Mtb itinerari Valgrana ING

VALGRANA – MONTEMALE – PASSO DELLA PIATTA

km 28
Route: mixed (asphalt and dirt)
Gradients: 850 m
Difficulty level: difficult

Starting point from the square of Valgrana and climb immediately towards Montemale for about 2 km on a aphalt road, when you cross a votive pillars to 2.5 km, take right onto the wide forest track that continue by a long hillside, near a major crossroads keep left and take the meadows ignoring all the other branches.

Continuing to the right along the stone wall that marks the steep and rocky path, once you are in the woods on the left and you get to Montemale (931 m) at km 5.4 and here to cross the village ignoring the descent to the left and right, at the end of the village you will find a second asphalt road and follow it for 100 meters, to the first hairpin bend take the dirt road between the chestnut trees, this is a long ups and downs along the hillside of the Cima Varengo, the descent leads to the abandoned village of Cortese Superiore.

At about 200 meters above the village you reach to a crossroads, you continue to rise again, near the top of the climb take the asphalt road that you follow until an intersection where the road meets the main carriage road, take it and turn left uphill to the villages of Piatta Sottana and Arbona, after a piece almost in flat the road goes up again on asphalt climb for Colletto Maira - Colletto della Piatta, the road becomes dirt.
Once on the Colle (1.220 m. - km 14) to keep the main direction of ignoring the forks left and right until you reach and exceed a deserted village and a large clearing with a isolated house, from here you turn right, you leave the road for a cattle-track at first grassy and then surrounded by walnut trees.

After you continue on a long up and down until the km 17 where you get to a large intersection and turn left downhill on the main road, ignoring the secondary crossroads and taking the right side you reach a second visible crossroads where you can see the village of Montemale, near the village take a right onto a path of a wooded ridge and reach the asphalt before the village, cross it, when you come to a fountain instead of following the asphalt you keep the steep gravel cartroad to the left of the path where it has come as far as passing a shed for agricultural equipment.
To pedal on the main road ignoring the first path to the left, you arrive at a second crossroads, then follow the signs red and white, here begins a single-track and keep left, near to the plains at km 24,5 you don't follow the red and white markings and turn right on a asphalt road in the direction of Bottonasco, turn right and immediately left to the starting point of Valgrana.