The Durance by bike

4 steps

1. 

   Cyclo

   Le Monêtier-les-Bains

   The Durance by Bike Stage 1: Le Monêtier-les-Bains - L'Argentière-la-Bessée

   Pass

   History and architecture

   Lake and glacier

   Panorama

   • Medium
   • 2h
   • 38,2km
   • +395m

2. 

   Cyclo

   L'Argentière-la-Bessée

   Durance by bike Stage 2 : L'Argentière-la-Bessée - Embrun

   Pass

   History and architecture

   Lake and glacier

   Panorama

   • Medium
   • 2h
   • 40,7km
   • +681m

3. 

   Cyclo

   Embrun

   Lake and glacier

   Panorama

   Top

   • Medium
   • 3h
   • 28,3km
   • +804m

4. 

   Cyclo

   Chorges

   Pastoralism

   • Easy
   • 2h
   • 39,2km
   • +1526m

18 points of interest

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  History

  The Serre Chevalier resort

  At the edge of the Ecrins National Park, the Serre Chevalier ski resort extends over several towns and villages on the right bank of the Guisane, from Monêtier-les-Bains to Briançon. Founded in 1941 with the Chantemerle cable car, it has the biggest ski area in the southern Alps with 61 ski lifts on all levels from an altitude of 1,200 m to 2,830 m to Pic de l'Yret (Le Monêtier-les-Bains). The resort’s logo is an eagle, in reference to Baron Borel du Bez, Briançon’s representative in 1792 at the Legislative Assembly, which ruled France between 1792 and 1795, during the French Revolution. Le Bez is a hamlet in Villeneuve that was united with the Chantemerle ski resort in the 1970s.

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  Geology and geography

  The quartzite and the ripple marks

  The rock through which the tunnel has been cut is a quartzite, a metamorphic, siliceous rock which is very hard and formed by grains of quartz welded together. It originates from sand deposited 230 million years ago in the still-shallow waters of the nascent Alpine ocean, and brought here by the erosion of the surrounding topography. In places, undulations can be seen on the tunnel wall: these are ripple marks, "fossilised" creased created by water flowing over the sand. 

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  Know-how

  The Resourcerie

  This former school has acquired a new function: that of giving new life to obsolete furniture and objects. The Resourcerie reclamation and repurposing centre makes new objects out of other, unwanted items. No new raw materials are used in their production, thereby helping to prevent the accumulation of waste. Eco-friendly and sustainable, the reclamation and repurposing centre reduces waste and creates employment. 

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  History

  Images of the grapevine

  Les Vigneaux owes its name to the vine cultivation once plied on its hillsides. The grapevine is also depicted on the town's coat of arms, which has a vineplant, and also on the traditional houses with vine trellises. Houses with grape presses are also a reminder of the importance of the grapevine.

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  History

  The vertical compressor

  In 1910, a 22-year-old engineer, Gilbert Planche arrived in L'Argentière-La Bessée to take advantage of the water here and open a large aluminium factory.

  The vertical compressor is the forerunner of the pneumatic drill. The mine operators needed a large quantity of coal and compressed air helped to accelerate coal output. In 1852, Swiss physicist Jean-Daniel Colladon invented the pneumatic drill. The vertical compressor enabled the production of compressed air which powered a drill and simplified coal excavation. The compressor is placed vertically on its support, hence its name. 

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  History

  Louis Leprince-Ringuet and L'Argentière

  Louis Leprince-Ringuet was the director of the Physics Laboratory of X ("X" being a polytechnic school in Villeurbanne) established in L'Argentière. During the summer of 1942, he took in several Jewish students, thus saving them from the Nazis and deportation to Auschwitz. A panel presents the discoveries made by Louis Leprince-Ringuet in this laboratory. A text by Bernard Lévi is also displayed. As a young Jewish student, he took part in research at the laboratory during the summer of 1942. In it he thanks the scientific team for helping him to escape the anti-Semitic barbarism.

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  History

  The Péchiney factory

  This French electro metal company established itself in L'Argentière in 1907. The construction of the aluminium factory started in 1909 and it opened its doors in 1910, powered by the electricity plant built by Gilbert Planche. With it, L'Argentière became an industrial town. The economic crisis of the 1970s and the rise of foreign sources of supply led to the factory's closure in 1985. It was partially demolished in 1988. The workers left the town and in order to prevent the abandonment of L'Argentière, a restructuring project was launched. 

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  History

  Former industrial area of L’Argentière-la-Bessée

  On the two walls of these now-disused industrial structures, you can read the history of L’Argentière-la-Bessée. The town is marked by its industrial past, in particular by the presence of a hydroelectric power station built between 1907 and 1909 to harness the power of the mountain waterfalls. At the time, it was the most powerful power station in Europe. Other industries were also established here, like the Société du Quartz Fondu fused quartz works and the aluminium factory which provided livelihoods for a large number of workers.

