Rhone valley riding

[dyl]

I'm going to a wedding at Lausanne in Switzerland in May with my girlfriend. We're planning to get a train to Lyon and cycle the remaining 100 miles or so up the Rhone valley.

Has anyone ridden in that bit of the world? Any good routes? We'll be on mountain bikes but loaded up with camping stuff. Still up for avoiding roads wherever possible though as long as it's not too lumpy!

 

[B77]

I live there, it's certainly doable, you should be able to cycle pretty much straight along the Rhone or at least follow it to lake Genva then around the lake to Lausanne. Going to be a bit more than 100 miles though, closer to 200......following the river will avoid a lot of difficult climbs around Annecy/Nantua

 

[dyl]

Google Maps reckons 131 miles, not that that's necessarily the route we'd want to take, so probably nearer 200 if we're not doing main road all the way. Are there good paths along the river?

We're planning to spend maybe a week getting to Lausanne, but would be good if we weren't cycling every day - would like to chill and check out any mountains we happen to be passing. Is that realistic (on heavily laden mountain bikes)?

Is there any mapping site that will give you a graph of elevation over the length of a journey, I wonder.

 

[dyl]

Hmm, if we cycle from Lyon to Lausanne and back, it looks like we might just spend all our time cycling. I wonder about getting a train to somewhere east of there (where there's mountains!) and cycling back to Lyon via Lausanne and the Rhone.

How long do you reckon Lausanne to Lyon (or vice versa) would take?

Apologies for thinking out loud (for it seems that is what I am doing).

 

[B77]

The Rhone route will be by far and away the easiest, there is a cycle route or voie verte pretty much all the way to Geneva, from there you follow the national routes to Lausannne. Tbh there are very few mountains or alpine scenery before you hit around le dents du chat at Chambery if you head more directly towards Swiss or around Belley if you do the Rhone route. Google maps is probably your best bet.
If you want alpine meadows, mountains etc, how about a train from Lyon to somewhere like Chamonix or one of the better ski stations and then to Annecy then Geneva, beautiful scenery and very quiet at the end of the season.