Lyon: Up and Down, Not for the weak-of-knees!

Lyon
Up and Down, Not for the weak-of-knees!
Distance: 5.70 miles
Start: Place Carnot
Finish: Bellcour Métro Station.
Elevation Range: 133m

The good news is that Lyon has spectacular lookout points to view the city. Now for the bad news. To get to them on your run, means working those buns (and thighs and calves and possibly being sore for a couple of days afterward) up a 133m climb! Lyon was first occupied by the Guals but later built up by the Romans on what is called the Fourviére hill. Now the city extends between the Rhone and Soane rivers below but this run takes you up to the old ruins so that you can imagine how incredible it must have been for the people living there with their theaters overlooking the landscape for miles. The Fourviére is also known as "the praying hill" since numerous congregations over the centuries have set up their religious structures there. You won't be able to miss the Basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary at the top of the hill. It too has a nickname; the "upside-down elephant." You'll have to see why this is so for yourself. Eventually what goes up, must come down and so your relieved knees will find the run along the river after a steep descent, a much needed relief. The photograph above is of the first bridge that you will cross before starting the incline.

- Start at Place Carnot and run towards the Soane river and take a right along the water. You'll see a bridge (the one pictured) at the end of Rue Sala. Take it across the river and run along the other bank until Rue Octavio Mey.
- Take a left there and another left on Montée Saint-Barthélemy to start your climb. Make a right on Rue Cléberg and a right on Rue Pauline-Marie Jaricot.
- Take a right on Cardinal Gerlier and a left at the fork on Montée de l'Observance. Follow that winding all the way down to Rue Saint-Pierre de Vaise. You should be able to see the river again to the right. Run to the river and turn right to run along it.
- Follow the river all the way to Pont de la Feuilée, which is where you turned to head up the hill. Cross the bridge and run along the river again until Rue de la Barre.
- There, take a left and you will end up at the Bellcour metro station.

Posted by BobRun