The Grand Traverse of the Massif Central. Alan Castle

A guide to mountainbiking, cycling or walking the GTMC, Grande Traversée du Massif Central, in southern France, from Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne to Montpellier and Sête on the Mediterranean. The GTMC is a long-distance mountain biking trail that crosses the entire Massif Central in France visiting all of the major regions, including the Auvergne with its chain of volcanic puys in the Monts-Dôme and Monts-Dore ranges, the Cézallier plateau and the remote Margeride, home of the French Resistance in the Second World War, the high forested hills of the Cévennes National Park, made famous by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, and finally the dry limestone hills bordering the coastal Mediterranean plain. Much of the route is off-road and uses many Grandes Randonnées, so it also makes an excellent walking route. Just over 700km in length it offers a challenge and a thorough exploration of one of southern France's most beautiful and historically interesting regions. The route is described in 17 stages, with maps for off-road and on-road routes, making it suitable for both expert and novice bikers, with full details of facilities and places of interest en route and other useful data for planning the trip.