Iconic climbs within sensible distance of Dordogne

barongreenback

Hi all

Planning a holiday in the Dordogne and thought I might bring the bike with me. Notwithstanding the fact that it will be rather warm in August, is anyone aware of an iconic climb I could do within a 3-4 hour drive that would be nice to tick off the bucket list? The Dordogne itself is lovely cycling country in itself but if I'm that far into France and there's something doable within a reasonable travelling distance, it would be a shame to miss out.

Cheers.

ugo.santalucia

Puy de Dome from Clermont Ferrand could be the closest. Used to be a classic climb in the 1960s TdF... nowadays too many cars and lorries follow the Tour and there isn't enough space at the top. Then if you drive to Pau, you have access to Aubisque and Tourmalet, which are the two historic cols in the Pyrenees

mercia_man

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Puy de Dome from Clermont Ferrand could be the closest. Used to be a classic climb in the 1960s TdF... nowadays too many cars and lorries follow the Tour and there isn't enough space at the top. Then if you drive to Pau, you have access to Aubisque and Tourmalet, which are the two historic cols in the Pyrenees

Sadly, the Puy de Dome was closed to cyclists some years ago when they built a tourist railway taking up half the road. I understand it's only open to cyclists on one day a year. You used to be able to cycle up before a certain time in the morning to avoid clashes with the huge number of coaches going up and down. It was an odd ride - constant fairly steep gradient all the way up going round a constant right hand bend. It was very easy to overcook your speed on the corkscrew descent - disconcerting if, like me, you were descending just when they let the motor traffic up.

An alternative and easier to reach climb might be the Pas de Peyrol up and round the Puy Mary in the Massif Central north east of Aurillac, climbing from Aurillac, Murat or Salers. That's a real col and a pretty tough climb which has been used in the TdF and Etape. But the problem is that the Dordogne, while it is lovely hilly riding country, is not the mountains so you will have to drive a fair way to get to say the Pyrenees.

Dorset_Boy

Puy de Dome is only doable very early morning, but is officially not open to the public at all. As said above they lost half the road width to the railway, and the road is only officially open to a few service and emergency vehicles - you certainly won't find any tourist coaches going up or down it though!
There are a few other cols in the Massif Central though, eg between Lac Chambon and Le Mont Dore (Col Croix Morand & Col Croix St Robert), 6-8 kms each, but not really bucket list.