Micro adventure Lône du Val de Saône

The micro-adventures of the Beaujolais Geopark guide you through wide open spaces and introduce you to local producers. Enjoy this cycling route along quiet country roads in the Saône plain, passing through hedgerows and meadows.

The Saône appears to be a calm, unchanging river. Yet it possesses a natural dynamic which, for hundreds of thousands of years, has contributed to shaping its bed and its alluvial plain, resulting in this
vast area. The river's morphology has changed considerably throughout history, and it continues to evolve today. For example, former disconnected meanders have allowed the creation of marshes like the one at Boistray.
in Saint-Georges-de-Reneins. The Taponas backwater is a former branch of the stream that is gradually filling with sediment. It is an interesting environment for fish.
The Saône valley features a landscape mosaic typical of the banks of large waterways, including wet meadows, alluvial forests, backwaters, islands or ponds teeming with biodiversity.
Numerous species of fauna and flora inhabit the area, such as the European beaver, the Eurasian curlew, the marsh spurge, the great crested newt, the large copper butterfly, and the snake's head fritillary. The loose sedimentary soils are also
interesting for human activities. For example, the annual floods fertilize the farmland along the banks of the Saône. The older deposits
(composed of sand, gravel and pebbles) are extracted from gravel pits to make basic materials for construction (concrete, aggregates).
When abandoned, the bodies of water created are often used as recreational areas, for water sports or fishing (like the Sablons water body in Belleville).

Type : Marked loop

Distance : 22km

Elevation : 70m

Duration : 2h

Difficulty : Easy