(04) Gex - Messery

From Gex, after a short climb, you are directly on a long traffic-calmed panoramic route that tends to descend slightly with the best view of Mont Blanc until Collonges. Here you go down to the Rhône bridge, where taking the detour, even if the traffic is quite dense, is preferable to the side road with its extreme gradient. Just after crossing the river, you can avoid traffic on a partially gravel secondary road up to Vulbens. However, for the almost flat stretch to Valleiry, it is best to use the main road before reaching another heavily trafficked road shortly before Jussy on a constantly rising side road. You now reach the lively Cruseilles more or less flat, largely along bike paths or lanes. Here is the starting point for crossing the Salève ridge, a route that offers fantastic views in all directions in the upper section. After that, it steeply descends until you are spat out at a traffic junction opposite Annemasse. You cross this unattractive city by the quickest route and reach Machilly on a small road that tends to rise slightly with moderate traffic through small suburbs. Here, a small hill still needs to be climbed, after which you encounter the previously bike-prohibited main traffic axis and can comfortably follow this wide route downhill, even with heavy traffic, all the way to Douvaine. Straight through the large intersection, you now reach a side road to Chens-sur-Léman, where, contrary to some information, there is no longer a campsite. However, one can find such (very nice, but also very expensive) in the neighboring village of Messery (pizzeria in the village, beach restaurant in Chens-le-Lac).

Fourth of twenty stages of a cycling tour around Switzerland. The route through an attractive landscape is largely dominated by the Mont Blanc massif and, after reaching the Salève peak towards Annemasse, it has certain lengths toward the end.