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  Water

  The Durance

  The Durance is the biggest river in Provence. Its source rises in the municipality of Montgenèvre at an altitude of 2,390 metres, and it flows down to meet the Rhône to the south of Avignon. This is a "pluvio-nival" river, that is to say, its flow depends on the natural addition of water due to snowmelt and rainfall. It thus constitutes a real playground for kayakers from across Europe.

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  Water

  The Fournel

  The source of the Fournel rises in the Fournel valley, in the heart of the Parc National des Écrins, and flows into the Durance near the white water stadium. It is known as a high alpine canyon offering lots of sport and leisure possibilities, and is the most popular in the Haut Val Durance. It is ideal for an introduction to vertical activities, in particular thanks to the presence of several jumps, toboggan runs and rappel sites. Access is authorised from April to October and is regulated because it is located upstream from an EDF water intake, which presents a real hazard.

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  Water

  The white water stadium

  As part of its restructuring after the closure of the industrial site, the town of L'Argentière-la-Bessée opted for sports tourism, exploiting the natural elements present on the site, that is to say, water. Standing at the beginning of the longest navigable section of the Durance river, in 1993 the municipality decided to establish itself as a major white water centre by creating this stadium which covers a 400-metre stretch. So thanks to its reputation and its ideal situation, every year this stadium hosts several elite competitions at national and international level.

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  Fauna

  The black kite

  A bird of prey circles slowly above the valley. It is dark coloured with a slightly forked tail. A black kite, which returned from Africa in spring. It feeds on carrion or scraps as well as fish. It is easy to confuse with the red kite which is brown, red and white and its tail has a much more pronounced fork. The red kite does not nest here in the massif. It is only seen during the migration period, in the Durance valley.

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  Geology and geography

  A Medieval tsunami?

  Pallon marks the entrance to the ancient glacial valley of Freissinières, enclosed behind a bar of hard rock. As they melted, the glaciers left behind a lake, trapped by this bar. It is said that this natural dam has been breached on numerous occasions. In the Middle Ages, suddenly released into the Gourfouran gorge, the water is said to have laid ruin to the village of Rame, standing on the plain.

  
  

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  Water

  The Durance

  The Durance is the most important river in Provence and the third largest tributary of the Rhône, behind the Saône and the Isère. It rises in the Hautes-Alpes in the municipality of Montgenèvre and is soon joined by the Clarée and Guisane rivers, which flow past it despite being longer and having a greater flow at the confluence point. The Durance valley has been a major communication route for centuries, and its capricious nature has been controlled by the artificial lake at Serre-Ponçon and a canal running downstream. The old proverb from the Ancien Régime, which once claimed that "the three scourges of Provence are the Mistral, the Durance and Parliament", has now been forgotten, and the Durance now brings nothing but life to the land it irrigates.

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  Panorama

  View over Gap

  To the south of Champsaur, the town of Gap is the administrative centre of Hautes-Alpes, with a little over 40,000 inhabitants. It stands at an altitude of 700 m on a major communications route between Provence and the Alps, and enjoys generous rates of sunshine with large natural areas in the vicinity. In 2013, L'Equipe newspaper voted the town of Gap as France's most sports-oriented town of over 20,000 inhabitants.

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  History

  Canal de Gap

  Work began on the canal in 1864 and was completed in 1880. The canal is 28 km long, and takes its water from the River Drac, upstream of Pont du Fossé, before channelling it into the Gap basin. In today's money, it cost some 2 billion euros to build! The man in charge of the project, Maurice Garnier, a local member of parliament and contractor, went bankrupt and died in poverty, but managed to improve the life of local farmers.

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  Archaeologie

  Archaeological site of Faudon

  A quick ride takes you past the Croix Saint-Philippe to the remains of the Gallo-Roman village of Faudon, meaning mountain of fayards or beech trees) Settled during the Bronze Age by the Tricorians with a population of up to 400, in the Middle Ages this village became a stronghold for the local nobles before being abandoned in the seventeenth century.

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  History

  Old Champsaur railway line

  1912 saw the start of the Champsaur rail works, an old project for a line between Grenoble and Gap which was intended to pass through Champsaur. In service from 1932 onwards, the Mure to Corps section was an undoubted success. From Corps to Gap, the earthworks and engineering works were almost totally complete. However, the onset of the War, a lack of resources and the development of cars all brought the project to an end in 1941. Today, numerous structures along the route bear witness to this past endeavour.