Bourg-Argental / Annonay

The Via Fluvia cycle route leaves the Monts du Pilat to enter the county of Ardèche. A provisional route takes you along quiet roads to Saint-Marcel-lès-Annonay, via Saint-Julien-Molin-Molette, while awaiting the transformation of the former railway line on the border of the county of La Loire. Riding on beside the Deûme River, a lovely greenway leads gently to the town of Annonay. This area saw the birth of many revolutionary inventions in the 18th and 19th centuries – hot-air balloons, tubular boilers (precursors of locomotives) and suspension bridges – still in use today. At Davézieux, visit the Musée des Papeteries Canson et Montgolfier, set in the birthplace of the Montgolfier brothers, who invented hot-air balloons, hence why these early flying machines are known as montgolfières in French.

Via Fluvia from Bourg-Argental to Annonay

Provisional route - not signposted

From Bourg-Argental to Saint-Marcel-lès-Annonay, a provisional stretch of route that isn’t signposted leads you along two county roads, the D503 et D306. You cross Saint-Julien-Molin-Molette (with its shops, restaurants and accommodation). The provisional cycle route then runs along Le Ternay Dam, to Saint-Marcel-lès-Annonay. From here, rejoin a portion of the Via Fluvia that is laid out and signposted, the surface smooth and accessible to wheelchairs, prams, rollerbladers and scooters, plus there’s a stretch on road up to Boulieu-lès-Annonay, but with little traffic. Before arriving at Vidalon and the Musée des Papeteries Canson et Montgolfier, there’s a 200m descent. The stretch along the Deûme towards Annonay is shaded.

Don't miss

• Saint-Marcel-lès-Annonay : Barrage du Ternay, a dam, with a lovely path, some 4km in length, called the Chemin de Ronde, lined with cedars of Lebanon and some sequoias
• Boulieu-lès-Annonay: a medieval village, once fully fortified, at the foot of the small mountain, Le Colombier
• Annonay: the Espace du Parchemin et du Cuir, on leather- and parchment-making, listed since 2011 on the French inventory of Métiers d'Art Rare (Rare Crafts) – the Parcheminerie Dumas is one of just three parchment-makers left in France
• Davézieux: Musée des Papeteries Canson Montgolfier, set in the house where the Montgolfier brothers were born, the museum bringing to life how paper has been manufactured here between the 17th and 21st centuries.