When we first arrived in Bourg-st-Maurice we were amazed that on the hillside behind our apartment a chapel had been built so far up the on what looked like a precarious piece of land about to slide down the mountainside.
It proved to be pretty useful for navigation as, no matter where we went in the valley or up the other side, we could always see the chapel and know our apartment was just underneath it.
Then a couple of people mentioned there were great mountain biking routes in the area of the chapel. Pete and I kept staring up wondering how on earth you get up there, or indeed get back down? So we bought an IGN map (like an OS map) and spoke to a girl we met on a road ride (who turned out to be an ex-world downhill biker -it may have been useful to know this before we took her directions). She told us the best way to climb up via a road (about an hour and a half of climbing) and said the trails down were “nice”.
So we waited for the heat of the day to cool and at 5pm off we set. As we rose out of Bourg we could see the whole town and the outdoor pool I’d been swimming in the day before.
We climbed up to Les Echines Dessus at an altitude of 1330m and then to Granville at 1484m passing a lady milking a cow by hand. By then we were actually above St Michel’s chapel. We went down an overgrown track and came out at a field looking over to the chapel.
And then followed a fairly level but scarily narrow track that scooted around the mountainside – just don’t look to your right! And we were there – what a view …..
Not surprisingly, the chapel is no longer in use but it is obvious by the flowers that people still visit it.
And now for more narrow balcony trail followed with a trail that went straight down the mountainside. The trail had a series of steep and tight switchback turns on dusty, rocky terrain. Some I had to walk, some both of us had to walk and some we both loved. More practice definitely required.
I was chuffed I had just ridden this steep rock garden !
And then after a little test of heights we were back down to roads.
Unfortunately the way the roads work, we still had to climb back up a bit to our apartment. But hey, it wouldn’t be The Alps without a climb on your bike now would it?
