Mountain Biking: Ghardeya Circuit - Nabeul

Distance: 8km

Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: easy

Altitude difference: 85m up and down

GPS track

This is an easy going, fun trail and potentially fast if you’re up for it. The route goes through beautiful and typically Tunisian style forest (mainly eucalyptus) and is unspoilt by polution. Great ride all together!

Finding the trailhead of this mountain bike route is a little bit difficult. From Tunis or Hammamet, go in the direction of Nabeul. Around Nabeul there is a bypass road that heads into the direction Korba. After Nabeul look out for the signpost for Somaa in a left direction (at a roundabout). Follow this road. After the turn-off to Somaa stay on this road for 1.5km. Look out for a spray-painted sign VTT in green on the left. Take this dirt track and follow it for about 500 metres. Keep left and find a place to park your car or hit the trail straight away if you’re by bike.

The trail first heads into westerly direction with a very sandy start. 100m after that it turns southeast. The track is wide and solid with only a few sections of sandy bits, nothing major. After roughly 1.7km the road bends in northernly direction where it forks. Take the sharp right turn going direction south again which is the start of a fun downhill section.

The track bends right to the north again and now it’s a bit of a climb in open terrain. Keep right when the track forks. A small steep climb follows. It levels out after that. For about a kilometre it’s a pretty straight stretch of trail. Then at the T-junction, turn left. Now the road curves around the hill side. The last section of the loop has a few short sandy sections. Stay on the main trail that leads to where you started.

Mountain biking: Stockholm Hotel Track - Borj Cedria Tunis

Distance: 22km

Time: 1.5-2hrs

Difficulty: easy/moderate

450m up and down

Notes: officially permission needed from the Guard National, at times difficult to find the route: use GPS

GPS track

First of all, to enter Boukornine National Park you need to obtain permission from the Guard National. On the highest mountain, Jebel Boukornine, is a permanent military station. Having said this, this route avoids getting close to the official entrance and any check point. We ( me and a local biker Karim from Borj Cedria) did it without.

Karim on the ascent

Finding the trailhead is not so easy, best is to use the GPS data in this blogpost. Coming from Souk in Hammam-Lif follow the main road P1 (direction Grombalia). When you pass the train station Arret du Stade (on the opposite side of the road) it’s 500 metres more to the parallel road on the right side of the P1. Get on this road and drive in the same direction. At the second junction, turn right and keep going straight until you reach the bridge that goes over the green pipeline. This is the trailhead of this mountain bike ride.

Myself going the opposite direction of this route (everything for a better photo!)

After the bridge turn right and pass the white, slightly worn down building on the left side. The broad track zigzags up steeply. A few hunderd metres further there’s a big junction. In front of you there’s a small white building with solar panels on the roof. Turn left here and keep going up, again steep. At the T-junction take a left. The wide well-maintained track winds its way up the mountain, less steep now. The magnificent views over Hammam-Lif, the Meditteranean and across to Cap Bon unfolds. It’s great, easy riding through the forest of bright green low pine trees. Stay on the main track and reach the highest point at 340 metres.

Karim, again opposite direction of how you should go with Jebel Ressas and Zaghouan in the background

There’s a short descent with pretty tricky terrain. Be aware of little pebbles and unexpected sharp corners. The track flattens out for a about a kilomtres before it drops again. Enjoy view of Jebel Ressas and Jebel Zaghouan in the distance. It ends at the main motorway A1, where you go left. At the time of writing were building the new road between Borj Cedria and the A1. Use GPS track again to find the track as the landscape is constantly changing. Access may be denied at some point. After following the unfinished road in the direction of Borj Cedria again for a few hunderd metres look out for the original track on the right side. It is obstructed now and then by road building works. The track eventually takes you down to Borj Cedria. Keep going down the village in northern direction. When you see the industrial site on the right, turn left and look for the channel. Along the channel there’s a track all the way back to the bridge where you started the bike ride.

Below: Karim descending with Jebel Ressas dominating the view

XC Mountain Bike Race, Rades Forest - Tunis

Distance: 8km

Altitude difference 125m

Terrain: desert: dirt track, single forest track

Technicality: ** (out of *****)
GPS data

The men, about to be released...

On 15 December 2013 the very first XC mountain bike race took place in Rades Forest in Tunis. Tunis based bike shop Espace Velo sponsored this event and I think they created the 8km XC route as well. The course was fast, with small technical sections and scenic. I truly enjoyed riding the 4 rounds despite my broken gear cable in round 2 (who needs gears anyways??). See below for the trail map.

Mountain biking near Chenini

2 Ksours: Loop Chenini - Guermassa

Distance: 29km

Altitude difference 555m

Terrain: desert: dirt track, rough and rocky track

Technicality: **** (out of *****)

GPS data

Note about the technical difficulty: when going back from Guermassa to Chenini the same way the technical rating is **.

A 29km loop in a place that looks like a landscape on Mars

It's October, temperatures are dropping so the mountain bike season in Tunisia has started again. High on the list was the Tunisian desert. With the recently bought van I headed south in search of a good desert trail.

West of the cities of Medenine and Tatouine is a small mountainous area with canyons and table mountains. I used the wonderful ancient village of Chenini as a base for some bike exploring. There's a great Gite to stay called Kenza.

The trail starts on the saddle of the village mountain at the mosque. Descent towards Chenini Nouvelle which is along the tarmac road (eastwards). Before you enter the town turn left on a tarmac road that quickly becomes a dirt track. It's a flatt-ish at times rough track that passes the mountains on the eastern side and goes pretty much north bound all the way to Guermassa. There are several tracks but these all lead to Guermassa Nouvelle. From there the dramatic ancient town of Guermassa is visible. Go up the rough and steep track towards the old village (good luck, you probably have to hike a bit of this...).

Guermassa Ancient, dramatically perched on top of a hill

It's fun to explore the abandoned houses and granaries. They are currently restoring the settlement. Experienced bikers can continue the the loop, if you're not a very skilled biker it is best to return the way you have come.

Head southwest on the path that continues along the mosque and climbs gradually. It passes more ancient houses until the path vanishes abruptly. At this point you will have to hike a bike for about 10 minutes. This is a marked walking route, just follow the red/white signs. It takes you up the mountain plateau where you can continue biking again. Especially in the first couple of kilometres the biking is difficult due to big rocks and lack of clear path. The path does become better visible and the terrain also somewhat easier. All along the plateau you can follow the signs. I tried a short cut to the down hill I spotted from Chenini, cruising on dirt tracks and cross country to find the start of the downhill. But this is not needed, the walking route will go there eventually. The GPS track should therefore not be blindly followed (this should never be the case!). It is indicative only.

The final descent seen from Chenini

The final downhill towards Chenini (on the top you can see the village) is technical. It's not that steep but the man made path has big slabs, loose rocks and hair pin corners. Experienced mountain bikers only! Have fun!

At the bottom, return to the road that takes you back to beautiful Chenini.