A family trip to the Var at the end of September 2011, and some of the earliest rides on this site: round the Saint-Tropez peninsula and its beaches, up into the hills past Gassin and the Paillas windmills above Ramatuelle, and from Cabasson, by the Fort de Brégançon, into the forests of the Maures. In my words: lovely area for cycling.
These are some of the oldest rides in my Strava history, from a family holiday in the autumn of 2011: a week near Ramatuelle on the Saint-Tropez peninsula, then a few days further west at Cabasson, near Bormes-les-Mimosas. The only ride note is three words long, from 29 September: "Lovely area for cycling."
Ramatuelle, Bormes And The Maures
Ramatuelle is a village of about 1,900 people in the Var, close to Saint-Tropez, Gassin and Sainte-Maxime, built on a hill to defend itself against raiders. The actor Gérard Philipe is buried there. Its hills rise to the old windmills at Paillas, above Gassin, with views over both sides of the peninsula.
Bormes-les-Mimosas, further west along the coast, has a medieval old town of houses covered in bougainvillea, and its commune includes Cabasson and the Fort de Brégançon, the official retreat of the President of the French Republic. Behind both runs the Massif des Maures, a range about 56km long and 16km wide, covered in cork oak, holm oak and sweet chestnut, rising to 780m at the Signal de la Sauvette.
Ride 1Round The Saint-Tropez PeninsulaWednesday 28 September 2011
How The Day Went
41.5kmrolling
5.3km
2.6km
The first ride of the trip, on a bright day: round the edge of the peninsula past the beaches with their blue parasols, out towards the Cap de Saint-Tropez and back over Cap Camarat. 49.6km and 685m. (The heights in this old file dip below sea level, so I've left them out.)
Ride 2Up To The Paillas Windmills And Cap CamaratSaturday 1 October 2011
How The Day Went
25km
6.2km+236m3.8% average
7.9km
3.4km+82m
7.6km
The hilly one: up past the hilltop village of Gassin to the old windmills at Paillas, at 266m the highest point of the ride, down through Ramatuelle to the sea at L'Escalet, and out to the Cap Camarat lighthouse. 56.1km and 1,191m, the most climbing of the trip.
Ride 3From Cabasson Into The MauresWednesday 5 October 2011
How The Day Went
23kmgently up
12.8km+305m
21.4km−380m
From the base at Cabasson, near the Fort de Brégançon, I rode inland to Pierrefeu-du-Var and then up into the forest of the Maures to about 400m at L'Avelan, and back down to the sea: 57.9km at nearly 26km/h. I'd ridden the same loop the day before too.