Cycling to the Vallée de Joux

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Yesterday I tried cycling to the Vallée de Joux and succeeded. A few weeks ago I cycled up to St George and I saw a sign that said that the Col De Marchairuz was less than 6km away so I decided to try it. When I succeeded that I saw that getting to the Vallée de Joux would be possible.

On Sunday due to the weather I thought that I would go for a small 30km loop to avoid the bad weather and rain. I felt fresh when I got back to Nyon so I decided to go further and I headed towards the Col De Mollendruz but took a wrong turn and arrived in Bière. As I felt tired I changed course and headed back for home.

The Col du Mollendruz variant

Yesterday I went for the Col De Mollendruz. I headed from Nyon to Rolle and from Rolle headed up to Perroy before heading across to Aubonne. From Aubonne I headed up towards Ballens and then east towards Mont-La-Ville. This route is nice because you climb more gradually than if you do the Col De Marchairuz or go via St Cergue. A gentler gradient makes it accessible to less experienced cyclists. Mont-La-Ville is the start of the Strava segment to get to the Col De Mollendruz. From this col there is an easy descent to the Vallée de Joux.

From Le Pont du La Cure the gradient is slightly positive for about 30 kilometres. You then cross back in to Switzerland and head for St Cergue and back down to the plains. The circuit is about 104 km.

If you’re looking for a variant of this you could choose to go from St Cergue to Arzier and back down and if you still feel full of energy you could head towards La Faucille and head back down from there.

A ride to revisit when the leaves turn

This bike ride would be nice to do when the leaves are turning because you pass by the vineyards and ride through forests. It is also interesting because by taking the bike you are going slower than by car. You notice that some buildings are from the 1700s, you see that others are from the 1800s. You also see that there are long stretches of road with very few cars.