Hinault Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Hi all,We are very interested in exploring Rhone-Alpes this summer by bike - does anyone have any thoughts or words of advice? We're quite used to hills and mountains, but on the whole would much prefer to base ourselves in the foothills so we're not struggling home at the end of the day. If possible we would like to travel from the UK by train, so reasonable access to the rail network would be great. Our plan is to spend a month in the eastern and/or southern area of the region, maybe basing ourselves in three or four different places.Sorry, this sounds a bit vague, but we're new to this part of France (last three summers have been spent exploring the length of the Pyrenees). Any initial advice would be much appreciated.Greetings to all from sunny Scotland.H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 With a name like Hinault you shouldn't be a stranger to cyclig in the Rhone Alpes.[;-)]The mountains in the Rhone Alpes are so diverse, as are the roads. You can stay in the valleys but then there are valleys up in the mountains too. I do know that whichever roads we used in summer we would always find cyclists, no matter how high up these roads went. Have you thought about doing part of the Route Napolean?There are plenty of trains in the alps and many, if not most, take bikes, check on the SNCF web site.So sorry this also sounds a bit vague too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Be prepared for long slogs up hill (but if you have done bits of the P you probably are already prepared) even in our relatively "flat" part of the west of RA we have 10+km of unremitting 1:10 (10%) or steeper on quite a number of roads. And yes we have lots of cyclists too. Do a Google.fr search on Ardechoise. Or www.phortail.org/running/ardechoise-13.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 [quote user="Hinault"]Hi all,We are very interested in exploring Rhone-Alpes this summer by bike - does anyone have any thoughts or words of advice? [/quote]Rhone-Alpes is the second largest region of France and spreads from the Loire to Switzerland... (website in English HERE) You'll need a very long holiday to explore the region![:D]If you're into mountains, head for the Savoie, Haute-Savoie or Isère departments. You'll find more than enough there for several holidays...I recommend the Beaufortain, discussed in this thread: http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/1769217/ShowPost.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 I would be hard pushed to say which is the best area in the Rhone Alpes, but the Beaufortain would be in my top 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hinault Posted May 4, 2011 Author Share Posted May 4, 2011 Thanks for tips folks - will do some more research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now