The Transcévenole

Description

Not far from the Trappist convent of Notre-Dame des Neiges, head for Montselgues and its granite chaos, les boules de Gargantua. From there, you'll plunge through woods alternating between coniferous and chestnut trees to reach Les Vans. Between holm oaks, cades, vines and almond trees, here schist sets the tone. Then comes Malbosc, with its lauze roofs, steep slopes and man-made faïsses. You're right in the heart of the Cévennes ardéchoises.

The route links the stations of La Bastide-Puylaurent (48) and Génolhac (30) in 3 Ardèche stages, passing through Montselgues, Les Vans and Malbosc before reaching Génolhac.

Total course length: 133 Km
Difference in altitude: 2,170 m
Main entry/exit points: La Bastide-Puylaurent / Montselgues / Les Vans / Malbosc / Génolhac

By bike: 99km from La Bastide-Puylaurent to Génolhac
By train: 33km from Génolhac to La Bastid-Puylaurent

Stage 1: La Bastide-Puylaurent - Montslegues
25km / D+ 680m / D- 680m / Alti max 1083m / Alti mini 567m / Difficult
Leaving La Bastide, you'll pass by the Palet de Gargantua, an enormous sandstone slab that suggests it may have been a dolmen. Then, without forcing your way through the woods, you'll reach the Beaumes chapel. From here, the road rises over this magnificent valley, with a 15% gradient to reach the hamlet of Pradons and on to Montselgues.

Stage 2: Montselgues - Les Vans
32.6km / D+ 300m / D- 1,140m / Alti max 1,020 / Alti mini 140m / Average
Head for the Col de l'Echelette to reach the corniche of the Vivarais cévenol and its highly contrasting landscapes. The breaks in slope are so abrupt that you don't just descend from the plateau, you fall off it. Leaving the magnificent Thines valley on your right, and the magic of its perched village, you plunge through woods alternating coniferous and chestnut trees, punctuated by a few clearings and dotted with small hamlets of old stone houses with slate roofs, to reach Les Vans.

Stage 3: Les Vans - Génolhac
41.4km / D+ 1,170m / D- 700m / Alti max 620m / Alti mini 180m / Difficult
Leaving Les Vans, holm oaks, almond trees, vines and cades announce Mediterranean vegetation. The countless "accols", terraces held back by low dry-stone walls, and "clapas", scree slopes that bear witness to the past, when peasants, in order to find a little arable land, had to relentlessly remove stones from their plots by hand.

Profile

• Distance: 133 km
• Height difference: 3540 m
• Positive difference of level: 3540 m
• Negative difference of level: 3530 m
• Sign: NON_BALISE
• Type of itinerary: BOUCLE

Spoken language

• French