Starting from the town of Annonay, the Grande Traversée de l'Ardèche VTT leads you along slopes offering splendid views of the Cance Valley up to the Col des Baraques, this pass part of the watershed dividing waters flowing to the Mediterranean from those heading to the Atlantic.
Reaching the town of Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, you arrive in an area of high plateaux. You ride along old, undulating trails, passing a mix of lovely pine forests, broom heathland and open meadows to get to Devesset, its lakes, rivers and wetlands marking it out as a remarkable natural area.

Riding past the source of the Eyrieux River, this second stage of the GTA VTT leads you smoothly to Saint-Agrève, a town where people from the steep slopes below and the high plateau above meet up. Leaving town, you come to the volcanic plateau of Le Mézenc. Silence reigns in these parts, although herds bring life to these grazing lands in summer and just the odd massive, isolated farm stands out. Fine pastureland alternates with pine forests. Wide drailles (paths for moving cattle from winter to summer pastures) guide you to Les Estables, at the foot of Mont Mézenc.

Small gear changes enable you to enjoy the grand landscapes here, as the Ardèche Mountains offer mountain bikers a treat, crossing heaths where heather and broom thrive. Admire the unique volcanic landscapes, marked by sucs, phonolithic ancient volcanoes in the form of sugar loafs. At the iconic Mont Gerbier de Jonc, a sentinel made from dark lava, you might fill your water bottle at the spot where the Loire’s first waters spring up.
Alternating between woods and undulating wide prairies, you next arrive at Mazan-l'Abbaye, before racing on to Lanarce, first via a very steep slope lined with broom, then via broader trails.

After enjoying a fine climb via wide tracks up to the deserted plateau of Cham Longe, this GTA VTT stage takes you to the Mediterranean/Atlantic watershed at the Col du Bez pass. Heading down into the Borne Valley, you ride along a track that then climbs considerably before descending again to Loubaresse. From here, you cross a plateau offering magnificent views of the Cévennes. Passing close to the mass of granite boulders nicknamed Gargantua’s Balls, the trail reaches Montselgues, its peat bogs enabling special flora to grow amidst the heathland where Scotch heather and broom thrive.

Reaching an old Roman road, this cross-country stage joins the Corniche du Vivarais Cévenol, offering very marked contrasts in landscapes. The sudden slopes are so brutally steep that you don’t so much descend from the plateau as fall off it! Leaving the magnificent Thines Valley with its magical perched village to the right, you plunge into woods that alternate between pine and chestnut trees. You cross tiny hamlets with stone houses topped by stone roofs. After a long stretch through woods, dotted with the odd clearing, the Grande Traversée de l'Ardèche VTT reaches Les Vans, a town ideal for a stopover.

From Les Vans, cycle along to the Bois de Païolive, a magical place scattered with boulders that look like natural sculptures, given evocative names such as ‘The Bear’, ‘The Lion’ or ‘The Elephant’! Take things easier crossing the Jalès Plain up to Font Vive Spring, river waters emerging dramatically out of the rocks here. Then the route becomes more challenging to reach the Col de la Cize pass, the reward magnificent views, before you plunge down to Salavas to reach Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, gateway to the Ardèche Gorges.

Once past Salavas, enjoy unrivalled views over the Ardèche Valley on this final stage of the Grande Traversée de l'Ardèche VTT. Apart from the odd vine, the vast, wild limestone plateau here is only suitable for scrub. Its true riches lie hidden underground. Here, you’re in the Pays des Avens, an area where vast caverns lurk just under the surface! Crossing Ronze Wood, with all its holm oaks, you reach La Grande Lauze, an immense limestone slab.
Next, you can ride easily along to the village of Aiguèze via the GR4 trail. Finally, you reach the Rhône Valley and the Ardèche border, riding through vineyards and orchards to get to riverside Bourg-Saint-Andéol, a town boasting an extraordinary architectural legacy.