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Tour de Haute Savoie

From 10th to 17th June 2006, the Tour de Haute Savoie will be based in the hamlet of Puget, 2 kilometres north of the village of St-Eustache and 797 metres up in the Bauges region of the Haute Savoie overlooking Lake Annecy, on IGN map 53 ‘Grenoble Mont-Blanc’. The group size will be 15 to 20 people.

Travelling to the tour

We recommend travelling to the tour by Eurostar train from Waterloo to Paris, crossing Paris to change onto the TGV train to Annecy and then by road to the gite. You can put your partly dismantled bike in a bag and take it with you on the trains or we can transport your bike by van at your own risk.

Details of the gite here.

The Bauges

The Bauges, in the Savoie and Haute-Savoie, is part of the PreAlps chain of limestone uplands which extends north from the Mediterranean Sea near Nice through Mont Ventoux, the Vercors and along the Chaine d’Aravis to the Giffre south of Lake Geneva. It is about 40 kilometres north-south and 30 kilometres east-west, and was designated a natural park in December 1995.

At Puget, there is a view across Lake Annecy encircled by alpine peaks. Seven kilometres north of Puget is the nearest town of St Jorioz at 470 metres beside Lake Annecy. From there, you can cycle along the converted railway line beside the lake most of the way to Annecy or Faverges.

On the far side of the lake the challengeable climb to 630 metre Col de Bluffy leads towards the 2500 metre high Chaine d’Aravis of the High Alps, crossed by 1486 metre Col d’Aravis into the Arly valley and by 1613 metre Col de la Colombière.

Two kilometres behind the gites is the 1500 metre high ridge of Montagne d’Entrevernes and Roc des Boeufs above the hamlet of le Cruet. Four kilometres away on the opposite side of the Laudon valley is the 1700 metre high ridge of Crêt de Châtillon, which can be reached by cycling to 897 metre Col de Leschaux at the head of the Laudon valley and then for fifteen kilometres up the side of the ridge, followed by the abrupt descent to Gruffy.

In the heart of the Bauges beyond Col de Leschaux lie the valleys of the Chéran river at 700-800 metres enclosed by 1700-1900 metre high ridges and, outside, the Isère and Chaise valleys, Lake Annecy, and the Albanais region 1500 metres below.