# The Vercors, France



## barge1914 (Dec 18, 2018)

The recent thread on Mental Roads prompted me to mention the Vercors District in France. Its often bypassed on the way to more well known areas, meaning even in the summer holidays it can be relatively quiet. It has some quite outstanding sights, so I thought I’d give it a brief airing. A few years ago we made a little detour from our Alpine wandering to have a look, and these places and roads stuck in my memory.

The Vercors is a mountainous limestone area with a high plateau lying south west of Grenoble. From south of Grenoble the D531 climbs steeply up the flanks of Le Moucherotte  giving a great birds-eye view back over Grenoble and its valley. Continuing via St Nizier the road drops steeply again to Lans in Vercors, and on to Villard les Lans where above the town is a nice free aire (45.066181, 5.556076. no services) with views over meadows and hills.

The D531 continues down the sinuous Gorges de La Bourne, carving its way through the plunging sides of the gorge, dodging low overhanging cliffs…which are doable with a coach-built van, but take a bit of negotiating! 


The gorge emerges at Pont-en-Royons, from where a short hop leads to the D76 which heads towards ‘the main course’ of the trip, a drive up Combe Laval.

Combe Lavel is a vast limestone shear sided bowl. The D76 climbs steeply up and then through a series of narrow airy balconies and tunnels climbs up out of the declivity up onto the high limestone plateau. Passing other vehicles can offer a few moments of entertainment!

Above the gorge, peeling off the A76 a little leads to Font d’Urles and a nice little known Aire in a sheltered basin at an equestrian centre (44.898039, 5.320547: free to stay but water, showers and elec. payant). From here there are walks into a Geopark area to visit interesting limestone features, and peer over a great escarpment with towering views over the Rhone Valley. There’s another more crowded paying Aire futher on at Vassieux-en-Vercors. A little further on one can join the D518 and either complete a circuit back to Lans, or as we did, go down to St Die, and then via D315/D120 circle round to Chichilianne close to Mont Aiguille (Reminiscent of the mountain in ‘Close Encounters?). 

There’s lots of walking routes around Chichilianne, to make the best of them we parked up one night in Chichilianne village, and another in nearby Richardiere  at a small free Aire at little ’Nordic Walking Centre (44.822678, 5.547307) water/ emptying free, pay elec.)


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## Millie Master (Dec 18, 2018)

*Amaaaazing!*

Truly amaaaazing photographs and a very well written piece, I felt I was almost there again.

We were there in May 2016 and I loved it but most Wonderous hated it as we were down well below freezing every single night the coldest being a nice warm -7C!


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## jagmanx (Dec 18, 2018)

*Photos 2 & 3*

Made me rush to the toilet.
Is it like that for a lot of the way or are these just the highlights.
I like mountains but NOT steep drops.

We used Col de Cenis instead of the Frejus tunnel.. Easy peasy
as was  the Rollo pass in Italy on the way to the Brenner and down to Innsbruck again easy peasy
as is the Fernpass

PS we have also gone over the Pass to Applecross and the scenic road to Lockerbie

So we are not complete wimps


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## alcam (Dec 18, 2018)

jagmanx said:


> Made me rush to the toilet.
> Is it like that for a lot of the way or are these just the highlights.
> I like mountains but NOT steep drops.
> 
> ...



Have real problems with heights . Couple of times almost froze on the pyrenees . Avoided Applecross for a long time , went there a couple of times had no problem with the road


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## trevskoda (Dec 18, 2018)

Good cure for constipation.:scared::lol-053::lol-053::lol-053:


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## barge1914 (Dec 18, 2018)

*Vercors*



jagmanx said:


> Made me rush to the toilet.
> Is it like that for a lot of the way or are these just the highlights.
> ...



Rest easy, these are the highlights. The Gorges de la Bourne are a few miles long, but not really really high. the interesting bit through the eye of the needle lasts only for a mile or so.


