Day10 - Day Ride to Combe Laval - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

April 27, 2023

Day10 - Day Ride to Combe Laval

Otherworldly

When I was in my late teens and doing a lot of hiking and climbing in the Rockies, I bought a pair of Galibier Vercors hiking boots (from the MEC which at that point was a small shop in an old building in the Kensington area of Calgary - the second MEC shop in Canada after Vancouver). I knew they were made in France and that Vercors probably related in some way to the Alps. But that was the limit of my knowledge and investigations.

The boots served me well and got resoled a few times, but they eventually were retired and forgotten about as was the word Vercors.

Thankfully we’ve had a chance to get to know the real Vercors. This place is stunning and given my overwrought description of yesterday, I could go even further based on what we rode today, but I’ll spare you.

You will have another session with aunt Betty’s photo album a bit later (this time her two weeks in Cancun with Edith), but for now, here’s a short verbal description of the day.

We’ve taken up residence in Pont en Royans for three nights and will be doing unloaded day rides for two days. You could easily spend a week or more here doing a different and amazing ride everyday, but since we need to spread our love around France we’ve limited ourselves to two.

Today was the Combe Laval, one of the most famous balcony roads in France, or the world for that matter.

Approaching the Vercors from the Rhone valley, you are faced with sheer cliffs up to 1000 m high, or more, interspersed with very narrow and steep gorges that lead to the broad and lush alpine valleys above. Yesterday we rode down one of those gorges, today we will ride up a different one, albeit a little less dramatic than the Bourne gorge. We’ll then continue to climb more gently through the Alpine valleys dotted with farms and quaint villages and then return by riding over one of those 1000 m cliffs.

This is going to be fun!

We started by riding a few km’s South to St Eulalia en Royans where we then turned east onto the very quiet D518 to start the climb. We immediately encountered a short tunnel of about 50 m. After about another 200 m we encountered a second short tunnel … this pattern repeated itself a few more times, setting the tone for the day … tunnel / open / tunnel / open … in a rhythmic pattern. We were now in the very beautiful Vernaisson valley where we would continue the consistent but gradual climb through to the 1.7 km Grand Goulets tunnel (well lit, wide and very little traffic), and then on to the lovely village of La Chapelle en Vercors where we stopped for a picnic lunch.

The day to this point was glorious, full sun, brilliant blue sky and lush green pastures. After lunch the climb continued, still very gradual but our elevation was constantly building. The landscape started to change to more forested alpine and it was clear that spring was still a few weeks away at these higher altitudes. The trees were just starting to bud out with very few leaves yet, quite a contrast to the now lush vegetation in the lower valleys.

We had decided to take the shortest route to reach Combe Laval, so after La Chappell, we headed west on the D199 to Col de Carri, our high point of the day.

By now the sky had clouded over but it was still warm and we had great visibility. The D199 then started a very nice gradual decent to intersect with the D76 which led to Col de la machine … and then the Combe Laval.

After La Chappell we were essentially on our own. We saw one motorcycle, one car and two other cyclists until we reached col de la Machine. Even then, there were minutes between cars and or cyclists, and bikes continued to outnumber cars.

The brooding cloudy sky, the rush of a pedal free easy downhill and the anticipation of seeing Combe Laval were now palpable, and as the road continued a few hundred meters down past Col de la Machine we got sight of the Laval cirque in front of us.

Yesterday was ‘OMG’.

This was ‘OMFG!”

This road appears to be going over a cliff into a massive canyon!

We spent the next few hours exploring and navigating down this wonder. Enough said, slide up to Aunt Betty and her photo album to get a better idea of what this place is.

If you are a SOTD fan, you might want to scroll to the bottom now and start it up. It’s a long one and in IMHO a perfect metaphor for todays ride. There’s also a lot of pictures to get through!

Short version of a Pont en Royan Combe Laval circuit

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Baguette sandwich and biscuits in hand, we’re ready to start the day

Tunnel one right at the start of the day

Just getting into the Vernaisson valley after this imposing head wall that the tunnels circumvented

The pattern continues, like a metronome, tunnel 3

Now starting our climb through the beautiful Vernaisson valley

A perfectly placed hotel with an open cafe / bar about an hour into the climb

Approaching the ’big guy’ …. Les Grand Goulets tunnel. 1.7 km long with a slight uphill grade the entire length. It’s very safe to ride and fortunately we only had 4 vehicles pass us (2 each way), all small cars but even they sound like monster trucks when in a tunnel!

