La Grande Traversée VTT des Pyrénées - Licq-Athérey - Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

This stage crosses the entire Iraty massif, the largest beech forest in Europe. A long, gradual ascent on tracks and then a single track leads to the Iraty crests and the Escaliers peak. After a ridge trail, with its succession of paths on mountainsides and others in the middle of large grassy plateaus, the stage heads due west towards Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the capital of Basse-Navarre and a Mecca on the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago de Compostela. But to get there, it's a succession of beautiful descents over the rounded mountains of the Cize.