The Bonette: The Col and the Cime Above the Ubaye and the Tinée

Required Activities

• Ride or drive over the col at about 2,712 m, then take the loop road round the Cime de la Bonette to its high point at 2,802 m — the last eight hundred metres touch 15 per cent, which is why almost every cyclist who reaches the col carries on up

• Park at the high point of the loop road at 2,802 m and walk the short path up to the summit of the Cime de la Bonette at 2,860 m, then from the top pick out the Cime des Trois Serrières at 2,753 m on the far side of the col

• Ride or drive the north side from Jausiers, 23.8 km at an average of 6.7 per cent to the cime, and mark the three stages of it — the hamlet of Lans low down, the old Restefond barracks higher up, then the point where the pastures give out and the blockhouses start appearing beside the road

• Read the local signs calling this the highest road in Europe, then settle the claim yourself: the Bonette is the highest col in Provence, but the Iseran at 2,764 m, the Stelvio at 2,758 m and the Agnel at 2,744 m are all higher passes — only the loop round the cime, at 2,802 m, climbs above them

• On the Tinée side find the Notre-Dame du Très Haut stele of 1963 just below the col, then walk out to the camp des Fourches, the barracks on the ridge that were still garrisoned into the Second World War