The Col de Turini: The Monte-Carlo Rally's Night Stage
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
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The Col de Turini: The Monte-Carlo Rally's Night Stage
250 + 100 XP
The Col de Turini stands at 1,604m close to the summit of the Authion massif, joining Lantosque in the Vésubie to Sospel in the Bévéra, with a hamlet at the top where three main roads meet and a fourth climbs on past the little ski station of Camp d'Argent to the Pointe des Trois-Communes. The Monte-Carlo Rally has used it almost every year, the cars climbing from Sospel and dropping to La Bollène-Vésubie, and the Sospel side is a 24.2km climb averaging 5.1%.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Drive the climb from Sospel to the col, 24.2 km at an average of 5.1 per cent, and mark the halfway point at the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Ménour, 9.9 km up, where the gradient lets go for a moment
2
of 4
Stop on the series of hairpins above the gorges du Piaon, where the road is pinned between rock walls and dry-stone parapets, and from the bends find the Mediterranean on the horizon — this is the stretch the rally cars take in the dark
3
of 4
Drive on to Peïra-Cava at about 1,420m and back, seven kilometres of rolling road through the conifers, and count the stone shelters built at the roadside for people caught out up here before cars existed
4
of 4
Go up onto the Authion and work the loop: the monument at the Baisse de Tueis at 1,989m to the men killed taking the last position the Germans held here in 1945, the ruined camp at the Vacherie de Cabanes Vieilles with an M5 Stuart tank still sitting in it, and then the footpath — the only way up — to the Redoute des Trois Communes at 2,081m
Drive the climb from Sospel to the col, 24.2 km at an average of 5.1 per cent, and mark the halfway point at the chapel of Notre-Dame de la Ménour, 9.9 km up, where the gradient lets go for a moment
Stop on the series of hairpins above the gorges du Piaon, where the road is pinned between rock walls and dry-stone parapets, and from the bends find the Mediterranean on the horizon — this is the stretch the rally cars take in the dark
Drive on to Peïra-Cava at about 1,420m and back, seven kilometres of rolling road through the conifers, and count the stone shelters built at the roadside for people caught out up here before cars existed
Go up onto the Authion and work the loop: the monument at the Baisse de Tueis at 1,989m to the men killed taking the last position the Germans held here in 1945, the ruined camp at the Vacherie de Cabanes Vieilles with an M5 Stuart tank still sitting in it, and then the footpath — the only way up — to the Redoute des Trois Communes at 2,081m
Before you go
The col itself is kept open all year — the rally runs it in January, and there is a ski area at Camp d'Argent — but from 1 November to 31 March you must carry chains, snow socks or winter tyres on the signed mountain roads of the Alpes-Maritimes, and the département's winter plan runs 15 November to 30 April. The walk to the Authion forts is the part that is seasonal: the département's own Randoxygène sheet gives « Période conseillée : Juin à octobre », and the D68 loop round the massif is not cleared of snow. Check conditions on 08 05 05 06 06 or inforoutes06.fr before committing a motorhome to the 24 km climb from Sospel, which is narrow with tight hairpins.
The Authion circuit is 16.8 km there and back including a nine-kilometre loop. The surface is sound as far as the Baisse de Tueis and then breaks up, and the loop itself is narrow and one-way, so take the direction signed and do not try to turn round on it — leave a motorhome at the col or at Camp d'Argent and go up in a car, on a bike or on foot. La Bollène-Vésubie on the west side has public fountains, which is worth knowing in a heatwave.
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XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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