The Vercors is a remarkable and confusing region, riddled with complex land formations, passes, and unbelieveable gorges. It was a somewhat frustrating area to plan for on this tour because there are so many inviting route options we'd love to explore. It is easy to imagine spending a whole cycling holiday here and taking off in a different direction every day.
Today's ride formed more or less a hairpin that went south to Col du Rousset, then turned northwest again and dropped down Combe Laval, ending up about five miles from where we started. The ride to Col Du Rousset was a lovely, gentle ride through an upland valley formed by the small Vernaison River. It is beautiful agricultural country, supporting primarily grains and dairy products. Both flanks of the valley are lined by colorful, inspiring ridges. For about 12 miles we climbed imperceptibly before rising at the end to Col du Rousset, a ski area overlooking the valley.
The road continues on from here, disappearing into a long tunnel that opens up at the other end to the southern face of the Vercors. We turned around though and dropped back into the valley again, soon veering off to the northwest to climb a different, steeper road that crossed over the ridge at Col de la Chau. This was a fine short climb, steeply switchbacking up the face of the ridge and yielding beautiful views across the valley. We are here at a great time - everything is green and lush, there are still small patches of snow atop the ridges, and the roadside and cliff faces are abloom with wildflowers.
Actually, Col de la Chau was a bit of a frustration (hence there's no photo of it in the journal - I was annoyed at it). It sounds like it would be the summit and we mentally keyed ourselves toward it, but in fact the road keeps gently rising for another two miles. After finally crossing the ridge we dropped swiftly down toward Col du Machine, stopping along the way in a sunny patch out of the wind to enjoy our lunch.
The high Vercors plateau from the upper Vernaison valley
It's warm in the valleys today but still cool and windy in the heights. After climbing up here from Saint Julien, we turned back north again and dropped back into the valley on a different road. The pass continues on to the south, through a long tunnel that starts just to the left of the photo.
The Combe Laval begins immediately around the corner from Col du Machine. It is an awesome cirque about 10 miles long and dizzyingly deep. The road that traverses the south face is a wonder of engineering - it is sobering and inspiring to contemplate how difficult it must have been to construct. It is a pure delight to cycle though, with every bend revealing a new amazing view of the cirque or tunnel carved out of the side of a sheer cliff. Too much for me to write about, but hopefully the pictures give a sense of it. Also, there's this write-up which inspired us to come this way in the first place:
The upper end of the Combe Laval, just north of Col du Machine.
Finally dropping down from the heights, we biked a few miles through the Bourne valley to our day's final destination, Pont en Royans. We're here for two nights, so we can take another day ride in this region before continuing south. Tomorrow we're off to the north to check out another famous gorge road, up the Gorges du Nan.
The dark, wrinkled mountains of northwest Vercors loom above the Bourne valley. Pont en Royans, our stay for the next two nights, is on the left.
