Col de Cabre (1180m)

I've briefly mentioned Col de Cabre in my post 'A couple more cols...' of 31 July, but here it gets proper treatment, as it well and truly qualifies for the 1000m+ treatment.

If you've been cycling from Die, heading south east, this col, on the main road, the D93, is the last escape out of the mighty Drôme valley: at the western end it finishes in the flatlands of the Rhône, but the Drôme is bordered by sizeable hills east of Crest, and sooner or later you'll have to go over a biggish col to get to another valley.

From either side the climb is neither steep nor very long, as the land on either side is already quite high: 750m on the Beaurières side, and 890m on the La Baume side. The views on the eastern side are more extensive, as on the western side there is much tree cover. Also note that the road on the western side is almost entirely in the shade in the winter months, being north-facing, so will stay icy or frosted even on sunny days. Oh, and don't expect to get refreshments at the rather dull col itself: I've yet to see the café open. If you're a Latin scholar, however, there's a monument there for you to translate instead.

Of the two descents I prefer the western side, as it's long enough to get into, and has a nice mix of bendy straights with good visibility, and a few hairpins. The lack of views is made up for by a fun road which needs your concentration. The surface is mostly very good, but there are a few patches to keep an eye on on both descents. Surprisingly, perhaps, it's not a very busy road, but you will find the odd heavy lorry on it.

I'll be uploading videos to Youtube of both descents in due course.

 

  

Thanks to knedlicky...

I've been extolling the virtues of this area amongst those who will listen since I was introduced to it two years ago. There's no doubt that the Dutch know about it, to the extent that you are more likely to hear Dutch than French in the supermarkets during the peak season in the summer. But it's still relatively little known to British folk, so I've been letting cyclists in on the 'secret' via a thread on Bike Radar forums.

One poster there who obviously has ridden quite a few miles here, and to whom the area is no 'secret' goes under the name 'knedlicky' on Bike Radar, and he (I'm assuming) kindly posted a couple of routes new to me. I've been feeling a bit guilty for not having ridden either... till today.

In fact, the route I rode today is slightly modified: I went from Die over the Col de la Croix to Beaufort:sur-Gervanne and Gigors, then over the Col de Jérôme Cavalli (a pre-war and wartime flying ace, killed in action in 1943) and up to the Col des Limouches again. Knedlicky suggested I return via the Col de Bacchus, but as I've done that (good) descent several times, I decided to descend the previously only-ascended Col des Limouches to Chabeuil, and from there to Crest and Die. I also intended to video the descent, as it's quite a good one, but thanks to my not checking if the camera was charged, I only got four minutes of the fifteen-minute descent. I guess I'll have to go and do it all over again sometime. It's a good job I like riding both up and down hills, I suppose.

Incidentally, as it was decidedly warm, and I fancied getting home promptly, I ignored my previous advice and went from Chabeuil to Crest on the main road. With a strong tailwind it wasn't too bad, and was certainly quick, but it's still rather dull and has its fair share of big vehicles. If you're not in a hurry, the other options would be much more pleasurable.

Lastly, if you do ride this route, save a bit of energy for the last 4km after the Col de Jérôme Cavalli and before the Col des Limouches. It's a beautiful, quiet road over rolling countryside, which at the end makes little effort to wind round the hills: it just goes straight up them, with some of the sharpest little gradients I've come across round here. Pretty much like Devon, in fact.

Col de la Chau (1337m)

Col de le Chau is a bit of an odd one. It stands above Vassieux-en-Vercors, the long climb leading to it being clearly visible from Vassieux.

Firstly, although that visible bit of climb doesn't look very high (the col is only about 300m above Vassieux), it seems to take quite a long time to get there. Turning left at the 'Nécropole' (a stark and moving reminder of the wartime slaughter at Vassieux), the climb is a simple there-and-back effort, with one hairpin, and I think that the straightness and slight extra steepness of the road in comparison with others make it that bit harder.

Secondly, once you get to the col, you might be surprised to find that you then carry on climbing: in fact you'll carry on climbing another 100m to the ski station at Chaud Clapier. The reason for this is that Col de la Chau is another of those where you pass along the ridge between two valleys either side of the road (see Col de la Machine for another example).

If you approach from the west (from either Col de la Battaille or Lente) you'll have a pleasant but unremarkable ascent to Chaud Clapier of about 300m before dropping down to Col de la Chau, and you'll be forgiven for not stopping (or even noticing) the col.

However, once past the col, and the Mémorial de la Résistance, if it's a clear day, there's no way you'll be able to resist stopping on the descent and taking a photo of the quite breathtaking view that opens up: for there you will see the whole of the majestic eastern ridge, from La Moucherotte in the north, to Le Grand Veymont in the south, and down below you the beautiful Vassieux plains, where such horrors happened just over seventy years ago.

A walk from Col de Rousset

Despite all my grand plans, this summer I seem to have filled my time rediscovering the pleasures of (mostly) already-ridden roads round here, and it brought it home to me how little walking I've done when one of my guests last week was describing paths I not yet been on despite having now spent seventeen weeks down here since summer 2012. Normally in the choice between two feet and two wheels, the wheels win.

So yesterday was a good day to take one day off pedalling, and discover a bit of the Vercors plateau on foot, with friends Clare and Alan. With food in rucksacks, and a fine day forecast, we drove up to the ski station at Col de Rousset, took the lazy way to the top using the ski lift, and walked a gentle loop round to the east to take in fine views of the Vercors eastern ridge, the Glandasse, and, of interest to cyclists, views south to Mont Ventoux (the weather station being clearly visible).

As well as the fine views (the highpoint of the walk being Belvédère at 1639m), there were a few pretty wild flowers, up to twenty griffon vultures gliding over our heads, and a sheepdog who joined us for our lunchtime stop. He seemed unconcerned by the vultures' proximity to and interest in the sheep under his guard (the sheepdogs round here stay amongst the sheep and are supposed to look after them rather than round them up), and after realising that he wasn't going to be given any of our food promptly lay down and went to sleep at our feet. So much for the severe warning signs telling us to stay away from these fearsome hounds.

Col de Noyer (1664m)

If you try and find the Col de Noyer near Die it'll take you a while, as it's actually in the Devoluy area, which I've visited briefly before on the Menée & Grimone cols route. One of the attractions of that route is the view of the High Alps, so when new French cycling friend Jérôme offered to drive over to Clelles so that we could have a ride in some grown-up hills, the idea immediately appealed. Even more so given that the Col de Noyer was one of the ones mentioned by a Bike Radar forum member.

The route itself was a good 75-miler, heading towards Corps, and coming back through St Disdier. The col road kicks up sharply at the start off the N85 before lulling you into a false sense of security in some gentler slopes. But the 12km climb really gets going after Le Village, with some testing slopes. If you can take your mind off the pain, there are some stunning views over the broad valley below. (All but a couple of my photos were taken on the move, as I didn't fancy stopping, so please do excuse any blurriness or not-quite-level-ness.)

After the pleasing short switchbacks near the top, you come to the col, replete with refreshment cabin, but more importantly, stunning views, especially of the completely different descent. If, like me, you like a short sharp climb followed by a long steady descent, this is the way to do it. The views soon open up to the skiing village of St-Etienne-en-Devoluy, where I suppose you might consider the climb to the col to start if coming from that side. But doing it the way we did, we still had a good descent of the gorge below St-Disdier to come.

All in all a truly spectacular col: the east side is by far the more challenging going either way, but both sides are really worth the effort.