France: Vercors (with GPS data)
Canyoning is the name of the sport in which people squeezed into neoprene jump several metres off rocks into ice-cold mountain streams and climb through narrow gorges. So narrow that sometimes there is only room for their shoulders between the rock faces. Cyclists travelling through the Gorges de la Bourne, through the gorges of the Bourne, where the powerful little river has sunk into the soft limestone like a blowtorch over millions of years, feel very similar.
One of the gateways to the marvellous world of the Vercors lies in the picturesque town of Pont-en-Royans. The river has not left much room for people to live. At the narrow passageway, crooked houses cling to the rock faces under which the Bourne rushes impetuously out into the Alpine foothills.
But the Ponten-Royans gorge is just an appetiser, a foretaste of the opulent main menu. Behind the gorge, the valley opens up once again to provide the perfect dramatisation for the spectacle. Layers of rock pile on top of each other like pancakes, with table mountains rising in the distance like stone monuments. Soon the road heads straight for a vertical rock face. The walls to the left and right are also getting closer and closer. No way out in sight. Nature has not provided one either. So the road builders had no choice but to blast the route into the rock face.
You can download the entire article and these GPS tours below:
- Tour 1: Gorges du Nan
(128 kilometres, 2,100 metres in altitude, maximum gradient of eight percent)
- Tour 2: Col du Romeyère
(105 kilometres, 1,700 metres in altitude, maximum gradient of eight percent)
- Tour 3: Around the Drac reservoir
(120 kilometres, 2,780 metres in altitude, maximum gradient twelve percent)
- Tour 4: Through the Chartreuse
(98 kilometres, 1,900 metres in altitude, maximum gradient twelve percent)
GPS DATA: TOUR offers the tour data for free download. You can download the tracks in GPX format directly onto a GPS device or view them on your computer in Google Earth or Google Maps.
Downloads:
GPS data: France: Vercors
PDF: France: Vercors
