Minimum altitude: 161 meters
Distance: 36.6 km
Slope Aspect: Various
Vertical Climbed: 648 meters (2,126 feet)
Vertical Descended: 657 meters
Rating: 3
I currently have a my winter bike - an 8 sp Giant, a bit heavy at 14kg. I don't really understand how it is so heavy really. Clearly aluminium frames are not that light. Anyway it has an 8sp Nexus hub gear which is not bad but lacks a little bit in range. I wanted to test it on a steeper climb to see if I could actually get up it. There is a 400 m section at 12%+ then 2km at 11%. All good but a bit hard and 4 minutes slower than on my not that light road bike!
Descent was down the Narcel trail which is too rough even for semi gravel but chance to visit Rapunzel Tower at Mont Narcel as well as visit the Caborne (stone hut), these are a feature of the Monts d'Or.
According to Wikipedia: Cabornes were built and temporarily inhabited by caborniers or caborgniers, single or married day labourers, some with children, who worked on behalf of landowners to clear stones from fields and vineyards or build and repair walls and stone piles, and bring soil up from sloping plots, in exchange for food. This would explain the abundance and size of the walls and chirats, but also the differences in their quality of construction. Some huts may have served as dwellings for quarrymen and stonecutters, who were very numerous in the region and who, coming from the south or Italy, sheltered themselves by building a caborne with quarry waste, near the mareins (quarry spoil).
Warmish: 11C, a bit grey. Damp on the roads under the trees. The climb of the carrieres (quarries) is rough without the autumn tree cover.
