[ Paris to Lyons by Tarare.]
Distance, 318 miles. Time, 17½ hours.
LYONS 318 PARIS. This route is the same as the preceding as far as Roanne. For time-tables, see under “Paris, Tarare, et Lyon.” The route becomes picturesque after Roanne.
Roanne. Tarare.
PARIS
LYONS 262 56 ROANNE. (See [p. 346].) 5 m. S.E. is L’Hôpital, and 19 m. more the manufacturing town of Amplepuis, pop. 7000, at the foot of a hill 1525 ft. above the sea-level, producing considerable quantities of muslin, calico, cotton, and linen cloth. 3 m. from Amplepuis commences the tunnel, 3200 yards, which pierces the ridge that separates the basin of the Loire from the Rhône. The temperature of the Rhône basin in winter is rawer and colder than that of the Loire.
PARIS
LYONS 288 30 [TARARE], pop. 15,000. Hotel: Europe; an uninteresting and unattractive manufacturing town on the Turdine, surrounded by steep mountains, among which is Mont Chevrier, one of the highest summits of the Beaujolais range. At the low end of the town is the
railway station, and at the high end the viaduct of 21 arches across the valley of the Turdine. The arch which crosses the road has a span of 95 ft., the others average 35 ft. About 60,000 men in the town and environs are employed in the manufacture of velvet, embroidery, trimming, and especially in the particular kind of muslin called “tarlatan,” a thin gauze-like fabric, for which it is celebrated.
PARIS
LYONS 318 LYONS (see [p. 29]).
[ Lyons to Clermont-Ferrand,]
121 m. W. by Givors-Canal, St. Etienne, Montbrison, and Thiers.