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Saint Luc, Valais, Switzerland

In a small hard to reach valley there is a real gem of bike-friendliness

Tom H. Photo by Tom G
The road up!
It was a long drive, but the girls did us well!  We'd only seen a few cars on the hairy, Verdon Gorge-esque road up to the ski resort village of Saint Luc.  The road up was stunning and the views into the steep sided gorge were worth the drive alone.  We'd come to bike, and upon pulling into the carpark we were greeted by a lack of parking spots.  Is it going to be too busy today? The funiculare train only runs every 30mins at weekends.

The bike park was so busy that they were running the funicular constantly meaning very little que time.  Not that 30 minutes is that bad, but it meant we kept going and going all day long.

Another reason we kept going lap after lap was that the trails were so good!  The Swiss bike park's always seem to have a good setup and are alwats so well looked after.   Despite constant funicular access it was not that busy, everyone was out having fun, stopping on the side of the trails to recount stories of good lines or near misses with friends.  Saint Luc is nearing the Valais canton boarder so there were people speaking French and German in the lift que, and thanks to our rabble from Cham, English!

Tom G on start of red/black
Tom H on a rock hip jump
We did several laps of the 'blue' trail with enough to entertain me and Tom H thanks to some sizeable jumps, as well as enough 'fun' to keep the girls Pam and Ellie smiling.  Not forgetting Mr Tom G who was getting up to speed on his bike after winter season of skiing and travelling abroad.  Tom had been down to Finale Ligure the day before and was nursing some pretty hardcore hand blisters but he borrowed a pair of Ellie's gloves which seemed to help.

The red run had a few more bigger drops in and some great berms for us all to rail.  Me and Tom H did the black later in the day which had some very committing jumps/drops and some fairly steep sections, but nothing horrendous.  However there was more than the 3 bike park runs...
Me on a drop.  Photo by Ellie

Uknown local looking right at Tom G
Tom H again
I'd done some online research and had of course found potential for lovely singletrack (footpaths). Swiss footpaths almost always deliver goodness! One option looked snow covered so out of the train we turned left, climbed for about 2 minutes and then dropped in on sublime Swiss rock and flow.  We came across a few snow patch's, but this didn't deter our adventure which led us onto a smooth, gentle ribbon of pine needles all the way back to the village.  It was superb and we all loved it.
Chalet view
Due to Tom G's technical difficulties this is the only shot of the sweet singletrack.  Thanks Ellie
In the area around the funicular station the local company had put on a bbq, a small skills course for children, music and a sweetie stall.  There were competitions going on for the kids and adults whilst everyone enjoyed the sun, views, music and the food.  It was all so positive and bike friendly.  Something like this would never happen in Chamonix!

 To finish the day?  A second lap of the super singletrack of course!

Huge thanks to Pam for driving us all,
Sorry for the boy humour on the way home.

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