Scenic, traffic-free mountain passes with gentle gradients.

[morbihan]

I would like to compile a list of beautiful col climbs to share with my other half on a trip next year; Alps/Dolomites/Pyrenees.
Average 5% gradient max (with no super steep ramps)

I completed the Raid Pyrenees this week and it was riding up the Col de Port which got me to thinking that there are certainly climbs that give you the beauty/sense of achievement of a col climb without busting your chops.
https://www.strava.com/activities/397778041/segments/9531909066

Anybody got any favourites that they would like to share?

[Deano]

Yad Moss, North Pennines

[Pingu]

Get thee to Drome Provencale.

[hillbilly]

Possibly the Vosges Mountains.  It's been on my list of areas to cycle in for a couple of years, and my research suggests the climbs are more manageable than the high Alps.

[tiermat]

The north/south routes in the Spanish Pyrenees are more gentle than the east/west routes.

However they mean needing to cover more ground to bag more Cols.

[Rod Marton]

The Malojapass has the advantage of being one-sided: from the north-east it is just a long drag up the Engadin valley.

I took my wife on a tour across the Alps a few years ago: we took the Ammer Sattel, Fernpass and Malojapass, all of which are quite gentle. There was, however, a vicious hill near Garmisch-Partenkirchen where she wanted to turn round and go home.

[Karla]

The Transfagarasan Pass, Romania.  Nearly 100 km of road snaking over the Carpathians the direct way.  Nothing too steep though, and motorised traffic is mostly bikers rather than cars.  Lots of places to stay along the route.  You also get to visit Vlad the Impaler's castle along the way. 

I haven't done it and I think it has a bit more traffic, but the Transalpina is meant to be good too. 

When I did it: Day 1, Day 2.

[zigzag]

slightly steeper (up to 7% average) but amazingly scenic tramuntana mountains in majorca, very smooth road surfaces too.

[morbihan]

Thanks for the feedback.
After a little further research, we are going to centre the trip around the now complete Munich to Venice cycle trail.
We recently did an organised tour of some of this area (Bolzano) Stacks of cycle friendly paths, great food/wine/scenery.
Should be ample opportunity to add a couple of side climbs off the valley floors.
Now to work out the logistics of flying bikes into Munich and leaving out of Venice

*Probably should have started this post on rides and touring thread.

[jamesld8]

Thanks for the feedback.
After a little further research, we are going to centre the trip around the now complete Munich to Venice cycle trail.
We recently did an organised tour of some of this area (Bolzano) Stacks of cycle friendly paths, great food/wine/scenery.
Should be ample opportunity to add a couple of side climbs off the valley floors.
Now to work out the logistics of flying bikes into Munich and leaving out of Venice

*Probably should have started this post on rides and touring thread.

possibly next time round also consider Corsica---lots very gentle but lengthy hills eg Col de Verde around 30km @ 5% ish 

Bolzano though is a nice area too ; IIRC you can pootle up to Passo Mendola from there and cycle track down valley is great

[mattc]

Thanks for the feedback.
After a little further research, we are going to centre the trip around the now complete Munich to Venice cycle trail.
We recently did an organised tour of some of this area (Bolzano) Stacks of cycle friendly paths, great food/wine/scenery.
Should be ample opportunity to add a couple of side climbs off the valley floors.
Now to work out the logistics of flying bikes into Munich and leaving out of Venice

*Probably should have started this post on rides and touring thread.

Probably worthy of its own thread in Rides and Touring. This sounds ace. We've walked in the Tyrol region that this passes through, and I've wanted to visit Munich & Venice for a while (for very different reasons).

I assume you found this site http://www.muenchen-venezia.info/en/

I'd love to hear all your research 

( I have no experience of flying,  but I did notice google trying to sell me train tickets for 39quid, M-to-V. Dunno if that helps! )

[morbihan]

Can admin move the post to Rides and Touring?

Thanks Mattc, yes we had come across that site.

We did our organised trip with these guys a couple of weeks ago
https://www.backroads.com/trips/BDMI/dolomites-biking-tour
High end/pricy but top shelf.

Stacks of other cyclists  on the bike paths on all sorts of machines.
I didn't realise that the paths extended so far until I came back and did a little research.
 Apparently you can cycle deep into Slovenia too.

We will probably take the trip next September over a couple of weeks. (avoid the August crush when schools are out) There were plenty of B&Bs on route that should have vacancies out of the Aug period.

The return by train to Munich will  be the way to go as we are not Europe based and will fly into Munich, overnight and have to leave the bike bags behind.
I noticed that some of the trains into Bolzano had dedicated bicycle carriages.

None of the routes that we took had insane gradients, apart from optional routes at the end of the day to hotels on hills etc. (I did these for homework as I went on to do the Raid Pyrenees the following week.)  I'll check the gradients further North coming down the Brenner pass, but with a couple of weeks it should be doable for moderate riders. I assume once out of the Dolomites it will be flattish to Venice.