And then back out into a beautiful lush alpine valley as we continue the climb to La Chapelle en Vercors

Vintage Citroên van at the Thursday market in La Chapelle

Some great Vietnamese spring rolls from the market in La Chapelle

Very pretty place to spend the day grazing

A continuous crescendo …. Still climbing towards Col de Carri. We are now in a more forested zone and spring is still a few weeks away at this altitude. We are also more or less on our own here … NO other traffic. It’s starting to get more dramatic

Still climbing at a steady tempo but we’ve transitioned from piano to forte

Hey! One of Lyle as he approach’s Col de Carri!

Our high point, elevation wise, for today. A quick second lunch and then on to Combe Laval

Easy high speed downhill … excitement and anticipation building!

Merge onto the D76 and add in a little more traffic, still mostly bikes …. We are almost there.

At the top. Full on fortissimo! There’s a road to get down there!!!! The Combe Laval cirque just appears … and it’s huge!

Enter this portal to another magical world!

The canyon just keeps getting wider and deeper

Most of the time is spent looking forward or down .. and when you do look up, it’s like this

The heaviest traffic we saw! A Thursday in late April is an ideal time to be here

About 6 km’s of this, and it took us over an hour to ride down. No better way to experience this than on a bike!

I had to stop at every turn, arch and tunnel. It’s beyond words

We were fortunate that it’s still early spring here and the trees are still in bud stage. Our views across the canyon and down into the Isère valley were incredible. That won’t be the case in a few weeks.

Amazing views at every turn. Pont en Royans is just a few km’s away down on the other side of the near ridge … a long way down though

… and we’ve got it almost to ourselves … just a few other cyclists

Can we stop Aunt Betty? This is too much!

Nope, we have to push on, we’re almost done

So let’s have a look back to take it in again

Who would have thought to put a road through this?

We still have about 500 m of elevation to shed in short order, but on regular much more pedestrian roads

Now down in the valley bottom with farms and villages and full on spring.

Our final few leisurely km’s back to Pont en Royans

SOTD - Ravel’s Bolero

I started this post with a pretty random reference to a pair of hiking boots I had in the the late 70’s. They were great boots, and classics, but that was largely lost on me then. Also in the late 70’s the movie ‘10’ came out and thrusted Dudley Moore and Bo Derek into relative stardom. The movie also put Ravel’s classic work Bolero into the mass market conscious. It was certainly my first encounter with the work and for a long time, in my brain, it was associated with this (now) pretty lame movie (but few 19 year old males thought of Bo Derek as lame).

At the time Maurice Ravel composed Bolero he was considered France’s greatest living composer and Bolero, his masterpiece. It’s a simple melody that build with repetition. It starts with the constant repeating beat of a snare drum that continues through the whole piece, not unlike the repeating tunnels at the start of our day.

Then the melody is overlayed with flutes. Very nice, very simple, not unlike the ride through the pastures of the Vernaisson valley. More and more instruments are added, all repeating the same simple melody, with the same tempo, as the crescendo continues …. Very much like our continual climb through the evolving landscape. The drama of the piece increases considerably about 3/4 of the way through as the full full orchestra is now involved ….. our quickening pace as we ride down from Col de Carri. Finally, the timpani and bass drums thunder in as the wonder of the Combe Laval is revealed. Full fortissimo, a cacophony of sound and furry all ending in a final whirlwind crash of exhaustion.

Have I overplayed this? Maybe, but for France’s greatest road what else would suffice than France’s greatest composer’s greatest work.

Enjoy.

Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles)
Total: 334 km (207 miles)

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Kathleen ClassenIsn’t it absolutely amazing? I have never been able to adequately explain it to people, even with pictures! I am so enjoying reliving the experience through you. To see it on a bike is just a gift.
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1 year ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Kathleen ClassenGlad to see you are following along. We have enjoyed following your travels and done similar trips. Yes, you are so right the Combe Laval is beyond descriptive words. We appreciate that we were able to experience it on our bikes.
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1 year ago

Rachael AndersonFabulous photos!
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1 year ago

Susan CarpenterHi Lyle and Kirsten - just re-reading a few posts from your 1923 tour in anticipation of cycling in the Vercors this spring. The Combe Laval seems something not to be missed! Also love the SOTD Ravel piece. I don't recall the movie 10 - my introduction to Bolero was Torvall and Dean's memorable ice-dancing routine in the 1984 Olympics .
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5 days ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Susan CarpenterI really enjoyed our days cycling in that area, it is such a unique road having the Bolero as the song of the day I think was very fitting. The climb just kept producing awesome views, and impressive views. We really appreciated being there in the spring as it allowed us much more of a view with there being no leaves on the trees. The engineering of how they built the roads is mind boggling. I highly recommend the ride.
Funny, I never saw the Torvall and Dean ice dancing, I do remember hearing about it. I guess I better check it out. Have fun on the ride in the spring.
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2 days ago