Day 21 La Sone to Belley

Posted by: Rob on 22/06/2013
Hot and sunny
Banner showing lake with trees and blue sky in background

Stats

69.07 mi
22/06/2013 08:22 CEST
Elevation Gain
Elevation Gain:
Up
2858.30 ft
Down
2800.16 ft
Elevation Range
Elevation Range:
Max.
1839.60 ft
Min.
568.96 ft
1325.35 mi
201.49 mi
ShowMap
1325.35 mi
201.49 mi

Day 21

I was all packed up and ready to go for half 8, so that just left picking up my breakfast. I have moved on to pain au raisins now for a bit of a change!

With two of those and two croissants safely stashed in my stomach, I set off.

The first part of the journey was on a fairly dull main road. There were lots of nice hills to look at though and there were quite a lot of people out on two wheels (some with engines) on this pleasant Saturday morning.

After a while I stumbled across an excellent cycle path. I'd turned off the main road to have a look at the river and lo and behold, there it was. I wish they'd sign them off the main roads, then I might be able to find them more often!

It was very good and popular with cyclist and roller bladers alike.

After a while I had to make a decision as the path split. I made the right one and started heading towards a town I wanted to go through.

Once there, I stopped for the usual baguette and eclair then found the road north I was after.

I had a feeling this road might involve a bit of up and I wasn't wrong! Well, the fact that there were a bunch of gert big hills in the way kind of gave it away!

It was pretty tough right from the off and the road was quite busy at this point, but there was a huge cycle lane.

After a while, it flattened out a bit and the road was much quieter as everyone went wherever they were going.

It soon started going up again and continued to do so for quite a few miles.

Eventually I got to the summit which was about 700 metres.

After that there was a huge, long straight descent. In fact it just kept on going down! I didn't think it possible for it to keep going, but it did.

After a while, I started getting close to a campsite that I'd seen that I knew I could make. Once there, I decided to push on to the next one as it was still only half 3 and I'd only done 50 miles which is unacceptable ;-)

I was glad I did as I was back along side the Rhone again and there were some great views.

Eventually I got to the town of Belley which is the nearest place to the campsite I wanted. I saw a sign and followed it. I then discovered a cycle path again! I followed that pretty much all the way to the campsite. And a very nice campsite it is too! Right on a lake and very cheap too!

I'm just having dinner at the moment, which is a very reasonable set menu. I have lots of pics to upload, but the interwebs here is painfully slow...

The bottom half of the internet

Currently 8 comments

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Aidan on 24/06/2013 20:11:08
I wonder how the bridge got broken?
Mum on 22/06/2013 22:52:10
Scenery looks lovely - especially view from dinner table - dessert looks pretty good too, maybe it had fruit in as part of your 5 a day?
Karen on 22/06/2013 22:18:10
I see there are people in the pool tonight...looks lovely. Have you had a dip?
Simon on 22/06/2013 20:19:44
Tarte Normande with Chantilly and ice cream - good choice sir! By the way, given your eating exploits so far, is it a coincidence you are staying in a place called 'belly'?!
Kirst on 22/06/2013 19:30:09
Pain au raisins is a good idea to make sure you get your 5 a day
Rob on 22/06/2013 19:47:42
Like the Scots, the French don't care about any of that nonsense :-P
Kirst on 22/06/2013 20:05:37
Irn Bru's a vegetable!
Karen on 22/06/2013 20:20:33
I thought the French had 9 a day, not 5 a day?