monarchs over a feudal kingdom with a rigid class system, the Ancien Régime. In many towns the church held as much power as the local nobility. Avignon was papal territory, ruled by a legate appointed by the Pope.
The French Revolution
The ancien régime French kingdom ended in a period of violent revolution (1789–1799). The monarchy was swept away and privileges enjoyed by the nobility and clergy removed. Monasteries and religious institutions were closed. In place of the monarchy a secular republic was established. The revolutionary mantra of ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité‘ is still the motto of modern-day France. Chaos followed the revolution and a reign of terror resulted in an estimated 40,000 deaths, including King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette. A coup in 1799 led to military leader Napoleon Bonaparte taking control.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Despite ruling France for only 16 years, Napoleon (1769–1821) had a greater influence on the political and legal structures of Europe than any other person. He made peace with the Catholic church and allowed many exiled aristocrats to return, although with limited powers. In 1804 he declared himself Emperor of France and started on a series of military campaigns that saw the French gain control of much of western and central Europe. Perhaps the longest lasting of the Napoleonic reforms was the ‘Code Napoléon’, a civil legal code that was adopted throughout the conquered territories and remains today at the heart of the European legal system. When he was defeated in 1815, by the combined forces of Britain and Prussia, he was replaced as head of state by a restoration of the monarchy under Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI.
Nineteenth-century France
Politically France went through a series of three monarchies, an empire headed by Napoleon III (Bonaparte’s nephew) and two republics. Napoleon III’s intervention in the reunification of Italy led to Savoy becoming part of France in 1860. During this period the French economy grew strongly based upon coal, iron and steel and heavy engineering. A large overseas empire was created, mostly in Africa, second in size to the British Empire. Increasing conflict with Prussia and Germany led to defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870) and involvement in the First World War (1914–1918).
Twentieth-century France
Despite being on the winning side, the French economy was devastated by the war and the depression of the 1930s. Invasion by Germany in the Second World War (1939–1945) saw France partitioned temporarily with all of southern France becoming part of Vichy, a nominally independent state that was in reality a puppet government controlled by the Germans. After the war, France was one of the original signatories to the Treaty of Rome (1957) which established the European Economic Community (EEC) and led to the European Union (EU). Economic growth was strong and the French economy prospered. Political dissent, particularly over colonial policy, led to a new constitution and the establishment of the fifth republic under Charles de Gaulle in 1958. Since then, withdrawal from overseas possessions has led to substantial immigration into metropolitan France from ex-colonies, creating the most ethnically diverse population in Europe. Large cities like Lyon have suburbs with substantial immigrant populations. Since the 1970s, old heavy industry has almost completely disappeared and been replaced with high tech industry and employment in the service sector.
Shipping on the river
Since Roman times the lower Rhone has been the main trade and communication route between the Mediterranean and central France, although strong currents and flooding caused by ice-melt in spring and low water levels in summer made navigation difficult. In the medieval period freight was carried up-river in barge trains pulled by men and as many as 80 horses plodding along the towpath. Going downstream the barges were carried freely by the current. As the towpath was only used in one direction it is known in French as the chemin de contre-halage. Steam powered boats replaced horses in the early 19th century. These were driven by two paddlewheels with some having a huge claw-wheel that gave extra power by gripping the riverbed. After the Second World War, steamboats were replaced by diesel powered barges. Tourist cruise boats operate on the lower river between Port-St Louis-du-Rhône and Lyon. Kilometre posts beside the river show the distance downstream from the confluence of Rhone and Saone in Lyon.
Cruise boats operate between Lyon (Stage 10) and Port-St-Louis-du-Rhône (Stage 20)
In 1933, the Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) was established to control the river. Work was halted by the Second World War but restarted in 1948. A series of 19 dams, 17 locks and a number of canal cuts have been constructed since then to improve navigation, generate electricity, control flooding and irrigate farmland. While the major works were completed in 1986, ongoing projects to open up the middle river above Lyon are continuing. The latest lock at Virignin (Stage 8) opened in 2012. Two dams have boat portage ramps (Brégnier–Cordon and Sault-Brénaz), although there are long-term plans to replace these with locks. When this infrastructure has been completed the river will be fully open to leisure craft as far as Seyssel, 461km from the Mediterranean.
Further upstream, the Seujet dam in Geneva (Stage 7) is the most important structure controlling both the level of Lake Geneva and the amount of water released into the Rhone. From 1894 the lake level was controlled by hand-operated sluices until being replaced by a hydro-electric dam in 1995.
The source of the Rhone is in the high Alps beside the Furkapass (Stage 1)
The Rhone Cycle Route
The 895km Rhone Cycle Route starts in the high Alps of central Switzerland, then heads west past Lake Geneva into France before turning south to reach the Mediterranean near Marseille. The first 321km in Switzerland pass through the cantons of Valais, Vaud and Geneva, while 574km in France mostly traverse the Rhône-Alpes region. Towards the end, the route follows the boundary between the Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur regions.
This route (Stage 1) starts at the Rhone glacier viewpoint beside the Belvédère hotel, just west of the Furkapass summit. From here it plunges 900m downhill on the Furkapass to Oberwald then continues gently downhill through Goms, the pastoral valley of the infant Rhone. Near Ernen, where the Rhone descends a moraine, the route climbs away from the river on a track above the Binntal gorge through the Binntal nature park. Returning to the valley, it continues through the upper part of Valais canton (Stage 2) passing the industrial towns of Brig and Visp. Between Leuk and Sierre, where the river drops over a second moraine, the route again leaves the river, this time following a main road through Forêt de Finges pine forest. Between Sierre and Martigny (Stage 3), where the valley turns to head north, and again from Martigny to Lake Geneva (Stage 4), the wide straight valley is lined by vineyards and bounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Diablerets and Dents du Midi ranges. There are alternative routes around Lake Geneva: one passes north of the lake through Montreux and Lausanne (Stages 5–6) and the other south through Evian and Thonon-les-Bains (Stages 5A–6A). These come together in the cosmopolitan city of Geneva, which straddles the border between Switzerland and France.
Entering France, heading first southwest and then northwest, the route follows the winding river through the Rhone gorge cutting between the Jura and the Savoy Alps (Stages 7–9) with limestone cliffs on both sides. On Stage 10 population density increases as the route approaches Lyon, France’s second largest city and gastronomic capital. From here it turns south (Stages 11–17) following a wide relatively straight valley between the Alps to the east and Massif Central to the west, passing historic cities such as Vienne, Valence and Montélimar. This is an important transport route from northern Europe to the Mediterranean and the valley is followed by three railways (passenger, freight and high-speed), a national road (N7) and motorway (A7), although these seldom impinge upon the cycle route. South of Vienne
