Trailscouting in the Terres Noires

Digne-Les-Bains is a mountain biking mecca. Therefore, I couldn't possibly leave it out. Thanks to the bus, I arrived much earlier than expected. The town is the main hub of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, and thus the largest place I've encountered since Cueno. A true culture shock, it had everything one might need in abundance. There was even a nice campsite, complete with a bike wash, which made my bike very happy.

I had planned several days, as the network of trails around the city was vast. The special feature was the Terre Noires, black earth mounds that grow out like moraines from the mountains and are said to be excellent for biking. At least in the pictures and videos I had seen, it looked spectacular. I had to try it out for myself.

As said, so done, I started a tour that was supposed to connect some highlights. During the ascent, I was already grilled. A heatwave had settled in the last few days, and since Digne is only at an altitude of 650 meters, the area was turning into a Mediterranean oven. Fortunately, every small cluster of houses had a well with drinking water. Outside of Digne, to my surprise, there was absolutely nothing for provisions or breaks. No café, no bar, and no grocery store was found in the villages. And this was despite the fact that there were at least some mountain bikers around. Strange, it must be quite dreary for the residents, too, if there are no local meeting points and one has to drive into town for every errand.

I reached the Cretes de Saint Jean well-rested. An iconic trail - the line leads along a razor-sharp ridge over the moraines. Man, was it steep and exposed. Okay, the descriptions had prepared me for it. But when you stand in front of it and specifically plan to ride it down, it feels different. A band as wide as a towel. On both sides, it drops steeply down. Supporting yourself with your foot if something goes wrong is impossible; there was simply nothing but a precipice on each side. One small mistake, and it would probably be the last. The slope was also sometimes not to be underestimated, and you had to take the turn afterwards perfectly. No, that was all too risky for me. The French are crazy, that's all I can think of. I ended up pushing the majority of the trail. After all, it shouldn't be my last. But the line was nice to look at. And respect for those who can ride it confidently. Everyone else should probably just skip it.

Other trails went much better. Not everything was so exposed, and the slate slabs had good grip. It reminded me a bit of Slickrock trails in Moab, with the same drawback - short uphills slightly disturbed the flow of riding. Finding the way was also not easy. There were markings, but you had to find them first. There was caution required, as behind the next rise, the trail could continue and roll gently, or you might face a yawning abyss into nothingness. Accordingly, it was more a patchwork building than a flowing descent. Since it was technically significantly more challenging than in the previous weeks, I still had a lot of fun with it.

Digne-Les-Bains itself didn't have much to offer otherwise. The selection of good restaurants was rather modest, but there was plenty of fast food. Finding a well-brewed coffee was an impossible task. Even in the patisseries that had delicious tarts on offer, there was just black brew in paper cups from the cheapest fully automatic machines. The old town was cozy and nice, but everything in the surrounding periphery was quite dreary. Without the Terres Noires, there would be no really good reason to visit.

After three days of trail scouting, I had managed to get a good overview of the trail offerings. I rode the highlights a second time, and it was much smoother and even more fun. Now a bad weather front was forecast, and by now I was so worn out from all the tours that I was really looking forward to renting a nice, small apartment for two nights and treating myself to a nice, relaxing day of rest.