9 new member routes are online (one of them is route of the month on the site's home page)Go to info

Fred and Bruno's 12-stop trip from Thonon to TriesteGo to info

The new Board's presentation page has been updatedGo to info

Autrans AGM: voting results onlineGo to info

A new photo album on the Autrans AGMGo to info

Autumn break and general meeting in Sainte-Maxime (Var), 10 to 14 November 2021

The IT managers Bernard Giraudeau, Enrico Alberini and Christophe Badonnel contributed to this page presenting the trip.

You will find the headings below:

  • Introduction to the region
  • Circuits, road and MOUNTAIN BIKE
  • Hosting
  • Note from the Board of Directors
  • Registrations
  • Other activities or visits   

Introduction to the region :

There is a small gulf in the south of France, in the shape of a wedge entering the Massif des Maures, called the Golfe de Saint-Tropez. The small town of Sainte-Maxime lies on the northern shore of this gulf. These names, evocative of beaches and sunshine, are mythical places known the world over for their elitist clientele. So it's in Sainte-Maxime that we've chosen to organise the Club des Cent Cols 2021 autumn break and hold our general meeting.

We'll be staying at the VVF "Club Intense Golf de Saint-Tropez" on the edge of Plage de la Nartelle and close to Pointe des Sardinaux.

Sainte Maxime is a commune in the Var département (83) in the Provence-Alpes-Côtes d'Azur region, at the southernmost tip of the Alps. Bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and boasting a warm, sunny climate, the Var is naturally a major destination on the French tourist map. The commune has a permanent population of 14,000, with several thousand more added during the summer months. It has been awarded the "tourist resort" label in recognition of its high-quality tourism policy and the "Famille Plus" label for its family-friendly services. Sainte-Maxime is a typical Mediterranean coastal town.

The town is one of the production areas forAOC Provence olive oil and wine production  Côtes-de-Provencetwo products benefiting from AOC. The commune is also one of the production areas for vins de pays des Mauresand Mediterranean vins de paysand Provence honeythree products benefiting from a PGI. It also has a number of other cultural and tourist attractions, such as the Tour Carrée, which houses a museum of local traditions and folklore. Parks, gardens, beaches and walks are just some of the attractions on offer.

Sainte-Maxime's buildings are spread out along the gulf, but also in the valleys that radiate from the Maures massif, which overlooks the seaside town and protects it from the mistral, a cold, powerful wind that blows down from the north. The highest point in the commune is at Peigros at 526 m, just above the Col de Gratteloup (FR-83-0225) on the D44 and the Col de Peigros (FR-83-0350a), R1. The perimeter of the proposed playing field, the Massif des Maures, is around 60 km long and 30 km wide. It is perfectly bounded by the Mediterranean coastline and the plains of the Argens, Maures and Gapeau rivers. There are three ridges running from south-west to north-east, decreasing in altitude from north to south. The highest point is at 776 m. There are several dozen road or mule passes between these ridges, which will whet our appetites.

There are three websites on the Internet to help you find out more about Sainte-Maxime and the surrounding area:
The Tourist Office : website
The commune's website : website
Wikipedia : website

THE TRAILS

The routes were prepared by Sébastien Golzio.

On Thursday and Friday, participants will take their own picnics with them, and on Saturday and Sunday mornings, a road circuit and a mountain bike circuit will be on offer, with lunch to be taken at the holiday village. They are all accessible to all our members in terms of length, gradient and difficulty.
A brief description of the routes and the gpx tracks are available here:

Road routes

Mountain bike routes

Hosting

Other accommodation options

  1. To be able to correctly size joint events (information sessions, welcome and farewell parties).
  2. To be able to split up into several groups on the routes to improve safety for everyone.
  3. To help organisers deal with any unforeseen events.


VVF " Club intense Golf de Saint-Tropez - Sainte-Maxime " 64 chemin de la Vierge Noire - 83120 Sainte-Maxime

Tel: +33 (0)4 94 55 04 00. website

It is located in the heart of a renowned seaside resort on the Côte d'Azur, just a stone's throw from Saint-Tropez.

Facing the sea and set in 2.5 hectares of parkland, the 95 air-conditioned rooms are divided between pavilions and a two-storey villa.

restaurant © VVF
general view © VVF
room © VVF

Note from the Board of Directors

If you arrange your accommodation elsewhere than at the holiday village, please let us know that you will be taking part in the holiday, for 3 reasons:

  • To be able to correctly size joint events (information sessions, welcome and farewell parties).
  • In order to provide you with the holiday booklet
  • For an appropriate distribution of preparation and organisation costs.

Registrations

To register, download the PDF registration form from the link below and follow the instructions therein.
Please note that the registration form available on the Club's website includes two pages You will also need to sign the Gritchen insurance terms and conditions. If you are planning to be accompanied by your partner, make sure you register him/her as an associate member with your Territorial Delegate beforehand, and don't forget to enter his/her associate membership number in the appropriate box. If, and only if, a participant does not have an FFCT licence, the compulsory insurance of €1 per day must be taken out in addition.

Depending on when you arrive and when you leave, the package is different:

  • If you arrive on Wednesday for dinner and leave on Sunday after lunch, you take the 242 euro package.
  • If you arrive on Friday for dinner and leave on Sunday after lunch, you take the package at 138 euros.
  • If you arrive on Saturday for dinner and leave on Sunday after lunch, you take the €85 package.
  • If you arrive on Saturday for dinner and leave on Sunday after breakfast, you take the half-board package at 79 euros.
  • If you are coming without accommodation (either an overnight stay or your own accommodation), you can register for meals: lunch at 14 euros and dinner at 15.50 euros. The improved Saturday evening meal is 18 euros.
  • And so on.

For all requests for early arrival, please contact the booking office directly: Tel: +33 (0)4 73 43 00 43. It will not be possible to extend your stay beyond 14 November as the centre closes after our departure for annual holidays.

You can pay the registration fee by cheque or bank transfer to the Club's account. In view of the additional fees charged by the organisation that manages it, we do not accept payment by PayPal. Assigning members payments are made in the order in which the cheque is sent or the transfer is made. For the former, the postmark will be taken as proof, for the latter, please send us a copy of the transfer order. If the holiday is full, a waiting list will be set up, which will operate according to the same priority allocation rules as for direct registrations. Trombinoscope : If you have not yet provided your photo for the directory and would like to be included, please tick the appropriate box and e-mail us a photo in JPG format.

From further information will be posted later on the website, which you can consult regularly. Each time, the person in charge of the trips will send a short e-mail to the mailing list. If you would like to receive these emails, please send them to subscribe to the mailing listif you haven't already done so.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to call the person in charge of the holiday: +33 6 78 87 33 67.

Download the newsletter :

  • Sainte-Maxime Registration Form in French
  • Booking form Sainte-Maxime in English
  • Modulo d'iscrizione Sainte-Maxime in italiano

The deadline for receipt of entries is 01 October 2021.

Annual General Meeting of the Club des Cent Cols

It will be held on site on Saturday afternoon. For more details, go to Annual General Meeting.

The invitation to the meeting and the statutory documents will be sent out as usual via an Info Cent Cols in October and will also be available on the website.

At the end of the work, we'll have a drinks reception to allow us to get together in a less formal way.

Other activities or visits

For those accompanying you, we can suggest a few visits near Sainte-Maxime

  • The beaches
  • The Pointe des Sardinaux is a wild, natural peninsula that forms part of the coastal path and has two interesting features: a World War II bunker and a fishpond dating from Roman times.
  • The big market in Sainte-Maxime every Friday morning
  • The Myrtles botanical garden