chemins du soleil

The Chemins du Soleil is a network of pathways in the South Western quarter of the Alps. The particular route we'll be taking you on is the Die to Gap route used in the Chemins du Soleil Raid VTT (an annual enduro mountain bike race). The race takes place over three days, we however, will take a bit more time! With nearly 8000m of climbing and descending involved, this still won't be a walk in the park.

Accommodation will be in local, independently run Gites (guest houses) and Hotels. They will be 2 star lodgings, so will be clean, comfortable, and mountain bike friendly.

Here's a day by day breakdown of what to expect:

Saturday

Arrival day. We will pick you up from Grenoble Airport and transfer you down to the Medieval town of Die where we'll check into our hotel for the night; get the bikes ready to roll; and if there's time go for a short spin to check everything is working perfectly before we set off on the trip properly.

Sunday

Die to Beaumont en Diois 49km.

Day one eases us into the route - with only one major climb of 800m to contend with (and descent of course!) we should be in Beaumont with our legs and lungs fully warmed up ready for the days ahead.

Monday

Beaumont en Diois to Valdrome 35km

A short stage today, but by no means an easy one - we've got four major climbs which see us steadily rise up to 1500m before a final 700m descent down to Valdrome where we'll spend the night preparing for what's in store tomorrow.

Tuesday

Valance to Lus La Croix Haute 42km

The toughest stage of the week - with nearly 3,000m of descending, and 2,500m of climbing to be done. We'll start off with an uplift to the ski station of Valance, but from there on in it's all pedal power. There will be a couple of 5-10 minute 'hike a bike' sections, but apart from that it's all thrill a minute singletrack and farmtrack.

Wednesday

Lus La Croix Haute to St Etienne-en-Devoluy 30km

After a tough previous day, we'll have a later start today, and a welcome uplift (well, the first 400m at least!). We then climb up to the highest point of the week at 1800m before a thrilling 600m descent.  We'll then make our way over two smaller passes before reaching our beds.

Thursday

St Etienne-en-Devoluy to Gap 38km

Our final leg of the trip - over 2000m of descending into Gap - we've got to earn 3/4s of that, but it's all worth while. We climb up to 1700m before starting our descent, no more major climbs today, only small ones and plenty of down hill action. A great end to a great tour.

Friday

Lac de Serre Poncon

The last day of the holiday. We'll spend the day by the lake - you'll have a choice of either a riding in the mountains above the lake, or simply resting your weary bones on the shore. Or most likely: a bit of both.  

Saturday

Back to Grenoble airport to say farewell to the Alps.