CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
A 236 km one-way ride from near Thonon-les-Bains, about 4 h 46 of riding. It goes by way of Col des Gets, Col des Aravis and Col du Cormet de Roselend. The highest point is about 2,750 m. Cormet de Roselend is subject to seasonal closure - check it is open before you set off. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
The ground tilts up and stays tilted for 37 km. 1172 m of it, taken steadily rather than in one wall. A steady rhythm suits this better than bursts. The height arrives whether you hurry or not.
This is where a day makes up time without anyone trying. Third and fourth, and very little else. 47 km that neither climbs nor drops much. The road settles into the ground rather than fighting it.
The last of the trees go and the road runs out onto open ground. The summit sits at 1967 m, and what surrounds it is rock, weather and distance — cold comes early up here and stays late. Ride it with something in reserve: the summit is not the end of the work, only the middle of it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Thonon-les-Bains sits on the southern shore of Lake Geneva, facing Switzerland across about ten kilometres of water, and it is where the Route des Grandes Alpes officially starts. This was the first great tourist road of France, planned in the early twentieth century by the Touring Club de France to link the lake with the Mediterranean via the highest passes of the French Alps, and the road runs for about seven hundred kilometres over a series of cols, ending in Menton. The fine promenade along the lake, with its views of the Swiss shore and the Jura, and the fish restaurants serving perch fillets, are a gentle prelude.
Read the complete Thonon les Bains write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Thonon les Bains is where the day begins. Next is Col des Gets.
The Col des Gets is a gentle pass of 1,172 metres between the Giffre and Dranse valleys in the Haute-Savoie, linking the villages of Les Gets and Morzine, and it sits on the old Route des Grandes Alpes, the long road from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean. It is not a high or wild pass, but it is a handsome one, with rolling meadows, fir forests and wooden chalets, and the crest of the hills above it holds ski lifts that turn into mountain bike routes in summer.
Read the complete Col des Gets write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Col des Gets comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Col des Aravis, climbing 314 m.
The Col des Aravis, at 1,486 metres, joins the Arve and Thônes valleys across the Aravis range, and it is one of the most scenic of the middle-height passes in the northern French Alps. The view from the pass looks across to the Mont Blanc massif, dominating the skyline on a clear day, with the white dome and glaciers above dark forests, and in front of it stretch the green pastures of the Aravis. A handful of chalets and a small café stand near the summit, and several farms sell cheese directly from their barns.
Read the complete Col des Aravis write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 102 km into the recorded legs you reach Col des Aravis. The road climbs 314 m on the way up to it, steadily. Next is Col du Cormet de Roselend, climbing 481 m.
The Cormet de Roselend is the pass of cheese and water. It lies in the Beaufortain massif, between the town of Beaufort and the valley of the Isère, and for much of the climb you are riding through the pastures where the cows that make Beaufort cheese spend their summers, wearing bells and grazing on alpine flowers. The cheese, which is aged in the valley, is one of the most prized in France, and it is the reason this valley is prosperous and well kept. A wheel, with its distinctive concave edge, is sold in nearly every village.
Read the complete Col du Cormet de Roselend write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Col du Cormet de Roselend, late in the day at 1967 m. The road climbs 481 m on the way up to it, steadily. Next is Col de l Iseran, climbing 797 m.
The Iseran is the roof of the Alps, as far as paved passes go. At 2,764 metres, it is the highest of the great Alpine passes, a shade above the Stelvio, and the road over it was opened in 1937 to link the Tarentaise valley with the Maurienne, a feat of engineering that took years of work in short summers. It goes through the heart of the Vanoise National Park, France's first, created in 1963 to protect the ibex, which had been almost wiped out by hunters, and the park's work has been a success, as there are thousands now.
Read the complete Col de l Iseran write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Col de l Iseran. That is the ride. The road climbs 797 m on the way up to it, steadily. Nothing on this route is higher.
Thonon les Bains → Col des Gets climbs about 1172 m in 37 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Col des Gets → Col des Aravis is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Col des Aravis → Col du Cormet de Roselend climbs about 481 m in 62 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.
Col du Cormet de Roselend → Col de l Iseran climbs about 797 m in 72 km. This is the part worth slowing down for - look through the bends and use the pull-offs.