Where is Col de Jau?
France, europe
27.1 km
N/A
moderate
Year-round
Okay, buckle up for the Col de Jau! This high-altitude pass, sitting way up in the eastern Pyrenees, straddles the border of two French departments in the south of the country. Keep an eye out for the ruins of the old Sainte-Marie de Jau abbey nearby – a cool piece of history.
The road itself? Paved, thankfully! It's known as D14 on the northern side and D117 on the southern side. The full stretch is about 27 km (17 miles) from Mosset to Sainte Colombe sur Guette.
Now, about that climb. From Mosset, you're looking at a roughly 18km ascent with about 1000m of elevation gain – that's an average gradient of around 5.5%. Coming from Sainte Colombe sur Guette, it's a bit shorter at around 9 km, but you're still climbing about 600m, making for a steeper average of about 6.5%.
Be warned, it's not always a picnic – you'll find some pretty steep ramps along the way. But the views? Absolutely worth it! Get ready for some wild scenery in the heart of the Pyrenees.
Road Details
- Country
- France
- Continent
- europe
- Length
- 27.1 km
- Difficulty
- moderate
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