[Tom B]

My favourite from a tour in the Pyrenees in 2011 was Coll de Jou, approached from Sant Llorenç de Morunys. I took this route based on a recommendation from Paul Smith SRCC, OTP. He was spot on! I'm not sure if it fits the bill gradient-wise but the route up seemed gentler than on other cols (i.e. I didn't get off to push even once)

[Rod Marton]

None of the routes that we took had insane gradients, apart from optional routes at the end of the day to hotels on hills etc. (I did these for homework as I went on to do the Raid Pyrenees the following week.)  I'll check the gradients further North coming down the Brenner pass, but with a couple of weeks it should be doable for moderate riders. I assume once out of the Dolomites it will be flattish to Venice.

I wouldn't say that the Brenner counts as scenic - or even traffic-free as it has a busy motorway going right over it. Admittedly you will be on the old road, which won't have anything like the same traffic density, but you will be right next to it. If you don't mind a longer route, I'd choose the Reschenpass as an alternative: not difficult, much quieter and more scenic. From there it's an easy ride down the valley to Meran and Bozen.

[morbihan]

My favourite from a tour in the Pyrenees in 2011 was Coll de Jou, approached from Sant Llorenç de Morunys. I took this route based on a recommendation from Paul Smith SRCC, OTP. He was spot on! I'm not sure if it fits the bill gradient-wise but the route up seemed gentler than on other cols (i.e. I didn't get off to push even once)

Will check it out.
It was riding up the Col D'Aspin on the Raid last week that got me to thinking about taking on some kinder cols with Ms. Morbihan. Stunning scenery, a proper climb but not one thats going to bust your chops.

Later that day we had to climb the Col de Portet D'Aspet  (after the Peyresourde) WTF!

[morbihan]

None of the routes that we took had insane gradients, apart from optional routes at the end of the day to hotels on hills etc. (I did these for homework as I went on to do the Raid Pyrenees the following week.)  I'll check the gradients further North coming down the Brenner pass, but with a couple of weeks it should be doable for moderate riders. I assume once out of the Dolomites it will be flattish to Venice.

I wouldn't say that the Brenner counts as scenic - or even traffic-free as it has a busy motorway going right over it. Admittedly you will be on the old road, which won't have anything like the same traffic density, but you will be right next to it. If you don't mind a longer route, I'd choose the Reschenpass as an alternative: not difficult, much quieter and more scenic. From there it's an easy ride down the valley to Meran and Bozen.

Noted and thanks:)

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Thanks for the feedback.
After a little further research, we are going to centre the trip around the now complete Munich to Venice cycle trail.
We recently did an organised tour of some of this area (Bolzano) Stacks of cycle friendly paths, great food/wine/scenery.
Should be ample opportunity to add a couple of side climbs off the valley floors.
Now to work out the logistics of flying bikes into Munich and leaving out of Venice

*Probably should have started this post on rides and touring thread.

possibly next time round also consider Corsica---lots very gentle but lengthy hills eg Col de Verde around 30km @ 5% ish 

Bolzano though is a nice area too ; IIRC you can pootle up to Passo Mendola from there and cycle track down valley is great

There's a full set of AUK permanents 100k - 600k based out of Porto Vecchio.  Alwyn of this parish has done the 100, 200, and 300k rides back in the mists of time, but they've had no other rides since setting them.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

in response to the original question, try Western Crete in April.  Temperatures good at low to mid 20s, no traffic, and plenty of new tarmac courtesy of the EU.  I did a north south north ride (a double coast to coast) from Plaka to Hora Sfakion which was about 120k, reaching 900m from sea level each way.  Gradients were typically 5% so just ride for a steady ride up and sensational descents.  Probably the best ride I've ever done on my Airnimal, although watch out for crosswinds.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Crete,+Greece/@35.212919,24.160886,3a,66.8y,122.59h,70.87t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSOTjIcRJp0J3nrSGLAw1Iw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x149b03d7c58fb783:0xbb32941128619998

[mattc]

So I looked up the "Corsican 600". Two things on the Aukweb page made me laugh. See if you agree:

"
Col de Vergio

600km cycling event starting from Porto Vecchio, Corsica Hampshire..

An unbelievably challenging ride across all the main Corsican cols ...
"

[I think one of them is just a bug in the server code.]

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

I went in to change it but it seems that Corsica is resolutely in Hampshire for the moment.  However, it is an unbelievably challenging bit of Hampshire.  The 9500m ascent is based on a contour count using 20m contour intervals so almost certainly the real climbing is about 10,000m or somewhat more on Strava.

[jamesld8]

A real challenge in Corsica too is avoiding free range goats, sheep and boar---- let alone the car drivers  ; plus the added excrement of aforementioned animals on road corners. Nevertheless it is a superb cycling area 

[mattc]

 

 (I expect you could fix it by moving to Corsica - do you think you could stomach that?)

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

 (I expect you could fix it by moving to Corsica - do you think you could stomach that?)

Fantastic mountains, great roads, superb beaches, perfectly blue ocean, not to mention sausages made from pigs fed on chestnuts and some of the best rose wine on the planet.  Wouldn't be a bind.  But it is a long way to commute and I am not sure that Mrs CET wants to live there.