Off-Road Cycling Routes
Alps Divide Bikepacking Route
This spectacular alpine bikepacking route traverses the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. Starting in Menton at the shores of the Mediterranean sea, the route offers such diverse landscapes, over a real mix of terrain, all the way to Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). The scenery is nothing short of breathtaking, with ‘wow’ moments around nearly every corner. A journey packed with high mountain passes, alpine pastures abundant with wild flowers and bell ringing cows, turquoise lakes, historic military gravel roads, derelict but once mighty forts, and switchbacks galore! Click the link below to find not only the full route with POI’s but also the route split into sections, including some alternatives. A full writeup here.
Tour du Mont Blanc by Mountain Bike Route
The Tour du Mont Blanc is one of the most famous hiking routes in the world. A circular route filled with spectacular glaciers, breathtaking alpine meadows, grand mountain passes and charming valleys. To do this route by bike I altered the route a little. I kept a lot of the original hiking route, including all the major mountain passes, but added a few more gravel sections, particularly on the ascents to allow for as much peddling as possible. Be warned there is still a fair amount of difficult hike-a-bike! I would highly recommend you don’t do it in July or August, as the trail is very busy. In June (when I did it) there is still a lot of snow up high, so September might be the best option. Read a full write up here.
Bikepacking the mountains of Andalucía, Spain
From desert cave houses to pretty Berber villages, endless olive groves to bare moonscape plateaux, dense pine forests to arid sandstone canyons. One thing that is for sure, is this bikepacking route gives you superb variety! A beautiful loop through some of Andalucías mountain ranges, starting and finishing in Granada. It takes in the; Sierra Nevada, Sierra de Baza, Sierra de Segura and Sierra Cazorla (GR247 loop), and finishing riding through the Gorafe Desert (aka Bad Lands). Read more here.
Montañas Vacías — bikepacking the wild and remote 'Empty Mountains'
A fantastic gravel bike packing route through the Serranía Celtibérica, aka ’Montañas Vacías’ (The Empty Mountains) of Spain. It is also referred to as ’Spanish Lapland’, an area in Spain twice the size of Belgium, with a population density similar to Lapland, less than 7 inhabitants/km². The route is 700km with 13000m of ascent, but you can easily choose your own distance as the route has several links or shortcuts. Read more here.
Boucle du Vercors
My ‘Boucle du Vercors’ is a 320km mixed-surface itinerary through the stunning Vercors Natural Park, just outside Grenoble, France. It is one of my favourite places and one of France’s best-kept secrets.
This route is AMAZING, dominated by limestone cliffs and gorges, with panoramic viewpoints galore. So varied, so quiet and utterly beautiful. It is a combination of all my favourite places in the Vercors combined into one loop.Just over 50% of the route is small quiet paved roads (some of the most spectacular parts are on paved roads), and the rest is predominantly gravel 4×4 tracks, but with a little single track scattered in between. You may have to push your bike for short periods on steeper sections, but in general, it is a non-technical route suitable for gravel bikes with medium to wide tyres (or hardtails).
