I had wanted to ride up Mont Ventoux by the mysterious ‘fourth’ way ever since I heard rumour of it during the trip in 2007 when I first rode up the mountain. The three classic routes up are road climbs starting in Bédoin, Malaucène and Sault. The fourth way is on gravel. On this trip to Provence, our first outside of the UK since the Covid 19 pandemic started in 2020, I had brought out my mountain bike. I set about finding out more about this less well known gravel route and found an excellent and useful blog which suggested a route that was on gravel soon after leaving Bédoin. Note that this route is different from the gravel route recommended on the Club de Cinglés de Ventoux website which starts 8km up the road climb from Bédoin.
Here is the part of my ride that took me up Mont Ventoux by the gravel trail and down to Chalet Reynard (the blue is the Strava global heatmap).
As the blog post was from 2014 I thought it would be worth providing an update. I’m pleased to say nothing significant has changed. The route still exists. The lower half of the trail is still stony so I’d recommend a mountain bike which is what I was riding. In comparison to the road routes, this gravel route has a couple of things going for it. Firstly, as you are climbing directly above Bédoin you can quickly see your progress above your starting point. Secondly, it finishes on the Malaucène climb, which in my view is the more spectacular side to approach the summit. The only thing against it is that it is harder! It probably took me 20% more time than it would have at a similar level of effort by the Bédoin or Malaucène road routes and could be scorching in hot weather.
Lillian and I fuelled for the ride in Bédoin.
I opted for a more substantial snack than Lillian!
We filled our bidons at the fountain about 300m along the road from Bédoin up Mont Ventoux. There is a fountain in the centre of Bédoin but the Tourist Information recommended we drink from this one.
I had plotted a direct approach to the trail in Strava Routes and found that shortly after climbing out of Bédoin I was descending. Losing valuable height is never good. The only positive was that it gave me 100m of technical downhill which was fun on my MTB. However, if you are on a gravel bike you may want to plot an alternative initial route north from the village.
After the short descent I was on white stone trails in the vineyards above Bédoin and soon picked up the signs for the Grande Traversée du Vaucluse. These lead onto the climb which is called the Piste des Graviers Blancs. As its name suggest the track is white and highly reflective. Luckily it was a cloudy day but as it was early September it was still unpleasantly hot.
In the vineyards before the climb proper began.
Just after the start of the Piste des Graviers Blancs.
The mountain looming overhead on one of the early flatter sections. The trail looks smooth here but things were to change higher up…
Whilst the trail is all gravel, it wasn’t easy to ride up. The bottom half is very stony and it was hard to get into a rhythm and make a consistent effort. I kept switching between the lower wheel track, which was smoother but full of loose stones, and the stone free but bumpier upper track. Forty minutes after leaving Bédoin I came across a corner with some tarmac and thought with relief that I had now reached an old road. Unfortunately, 50 metres later the tarmac disappeared.
At this point I checked the altitude on my Garmin. It read 567m. I knew the altitude reading in Bédoin had been 267m. That meant I had climbed 300m in 40 minutes, which had the same effect on my morale as my thirst was having on the contents my single 900ml water bottle.
After an hour I reached the pine forest where the trail became easier to ride on – there is less loose rock in the forest than amongst the lower altitude scrubland – and checked my Garmin again. Still 567m! I looked more closely and realised I had been looking at my total descent for the day. My actual altitude was now about 1,000m so which make me feel a lot better.
An hour and 35 mins from Bédoin, and at about 1400m, the track joined an old road where I took left hand turn to traverse around the west side of the mountain towards the Mont Serein ski area. Whilst it had been a road once upon a time and surprisingly there were still some sections which were almost intact tarmac, most of it was potholed and for some stretches there were no signs that a road had ever existed.
The Grande Traversée continued along the old road in the opposite direction to me (one of the red signs is on the post).
This is the start of the traverse around the mountain where I turned left on the old road.
The old road joined the ‘new’ road from Malaucène about 4.5km from the summit.
In spite of the 10% gradient the road was almost a pleasure to ride up it; I enjoyed being able to pedal out of the saddle without suffering from any wheel spin or jarring.
I became part of the stream of cyclists and e-bikers heading for the iconic rocket shaped radio tower.
The road section was a complete contrast to the rest of the climb as I experienced it. Until then I had hardly seen anyone. At the bottom of the Piste des Graviers Blancs I had been overtaken by two women on e-MTBs but they stopped more than I did so didn’t see them again higher up the climb. I also came across a man, naked apart from his shoes, walking up the track. The things you see on a day out in the mountains! Other than them the only company I had on the climb was from a small stone that somehow flicked up off the trail and into my frame, rattling with every bump in the road until it eventually lodged somewhere and stopped making a noise.
Lillian sheltering from the wind. She’d ridden up the road and had reached the top about 20 minutes before me.
The obligatory summit photo before putting on my rain jacket!
I reach the top about 2 hours 10 minutes after leaving Bédoin. I stopped for about 5 minutes so that was just over two hours riding time. Regarding hydration, it’s worth mentioning there is no source of water until Chalet Reynard though there is a café at the summit.
Lillian and I then rode down to Sault – we love the descent from Chalet Reynard – for a well deserved lunch.
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