アンビアレのおすすめライド

A lovely bridge over the Tarn; the view from the bridge is beautiful and the bridge itself is stylish.

The Tarn valley is steep enough that leaving it involves a nice climb, 5 to 6 km with passages at 10%. And multiple routes around Ambialet.

As you come down the D74 road and around the last corner before entering town, you get a splendid view of the village of Ambialet and the old hilltop Cathar fortress. Both look as if they have naturally emerged from the local rock-bed over the past few centuries. There is one restaurant and two cafes in town as well as a cafe and small hotel just over the bridge on the other side of town.

Secondary road offering a view of the surrounding hills.

Trebas Plage and its leisure center offers restaurants, cafes and many outdoor activities: hiking, tennis, handball, basketball, petanque, football, fishing, cycling Aqua Parc de Trébas is open from June to September. Swimming is supervised from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. every day in July and August.

If the peninsulas formed by meanders are relatively common, here the isthmus which prevents the Tarn from shooting straight is only about ten meters wide, which makes it the narrowest and most spectacular of Europe. It is a safe bet that in a few millennia, erosion will eventually lead the Tarn to cross it and thus abandon its arm, as is sometimes the case (cf. Cirque de Navacelle). This geological particularity was in any case exploited from the very beginning of the 1900s for the production of electricity with a factory with magnificent architecture that can be visited.

Ambialet is a magnificent peninsula hugged by a meander of the Tarn. It is dominated by an 11th century priory and the ruins of Saint-Raphaël castle built on a schist needle. A 3.5 km footpath takes you around the site.

Little bit technical on the first part of the descent but gets easier. Stream at the bottom to cross so be careful if there has been lots of rain!