Advice on cycling through Lyon

[jake]

In May I did just over half of a leisurely Channel to Med trip (time ran out near Cluny). I aim to complete it next year mainly using the Rhone path.
On the Bike Express home I heard some very differing stories about getting through/around Lyon. One guy said to get a train from just north of Lyon to a station just south of it and avoid the place like the plague. Others disagreed but said that the cycle route signage can be challenging at times.
What to do? Any advice (or links) very welcome.
Many thanks.

[Miles_Back]

Jake,

In September we rode through the western half of Lyon whilst making our way down to Grenoble. We did not ride through the centre of Lyon so I can not comment on that, however the route we chose (via http://www.cycle.travel) was ok. It took us through a large park with great cycle ways an eventually out on to the road we needed for Grenoble.

Construction work in the afore mentioned park meant taking a poorly signed diversion that was really for mountain bikes, but our "Audax" bikes with light panniers managed just about ok. The traffic in the city was civilised and there were cycle lanes that were a little convoluted.

I can PM you a GPX file if you would like to see the route (and the diversions and wrong turns!!) in more detail.

Miles Back

***Update***
Just added an overview of the route we took - see below

[nirakaro]

Both perfectly good options – depends what you like. Personally I enjoy the challenge of riding/navigating across a city a to add a bit of variety to a tour. Having said that, last year I did jump on a train (two trains in fact) from Vienne to Villefranche-sur-Saone to avoid Lyon, very straightforward, no sweat.
Incidentally, the Rhone cycle route below Lyon is very much a work in progress, I don’t remember seeing much evidence of it on the stretch I did from Valence to Vienne. Perfectly nice quiet roads though.

[psmiffy]

Ive cycled through Lyon a couple of times - Both times from the west and the second time after reading a thread that moaned about how difficult it was - I didn't use a cycle route and only took to the paths when they existed. For me it was no problem - no worse than a lot of other places ive cycled through in Europe

[jake]

Thanks to all 3 of you for your replies. I will probably try out the Saone cycle route to see if it works. If it gets too complicated I can always revert to Edward Enfield's route ie skirting Lyon to the western side.

[bohrsatom]

I rode north through Lyon in June this year, following the ViaRhona route as far as possible. As you are heading south just reverse my notes .

Heading into Lyon (from the S) is on a great segregated riverside path as far as Givors then you are directed towards the road. The road started out OK but as we got closer to the city centre it became less and less enjoyable. My ideal cycling conditions are on a segregated path and other than the occasional few metres of bike lane when the road is wide enough we were sharing a narrow road with lots of traffic. There is not enough for cars to pass you safely yet many do it anyway. We happened to be riding in at rush hour on Friday so my recommendation would be to do it at a quieter time. Lyon itself is also a bit confusing so be sure to have detailed maps/GPX route as otherwise it is easy to get lost.

Our experience of leaving Lyon (towards the N) was the exact opposite. A great bike path following the Rhone for enough kilometres to get you far away from busy city centre traffic. The signage is a bit crap at times (see blog post 2 below) and compared to other countries (especially Germany and Holland) it's still hard work but in 1800km of riding in France it was one of the easier rides leaving a city.

If you are interested you can read our blog of our journey in and out (including a GPX):

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/pag ... 75471&v=RE
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/pag ... 75856&v=QA