The River Rhone Cycle Route. Mike Wells

Rhone valley south of Lyon and the Mediterranean coast are subject to the Mistral, a strong cold but dry wind that blows from the north to the south down the valley. It is most common in winter and spring, but can occur at any time of year. Mistral winds often exceed 40kph during the day, but die down at night. As the route in this guide runs north to south, if the Mistral is blowing it will be behind you!

      Road safety

      Throughout the route, cycling is on the right side of the road. If you have never cycled before on the right you will quickly adapt, but roundabouts may prove challenging. You are most prone to mistakes when setting off each morning. Both Switzerland and France are very cycle-friendly countries. Drivers will normally give you plenty of space when overtaking and often wait behind patiently until space to pass is available.

      Much of the route is on dedicated cycle paths, although care is necessary as these are sometimes shared with pedestrians. Use your bell, politely, when approaching pedestrians from behind. Where you are required to cycle on the road there is usually a dedicated cycle lane. Some city and town centres have pedestrian only zones. These restrictions are often only loosely enforced and you may find local residents cycling within them, indeed many zones have signs allowing cycling. Many one-way streets have signs permitting contra-flow cycling.

      None of the countries passed through require compulsory wearing of cycle helmets, although their use is recommended. Modern lightweight helmets with improved ventilation have made wearing them more comfortable.

      In Switzerland, cycling after drinking alcohol has the same 50mg/100ml limit as drink-driving (English drink-driving limit is 80mg/100ml). If you cycle after drinking and are caught you could be fined and banned from driving and cycling in Switzerland.

      Emergencies

      In the unlikely event of an accident, the standardised EU and Swiss emergency phone number is 112. The entire route has mobile phone coverage. Provided you have an EHIC card issued by your home country, medical costs of EU and Swiss citizens are covered under reciprocal health insurance agreements, although you may have to pay for an ambulance and claim the cost back through insurance.

      Theft

      In general the route is safe and the risk of theft very low, particularly in Switzerland. However, you should always lock your cycle and watch your belongings, especially in cities.

      Insurance

      Travel insurance policies usually cover you when cycle touring but they do not normally cover damage to, or theft of, your bicycle. If you have a household contents policy, this may cover cycle theft, but limits may be less than the real cost of your cycle. Cycle Touring Club (CTC), www.cyclinguk.org.uk, offer a policy tailored for your needs when cycle touring.

      If you live in Switzerland and own a bicycle, you need to purchase an annual vélo vignette, a registration sticker that includes compulsory third-party insurance. However, this is not a requirement for short-term visitors.

About this guide

      Text and maps

      There are 20 stages, each covered by separate maps drawn to a scale of 1:150,000. At this scale it is not practical to cycle the entire route using only these maps, and more detailed maps are advised. However, in Switzerland signposting and waymarking is generally good and, using these combined with the stage descriptions, it should be possible to cycle the Swiss stages without the expense or weight of carrying a large number of other maps. Beware, however, as the route described here does not always exactly follow the waymarked route. GPX files are freely available, to anyone who has bought the book, on the Cicerone website at www.cicerone.co.uk/755/gpx.

      All places mentioned in the text are shown bold on the maps. The abbreviation ‘sp’ in the text indicates a signpost. Distances shown are cumulative within each stage. For each city/town/village passed an indication is given of facilities available (accommodation, refreshments, YH, camping, tourist office, cycle shop, station) when the guide was written, and this information is summarised in Appendix B. This list is neither exhaustive nor does it guarantee that establishments are still in business. No attempt has been made to list all such facilities as this would require another book the same size as this one. For full listing of accommodation, contact local tourist offices. Such listings are usually available online. Tourist offices along the route are listed in Appendix D.

      While route descriptions were accurate at the time of writing, things do change. Temporary diversions may be necessary to circumnavigate improvement works and permanent diversions to incorporate new sections of cycle track. This is particularly the case in France where parts of the route are classified as ‘provisional’ as work to provide a separate cycle route is planned but has not yet been implemented. Where construction is in progress you may find signs showing recommended diversions, although these are likely to be in French only.

      Some alternative routes exist. Where these offer a reasonable variant, usually because they are either shorter or offer a better surface, they are described in the text and shown in blue on the maps.

      Language

      Apart from Stages 1–2, where Swiss German is spoken, the route is through the Francophone (French speaking) part of Switzerland and France. Throughout this guide the English spelling Rhone is used. In Swiss German the river is known as the Rotten, in French as the Rhône. Place names, and street names are given in appropriate local languages, German for Stages 1–2 and French for the rest of the route. Exceptions are made for Lake Geneva (Lac Léman in French), Geneva (Genève) and Savoy (Savoie); although compound proper nouns (Anthy-sur-Léman, Côte du Rhône, Haute-Savoie, etc) appear in French. See Appendix G for a list of useful French and German words.

      The infant Rhone makes its way from the Rhone glacier towards Gletsch (Stage 1)

STAGE 1

      Furkapass to Brig

Start	Furkapass, Belvédère (2275m)
Finish	Brig (Naters), Rottubrigga bridge (671m)
Distance	63km; alternative route via Lax 56km
Waymarking	Rhone route R1