Cime de la Bonette and nearby climbs
Barcelonette is a great place to be based for a few days. It's a lively town, with lots of nearby cols to bag: Bonette, Vars, Larch, Cayolle and Allos. All of these can be "doubled" to make a bigger day out, though a "Double Bonette" would be a very big one! The latter two can be combined in a loop with the Col des Champs for a 100k / 3k day.
Isola is a bit sleepy, which suits our early to bed mid 50s status in life, but St Etienne de Tinee is a much livelier place. Either is a good base for the other side of the Bonette, the Lombarde and the little known but fearsome Moutiere. The Lombarde could be doubled, though to do this on the Moutiere would need a gravel bike or equivalent as the 3k between the Col and the road to the Bonette are unpaved.
The Bonette is worth the trip just to see the utterly contrived additional loop added for the sole purpose of achieving a paved road higher than the Iseran!
Other than on the Moutiere, gradients are sensible e.g. little above 8%, as one would expect from former military roads, and tarmac conditions are good.
Definitely worth considering for a late summer / early Autumn jaunt.
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Thanks for that.
I had hoped to stay at Barcelonette and do many of those with Mrs Wakemalcolm a few years ago, but we had a family instead.
Maybe one for the 2030s.================================
Cake is just weakness entering the body0 -
Luckily, his'n'hers col bagging is definitely something that you can do when older. Mrs W&G and I have an aggregate age of 108 (ouch!) these days, and our best days are definitely behind us, but patience - and a 34x34 bottom gear go a long way. We intend to keep going until I need a hoist to get me onto my bike.wakemalcolm said:Thanks for that.
I had hoped to stay at Barcelonette and do many of those with Mrs Wakemalcolm a few years ago, but we had a family instead.
Maybe one for the 2030s.1 -
I remember enjoying Col de la Couillole on the same day as Bonette - lovely quiet area.1
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Yeah, we did those two and back over the Cayolle. Pretty monstrous day out, about 120 miles IIRC.kingstongraham said:I remember enjoying Col de la Couillole on the same day as Bonette - lovely quiet area.
It really is cycling paradise round there, stunning scenery, quiet roads, loads of options.
The Cayolle/Champs/Allos route must be up there with the very best rides in Europe.
We also went over the Vars to the Izoard and back which was about 100 miles.
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Any one of those "big days" would have finished us off! Luckily we had 2+ weeks to do our stuff so were able to pace ourselves and stuck to circa 80k and 1500m per day. Very enjoyable, if not the stuff of Pro Tour training camp simulations!mrb123 said:
Yeah, we did those two and back over the Cayolle. Pretty monstrous day out, about 120 miles IIRC.kingstongraham said:I remember enjoying Col de la Couillole on the same day as Bonette - lovely quiet area.
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We also went over the Vars to the Izoard and back which was about 100 miles.
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I rode the Larche, the Vars and the Restefond/Bonette years ago, but until I read your post, I'd never heard of the Col des Champs.
I've since had a look at my old, pre-millenium maps and on them, the ascent from the east is shown as unpaved for the last 2 km before the summit, while on the descent to the west no road is shown at all from the summit to the first hairpin, a distance of about 2 km. This would explain why when I was thereabouts I never considered that route.
Obviously it's changed, and I now have a reason to go there again – so thanks for that!
Today I found out that there is a Brevet/Granfondo called Les 3 Cols with start/finish in Barcelonette. It goes over the Cayolle, Champs and Allos in that order. It took place on 6 Aug this year but is maybe something for next Summer (4 Aug 2024).
For some of this Summer I was at Entrevaux, about 25 km S of St. Martin (where the Champs and the Cayolle adjoin) and there are plenty of good, often very quiet, routes and small passes within about 30 km radius of Entrevaux.
I left the area via the Cayolle, my first time over it, and I now understand why it is so rarely in the Tour, only ever once from S to N. The descent on the north side, esp when the road is fairly low down (passing through the Gorges du Bachelard), is so narrow (esp the small bridges) and twisty (with drop-offs to the side), it must be considered too dangerous, if not for the riders, then for the Tour vehicles.
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For anyone considering this area, the Ubaye tourist board produces a useful guide for download containing information on the cols and routes..
https://www.ubaye.com/GB_brochures-et-documentation-ete.html2 -
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The Couillole is going to be the final summit finish of next year's Tour apparently. Also possibly finishing at Isola 2000 another day so could be seeing a fair bit of the area.1
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Thanks for the heads up. I am thinking of doing an Airbnb alpine week, so that's a good call
It's just a hill. Get over it.0 -
Back from another jaunt with Mrs W&G, adding the Couillole (Tour route), the Guillaumes side of the Cayolle, the St Etienne side of the Bonette and both sides of the Champs to our list. All very pleasant, bar the bottom section of the Champs from Colmars, where the 34*34 was deployed heavily!
Further afield, we found the Col du Sabot above Vaujany, which is one of the toughest climbs we've encountered(steep, rough surface and then strong headwind near the summit) on a par with the Moutiere.
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I thought the Couillole was a really nice climb. Gradient rarely deviating from 7-8% the whole way.
I had heard the Sabot can be tough, but is pretty.
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The scenery once past Vaujany on the way to the Sabot is indeed stunning, as is the view over the other side to the Glandon. We had an extra interest as we skied at Alpe D'Huez in January, and the views on one side of the valley were pistes, lifts and restaurants we'd used then. Trying to match the views to our skiing memories helped pass the time.
Not sure what happened with my fitness, but I found the steady 7%/8% stuff "easy" this year, making consecutive "big days" manageable. Anything sustained at north of 9% causes me no end of grief, given my advancing senility and associated declining physical faculties!
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