Le Noirmont: Stunning Scenery on the Plateau

The loop I'd been told about for years and finally did: from Le Noirmont down to La Goule, over the bridge into France and up the really steep climb to Charmauvillers, along the French side to Goumois, and back up the Swiss side to Saignelégier. 36.9km, 918m, and in my words, stunning scenery.

In 2019 I'd written in a ride note that "In LaGoule you can go into France and climb up the other side and back across to Goumois through France. However that climb is short at 3 kms, but it is really steep at around 20% plus for the whole of the 3 kms." On Tuesday 22 July 2025 I did exactly that. The ride's title says the rest: "Jura. Le Normont. Stunning Scenery".

Le Noirmont

Le Noirmont is a village of about 1,900 people in the Franches-Montagnes district of the canton of Jura, at around 970m on the edge of the plateau, just above the Doubs gorge. It has two railway stations, Le Noirmont and Le Creux-des-Biches, and the main one is a junction: the line from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Glovelier meets the line from Tavannes here. The village is in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites, and an old farmhouse at Les Esserts is listed as being of national importance. For riding, it's the top of the road down to La Goule, and the start of every route into France.

The RideLe Noirmont, La Goule, France And BackTuesday 22 July 2025

The route, from my GPS track. Green: Le Noirmont. Anticlockwise: down to La Goule, over the bridge into France and up to Charmauvillers, along the French side to Goumois, back across and up to Saignelégier. This ride on Strava →

36.9kmDistance

918mClimbing

2h 18mMoving time

12:36–15:11Out on the road (2h 34m)

16.0km/hAverage moving speed

45.3km/hTop speed

124 / 161Heart rate, average / max (bpm)

1,782Calories

Carbon CrossBike

2Border crossings

How The Day Went

12:36 – 12:56

Down to the DoubsLe Noirmont → La Goule

8kmover the bridge into France

12:56 – 13:13

The wallLa Goule → Charmauvillers

2km in 17 minthe 20% climb

13:13 – 13:40

The French sideCharmauvillers → Les Envers → Urtière → Goumois

8kmdown to the river

13:50 – 14:48

Back up the Swiss sideGoumois → Vieux Pont → Les Pommerats → Saignelégier

10kmthe long climb

14:48 – 15:11

Back to the vanSaignelégier → Le Noirmont

6km

I set off from Le Noirmont at 12:36 and dropped down the narrow road to La Goule, then over the bridge into France. That's where the climb starts, and the note was right: it's short and brutal. The GPS shows the two kilometres up to Charmauvillers taking me 17 minutes, which on this bike tells you all you need to know about the gradient.

The reward is the French side: open farmland along the top, then down through Les Envers and Urtière to the river at Goumois, which I reached at 13:40. Back across the bridge into Switzerland, and the long climb back up through Vieux Pont and Les Pommerats to Saignelégier at 14:48, then across the plateau to Le Noirmont at 15:11. 36.9km and 918m in two hours 18 minutes of riding.

This file has no height data, so there's no climbing profile for the timeline; the climbing total is Strava's.

A woman holding a glass of beer on a terrace by the Doubs at La Goule — My wife on the terrace at La Goule, two months before the ride (May 2025).

A silver VW T5 van parked in Le Noirmont with a red road bike leaning against it — The T5 and the red bike at Le Noirmont, the usual start (July 2022).

The calm lake above the La Goule dam reflecting the wooded hills — The lake above the dam at La Goule (July 2022).

Two old red petrol pumps against a stone wall in Goumois — Old petrol pumps in Goumois (July 2022).

Where It Is

Le Noirmont (marker), with La Goule below it on the Doubs and Charmauvillers across the border in France.