The Grand Traverse of the Massif Central. Alan Castle

      Most of the road sections of the route are along minor rural roads and lanes, with little passing traffic, although there are occasional stretches along busier roads. However, around 60 per cent of the GTMC is off-road on a variety of surfaces, from wide forest gravel roads to narrow muddy woodland tracks, from gentle, smooth paths to quite fierce ascents and descents on some very rough terrain, often exacerbated by tree roots, rocks and stones.

      The majority of the route does not require any highly technical mountain biking skill, just concentration, care and common sense. Some relatively small sections are difficult and somewhat technical, but these can either be fairly easily avoided altogether by taking an alternative route, or the difficulties considerably reduced by simply dismounting and pushing your bike. Never hesitate to do this if you are unsure of your ability to safely negotiate a section, and if you are still unsure even about pushing, go back to the nearest road and rejoin the route of the GTMC later.

      A lot will depend on weather conditions, not only at the time of your visit, but in the preceding weeks, as lots of heavy rain can quickly turn relatively firm tracks into quagmires of mud. Beneath a canopy of trees where the sun is unable to penetrate, the rate of drying of rain-soaked tracks and paths will be much slower than in open countryside. Generally, the further south you are, the fewer muddy tracks you are likely to encounter, as the warmer Mediterranean climate gradually replaces the wetter, more temperate climate of the northern Massif Central.

      Planning the schedule

      The official guide to the GTMC (see Appendix E, Further Reading) gives a completion time for the full route of between 10 and 20 days. This wide range allows for the differences between, for example, fit and expert mountain bikers, perhaps with a support back-up vehicle, who wish to make rapid progress along the trail, relative beginners, and/or those who prefer to take their time, visiting various places of interest along the way, and if unsupported, who need time to find accommodation and buy supplies.

      This guidebook divides the GTMC into 17 stages, each of which the average mountain biker should accomplish in a day. The stages are, however, easy to adjust, as in most areas there are other accommodation possibilities, which allow the cyclist to split his or her days as required.

      Those who wish to sample only a section of the GTMC can do so by making use of the railway stations en route, the main ones of which are at Clermont-Ferrand, Neussargues, Saint-Flour, Montpellier and Sète. The GTMC can be split into two approximately equal halves by leaving or joining the route at Bagnols-les-Bains, the nearest main railway station to which is at the town of Mende, 20km by road from Bagnols, although there is a smaller station at the village of Allenc, 10km away.

      GR trails and GR de Pays

      The GTMC uses a variety of different designated routes, including a considerable number of grandes randonnées (or GR trails), which are well known to walkers of the French countryside. France has a very extensive network of these official long-distance paths (literally ‘big walks’), each of which has a number, for example GR7 or GR65, and is waymarked with a system of red and white paint marks.