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## Canalsman (Dec 18, 2018)

An interesting read ... thank you.

I will add the first location to the POIs.

The third location is already in the POIs.

The latitude and longitude for the spot at Font d’Urle appear to be incorrect. Please can you check?

Thanks ...


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## witzend (Dec 18, 2018)

POI Admin said:


> The latitude and longitude for the spot at Font d’Urle appear to be incorrect. Please can you check?  Thanks ...




44.89789   5.32105  this is where we parked for that name   Font d’Urle

But Barges co ords look like a open spot

And thanks to him for taking the time to write up his report


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## Canalsman (Dec 18, 2018)

witzend said:


> 44.89789   5.32105  this is where we parked for that name   Font d’Urle
> 
> But Barges co ords look like a open spot
> 
> And thanks to him for taking the time to write up his report



This is the spot currently in the POIs ...


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## witzend (Dec 19, 2018)

barge1914 said:


> Rest easy, these are the highlights. The Gorges de la Bourne are a few miles long, but not really really high. the interesting bit through the eye of the needle lasts only for a mile or so.



Here's a good site with it listed the site is worth exploring as many other "interesting roads" are listed


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## barge1914 (Dec 20, 2018)

*Vercors*



witzend said:


> 44.89789   5.32105  this is where we parked for that name   Font d’Urle
> 
> But Barges co ords look like a open spot
> 
> And thanks to him for taking the time to write up his report



Oops, sorry pardon. I’ve transposed some figures copying them from my notes. I’ve edited it to set things right for future reference.


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## Canalsman (Dec 20, 2018)

This is the spot in the POIs


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## kensowerby (Dec 20, 2018)

*The Vercors and the D315.*

Travelled this road about 5 years ago up to Vassieux en Vercors and then down the the other side to Die then Gap - Briancon - over the Col de Galibier to St. Jean de Maurienne, retraced our route back to the 1006/902 then some more ups and downs, over the Col de I"Iseran and then up to the Col du Petit Saint Bernard, the last one so that i could have one foot in France and the other in Italy, then back down to the low lands through Bourg St. Maurice,great views and very interesting, some of the roads were a bit narrow and short of head room in the tunnels but no problems with a 7-5mtr. van.
The history of the road along the cliff face is very interesting, to get the road started they lowered men down on ropes to dig and lever out the rocks until they got a platform to work on, most of it was built by hand, i did have an information sheet but cant find it.
Happy travels.
Ken


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## phillybarbour (Dec 21, 2018)

Looks a great area to visit.


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## Private (Sep 20, 2019)

Thank you barge1914 for giving me inspiration & a direction to head for when I was recently in the area.

For others that follow the OP's advice I would like to add that a stop at the Grotte de Choranche is worth making (it's signposted off the D531 route).




__





						Découvrir la Grotte de Choranche au cœur du Parc du Vercors
					

Découvrir la Grotte de Choranche au cœur du Parc Naturel Régional du Vercors




					www.visites-nature-vercors.com
				



11.5 Euros full adult price.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the actual visit to the Grotte, but the walk outside of the paid for area was beautiful (see attached pictures).
All the pictures were taken on the signposted walks (with a little over the fence diversion at times) that are accessible by walking through the reception area walkway, and no payment is necessary.

We also stayed overnight on the vast car park (which is for Grotte users only; therefore I have not suggested it as a possible POI) prior to our AM Grotte tour.


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## barge1914 (Sep 20, 2019)

Sad we missed that stop, glad you enjoyed the trip


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## trevskoda (Sep 20, 2019)

nice picky love the roads,just wunder would my 9ft 6 high and 7ft wide bus get over them.


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## Clunegapyears (Sep 20, 2019)

A few bloggers have been that way recently and it is definitely on our must do list.


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## barge1914 (Sep 20, 2019)

trevskoda said:


> nice picky love the roads,just wunder would my 9ft 6 high and 7ft wide bus get over them.


Ours did.


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