Why this ride
249 km one way from Ospedaletti - plan on about 3 h 38 of riding. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,100 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mercantour High Roads · part 1
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 249 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 38
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Ospedaletti
Palms, pastel houses and a bay that faces due south: Ospedaletti is the Riviera dei Fiori at its most relaxed, a small Ligurian town tucked between Sanremo and Bordighera with its feet in the sea and terraced hills behind it. The old coast railway has been moved inland into a tunnel, and its former line along the shore is now a cycle and walking path, so the seafront is quieter than you might expect on such a crowded coast.
Read the complete Ospedaletti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mercantour High Roads is where the day begins. Next is Nice / Côte d’Azur return.
2. Near Cuneo, on the way back
Cuneo announces itself from a distance: a long, wedge-shaped town perched on a terrace where two Alpine rivers, the Stura di Demonte and the Gesso, cut deep beds on either side before joining just to the north. The name comes from that shape, cuneo meaning wedge. This stop lies just south-west of the town, on the open plain between Castelletto Stura and Beinette, with the Maritime Alps standing up as a wall along the southern horizon.
Read the complete Near Cuneo, on the way back write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nice / Côte d’Azur return comes up about 195 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop near Sambuco.
3. Food stop near Sambuco
Sambuco is a tiny village in the Valle Stura, one of the Occitan valleys of Piedmont, on the road that climbs from Cuneo to the Colle della Maddalena, known to the French as the Col de Larche, and on into the Ubaye valley in France. It is a place of stone houses, wooden balconies and steep meadows, surrounded by mountains, where life has always been tied to pastures and flocks. The village has given its name to a local breed of sheep, the Sambucana, whose lamb is a prized speciality of the valley.
Read the complete Food stop near Sambuco write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 184 km.