Let’s follow the Rhone to France

To get from Geneva to the Mediterranean Sea there exists a predestined route: the Via Rhona. For us it can be roughly divided into 3 parts.

1. the northern part from Geneva to Lyon.
2. from Lyon always southwards to Arles.
3. the Rhone-Delta - the Camargue

The first part is characterized for us by grandiose landscapes, which are characterized by the Alps and the Jura. In order to master the Rhone breakthrough, you have to overcome some meters of altitude at the beginning, which you then roll down again in rushing descents to Seyssel. From there, one enjoys a river cycle path like from a picture book: mostly well developed, along the river, well signposted, left and right mountain ranges that become lower and lower with time. The nice villages Seyssel, Chanaz and Morestel invite to a comfortable break - the Rhone as a reservoir shortly after Chanaz for a bath stop. Also in the artificially created local recreation area/reservoir “La Vallée Bleue”, we had lunch and relaxed on the shade of trees. We did not feel a great obligation to visit cities until Lyon. In this stretch we experienced nature and enjoyed cycling.

Our overnight stays were also suitable: Only around 18 o’clock we left Geneva on August 6th with the goal of spending the night shortly after the border in the EU. But already at the city exit the weather god showed us that he had other plans. Heavy rain poured down on us within minutes, it was a short thunderstorm. We took a shelter as fast as we could but we were already wet when we found a suitable place below a pedestrian bridge. It only lasted a short time and we continued cycling. Proud not to have lost an arrow in the city exit suburban zigzag and thus not the cycle path, we landed, before we knew it, in the nature reserve, while grey clouds gathered above us again. The next village should already be French and thus a payment of the overnight stay in Euro should be possible. Our last 10 francs would hardly be enough. So we pedalled along happily as the official Rhone cycle path turns into a mountain bike route. (In such moments Katharina is always glad that Matthias is stearing ;-)), We finally landed at a railway bridge with a pedestrian bridge underneath. This can only be reached via a narrow, steep staircase - impossible to manoeuvre our Düsi down carrying all bags. While we visited the other end of the bridge, the grey clouds caught up with us and a thunderstorm broke out. A closer look at the sky told us that we wouldn’t get away in daylight anymore. We therefore moved into the first wild camping site of our journey under the railway bridge, pitched our tent and enjoyed a ready-made cheese fondue prepared on our camping stove. The next morning, after a morning wash in the brook in the last Swiss village, we ate our second breakfast for 10 francs at a baker. Afterwards we crossed the border back into the EU at kilometre 1777 on our speedometer. We quickly got used to the new white-green signs, which were also easy to find in the border area. In the coming night we found another camping site in Port de Murs, where we could share the stand with globetrotter Cyril. The cool water slide of the camping site brought back memories of the swimming pool in Kreuzlingen, but as a drop of bitterness Matthias slipped too fast and bruised his left heel slightly, because he was driving with too much momentum to the end of the run-out pool. We were surprised about the bad food, as we had already been looking forward to lunch with a very good meal in Seyssel, to be again in a country with good food at reasonable prices. The third evening on the Rhone then kept another adventure in store for us: From Lagnie to Jens, the Via Rhona has not yet been developed. Also the usual temporary signposting had suddenly disappeared, so that we had to dumb-bells as close as possible to Lyon on a normal road. At Villette d’Anthon we headed for the first signposted camping site of the route. We were turned down at eight in the evening with the reason that there was no place left for our small tent. We should try our luck on a campsite 15 km away, which was not on our route. Horrified about such a bad site management and the unrealistic estimation of the possibilities of a cyclist, we continued cycling towards Lyon. Since no other campsite appeared and also the hotel along the way was fully booked, we finally stranded in a local recreation area close to Lyon. Again we had to camp wild. However, this turned out to be relatively well visited spot, so that our sleep was not so restful. Soon in the morning we broke off our tents. Thank God, because shortly afterwards the rain started. With mystic autumn mood we cycled along the Rhone to Lyon. When we arrived in the city at 10 o’clock, a look at the weather forecast showed no improvement. We decided to take a break for the rest of the day, took a dry hotel room and hid from the rain in the Museum de la Confluence. The building was designed by the Austrian architects Coop Himmelblau. The exhibition tries to illuminate the somewhat impossible undertaking of man and existence in the world in its various facets. We liked the extensive and colourful collections of birds and animals as well as the different approaches to life. In two of the television seats we held a cuddly siesta. Basically we had too high expectations. The museum couldn’t quite inspire us. We finished the break day with a view from the cathedral over Lyon and a good Chinese dinner.