No luck finding the tunnel, I climbed the hill to Caluire and redescended to Fontaines sur Saone. Crossing the river to Collonges, I picked up the cycle path that follows alongside the D51 to Vilefranche sur Saone and from there to Belleville sur Saone. Its not a pretty ride, being through industrial and commercial wastelands, but it does go by quickly enough. In Belleville, I found a nice hotel with a restaurant, so I pulled in for the night. Dinner was andouillette again, not as good this time, but they did have a decent Beaujolais Villages that they served in pitchers.