steadily increasing and up-to-date information on travelling by train with a bicycle can be found on a website dedicated to worldwide rail travel ‘The man in seat 61’, www.seat61.com.
An alternative is to use Stena Line ferries to reach Hoek van Holland from Harwich or P&O to Rotterdam from Hull, then Dutch NS trains to Rotterdam. Here you can connect via Venlo and Dusseldorf with DB (German Railways) services, with cycle provision, that will take you on to Basle. On Hoek van Holland ferries, through tickets allow you to travel from London (or any station in East Anglia) to any station in the Netherlands. Booking for German trains is possible on www.bahn.com.
By air
Airports at Zürich (2hrs 30mins by train to Andermatt), Basle (3hrs but you need to cycle from the airport to Basle station) or Geneva (4hrs to Oberwald), all served by a variety of international airlines, can be used to access the Rhone source. Airlines have different requirements regarding how cycles are presented and some, but not all, make a charge, which you should pay when booking as it is usually greater at the airport. All require tyres partially deflated, handlebars turned and pedals removed (loosen pedals beforehand to make them easier to remove at the airport). Most will accept your cycle in a transparent polythene bike-bag, although some insist on use of a cardboard bike-box. These can be obtained from cycle shops, often for free, and may be purchased at some airports, including all terminals at Heathrow and Gatwick (Excess Baggage Company, www.left-baggage.co.uk).
By road
If you are lucky enough to have someone prepared to drive you to the start, Furkapass Belvédère is 2.5km west of Furkapass summit on Swiss national road 19 between Brig and Andermatt. With your own vehicle the most convenient place to leave it is Geneva, from where trains can be used to reach Oberwald on the outward journey, and which can be reached by train from Marseille on the return (see below). Geneva is between 800km and 825km from the Channel ports depending upon route.
European Bike Express operates an overnight coach service with dedicated cycle trailer from Northern England, picking up en route across England to the Mediterranean, with a drop-off point at Mâcon in eastern France. The journey time is between 13hrs and 22hrs depending on where the coach is joined. Details and booking through www.bike-express.co.uk. Trains link Mâcon with Geneva.
Intermediate access
There are international airports at Geneva (Stages 6 and 6A), and Lyon (Stage 10). The airports at Sion (Stage 3) and Avignon (Stage 18) have very few international flights. Much of the route is closely followed by railway lines. Stations en route are listed in the text.
Getting home
The nearest station to Port-St Louis-du-Rhône is at Fos-sur-Mer, 25km away by main road on the opposite side of the Golfe de Fos. The route to the station is described at the end of Stage 20. From here regional local trains run to Miramas where you can connect with TER trains to reach Avignon Centre. Alternatively, local buses (route 021) operated by Cartreize from Port-St Louis Douane (bus stop beside the blue lifting bridge) to Arles carry a limited number of cycles under the bus, with four services Monday–Saturday, two on Sundays. Details are available from Cartreize (+33 810 00 13 26), www.lepilote.com. From Arles, TER trains will take you to Avignon Centre.
Occasional TGV trains that carry cycles run from Avignon Centre to Paris Gare de Lyon, with mandatory reservation required. From Gare de Lyon you can cycle to Paris Gard du Nord (reverse of outbound route described above) and catch Eurostar to London. There is a direct afternoon Eurostar service from Marseille to London, but this does not convey cycles. If you left a car in Switzerland, catch a local train from Fos-sur-Mer to Marseille St Charles for a direct TGV service to Geneva. To fly home there are frequent trains from St Charles to Marseille Vitrolles airport, from where there are flights to many destinations.
European Bike Express (see above) can be used to get back to UK directly from the South of France. Nearest pick-up points are at Orange (25km north of Avignon) or Montpelier (70km west of Arles).
Navigation
Waymarking
From top to bottom: Swiss R1 and French ViaRhôna waymark with EV17 logo; French ViaRhôna waymark; New ViaRhôna waymark with EV17 logo; ViaRhôna V60A waymark in Bouches-du-Rhône
The route follows two nationally designated cycle routes. In Switzerland véloroute R1 (Rhone Route) is followed. This route is well established and waymarking is almost perfect in consistency. In France the route has been designated as ViaRhôna. This route has been in development since 2010 and by 2015, 75 percent of waymarking was complete. Officially the route is designated V60, but this does not appear on waymarks except in Bouches-du-Rhône (Stage 20) where it appears as V60A. While the planning of national cycle tracks is a regional government responsibility, implementation is delegated to départements. Unfortunately provision of dedicated cycle tracks and waymarking varies greatly between départements. Some, notably Isère (Stages 9–10), Gard and Vaucluse (Stages 18–19), have not yet waymarked their parts of the route. The Swiss part of the variant route passing south of Lake Geneva (Stages 5A–6A) is waymarked R46 Tour de Leman, while the French part is mostly unwaymarked. In 2015 the whole route was accepted by the European Cyclists’ Federation as EuroVélo route 17 and EV17 waymarks are being included on new signposts. In the introduction to each stage an indication is given of the predominant waymarks followed.
In France the route sometimes follows local roads. These are numbered as departmental roads (D roads). However the numbering system can be confusing. Responsibility for roads has been devolved from national to local government and responsibility for many former routes nationales (N roads) has been transferred to local départements and renumbered as D roads. As départements have different systems of numbering, D road numbers often change when crossing département boundaries.
| Summary of cycle routes followed | |||
| R1 | Rhone Route | Stages 1–7 | Switzerland |
| R46 | Tour du Léman | Stages 5A–6A | Switzerland |
| VR | ViaRhôna | Stages 7–19 | France |
| V60A | ViaRhôna | Stage 20 | France |
Maps
There are no published maps specifically covering the Rhone cycle route. Kümmerly & Frey publish a series of regional cycle maps that cover the Swiss part of the route (Stages 1–7).
Kümmerly & Frey (1:60,000)
22Berner Oberland Ost, Goms
21Oberwallis
20Bas Valais, Sion
15Gruyère
14Lausanne, Vallée de Joux
17Genève
For the French Stages (7–20) the most suitable maps are regional road and leisure maps published by Michelin and IGN.
Michelin (1:150,000)
328Ain, Haute-Savoie
327Loire, Rhône
333Isère, Savoie
332Drôme, Vaucluse
340Bouches-du-Rhône, Var
IGN (1:100,000)
143Lons-le-Saunier, Genève
150Lyon,