A wonderful trip between bucolic villages.

Statistics

3 - 4

hrs

1,381

m

1,381

m

12

max°

Difficulty

FATMAP difficulty grade

Moderate

Description

If you want to see some epic scenery and take a bike tour of some rarely-visited little villages, this is the ride for you! From Arabba go to the cable car parking area and then to the right of a river on a track which climbs though the forest and then descends steeply to Renaz.

Follow a vague trail through long grass to cross a little bridge and then keep following the grassy track alongside the river until San Giovanni.

Cross another bridge on the right and climb up a steep tarmac road to the village of Ornella. Descend to the Col di Ornella and then take a gravel road, crossing a rickety (and scary!) wooden bridge and climbing a narrow road through a lovely forest full of black volcanic rock and moss.

There are some really steep sections on this climb, before the descent to Roncat.

From Roncat carry on to Sottinghiazza, where the gravel finishes.

Follow steep, rutted and pebble covered tarmac down through Sottil and then climb up to Pieve through Retiz/Retic.

The last bit of the climb is stoney and a bit technical, but it's not too tricky. Pass through Pieve and in front the pharmacy take a singletrack uphill and then through Brenta and Liviné.

Half a km of road from Livine leads to the road to Corte, from where you keep climbing steeply to Contrin.

A jeep track begins here - get on this and follow it over a bridge before traversing through fields to a fascinating working dairy farm called "Malga Cherz".

Take the uphill trail from the farm and pass above the town of Cherz.

The track undulates from here to Varda on a singletrack, passing over some streams and some rocky/muddy sections.

This section is not the best idea after rain because it gets super muddy! Blast back to Arabba on a road.