Last Friday, we rode an amazing trail who started from the nice fortificated village of Mt-Louis at 1514m in the Pyrénées Orientales. The trail started wi an uphill ride to get to the shooting field of the French Army, it looks like to ride in Kosovo !!!
From this “battlefield” we dropped the seat post for an amazing downhill to Olette! Singles all the way, technical corners, few drops and long flow ! And always with a stunning view over the valley and mountains of “Haut Conflent” We crossed the beautiful village of Llar an Canaveilles. The trail follows the ancient Roman Path ” Via Confluentana” Over 2000 years of history under our bikes!
After a short break for lunch in Olette, a long uphill ride awaits us! Nearly 1000m of vertical rise to get to another Epic ride ! The view goes to the mediterranean shore, and we start with a smooth flow to come slowly to a technical and rocky section, but not a big deal with an all-mountain bike.
12 kilometers and 1000 meters lowers we are heading to Fort Liberia, another Vauban’s citadel and Villefranche de Conflent. It’s time for a couple of “Panaché” in this beautiful medieval town, and we take this typical “Train Jaune” who take us slowly back to our starting point.
This is probably one of the most epic trails just a few hours from home ! Technical sections, great and long flows, a long ascent but bigger descents !!!
The Blog of MTB Aventures 
Today I went for a 60km ride with Pascal along the French Pyrenees between
Mt Louis and Villefranche de Conflent.
It was such a fantastic day that I wanted to write a more in depth review of
the riding, the scenery and my tour guide Pascal.
The day started when we arrived at the train station at La Cabanasse. We
immediately started to climb out of Mt Louis and ascend the mountain of
Figuéma.
Our first stop was for freshly backed pastries which we bought from a small
cafe inside the truly magnificent castle of Mt Louis. We put the mouth
waveringly good looking pastries in our back packs and continued our climb.
Pascal cryptically said that we’d eat them in Kosovo….
As we climbed Pascal explained the history of the castles that line the
valley passes in this part of the Pyrenees. The geopolitical history of
this part of France and Spain is both long and interesting.
A number of castle fortresses (including the one where we purchased our
pastries) where built to control and protect lands that had been fought over
since Roman times (indeed there is a number of Roman ruins with a Roman road
“Via Confluentana”connecting them that you can visit if that’s your thing).
As we climbed Pascal told me about the history of the castles, about the
master castle builder ” Sébastien Le Prestre, marquis de Vauban” who had
created castles like these all around the world for Luis the 14th. We
chatted about the history, changing boarders, how glaciation had shapped the
region, politics, the beers at the end of the ride and of course mountain
biking, before finally arriving at “Kosovo”, which turned out the be a large
rifle range at the top of our climb.
Wow, this place was amazing and serious. There were a load of old tanks in
the area and huge shooting ranges.
Here we mounted a tank and devoured our truly awesome pastries then started
our first descent. And what a descent! The trails are fantastic, fast,
twisty and with just the right amount of technical stuff to really make it
fun. We had lunch in a picturesque hill town that just appeared along the
track. It was perfect, then we pushed on and completed our descent down one
of the best tracks I’ve ridden in a long time.
The second climb was hard. My legs were tired from 3 months of pedestrian
life in London. Pascal kept up a stream of really interesting conversation
and set a manageable pace which got me to the top.
The final descent was fabulous. Lots of really technical sections joined
together by wide fast tracks. We hurtled along wall tops, down rocky
switchback trails, taking small drops and then hitting larger vehicle tracks
for short sections. Finally we arrived in the town of Villefranche de
Conflent where naturally there is another enormous castle!
We finished the day with a relaxing train ride back the our car and home.
The train ride allowed my legs to rest while I took in the scenery.
You really don’t get better riding than this. Pascal knows the region like
the back of his hand. He knows the history, politics, geography, tracks,
cafes and great lunch spots. The tracks he found for us to ride were a
perfect blend of tricky technical sections and open blasters. The country
side is spectacular. Tacking the train means that you descent nearly 1000m
more than you ascend. That really makes a difference to how much downhill
you get to enjoy.
It was a top day and I can’t recommend it enough.
Mark, Australia.