Falaises du Devenson |
The road up to Col de la Gardiole has been closed and there is a parking down at the 234 meter point. But I have chosen a new parking closer to Cassis at the 236 meter point called Stele. This is the new depart/arrival point for this walk, also reflected on the GPX-file and on the VisoRando link.
To find Col de la
Gardiole from Cassis, you take the main road towards Marseille, and where there
is a road sign to the right for “Camp de Carpiagne” at the 234 meter point, you
turn left just afterwards at the 235 meter point. Follow the small and
sometimes bad road all the way up to Col de la Gardiole (260 meter point),
where there is a big parking.
The unmarked trail is
not really a short cut, just a way of keeping the nice views of the sea longer,
and to avoid walking on the hard “road” too long. You need to be a good map-reader,
however, so just follow the trail according to the map. The trail will after a
while become a path and after 15 minutes you see down to a trail 50 meters or
so below you in the valley. Follow the small stony path that circles down to
the narrow valley floor (takes 3-6 minutes, depending on skills). At the
bottom, just follow the trail here to the right back to the red 7 trail just
below the 70 meters point (about 10 minutes).
When you meet up with
the red 7 trail again, turn right, but walk only 50 meters because here you
want the GR51 (and green) to the left for Col de L’Oule, where you arrive after
climbing about 15 minutes, or a good hour from the car.
Calanque de l'Oule |
If you are dying for
lunch already, I suggest you walk about 10 minutes along the blue 2 trail
towards the Belvedere d’en Vau. You will find the best places for lunch to the
right along the cliff top, facing west, or all the way out at the Belvedere (15
min), where you have the most spectacular view of the whole of Calanque d’en
Vau.
For those who can
wait another 35 minutes or so for lunch, you take the GR51 for another 5
minutes down to where the green 8 trail takes off to the left near Puits de
l’Oule (a well, easily seen). Now walk along this green path down to Grotto de
l’Oule (You see a small cairn on the left about 20 minutes after the well,
marking the path to the Grotto.) You get to the lowest point of the path just
after having passed the cairn by the Grotto, and now climb up for about 10
minutes to what we can call Col de l’Oule. Here is a few nice places for lunch
only a few meters from the sea, but high up. You see straight down into
Calanque de l’Eissadon (you could get down to the water here, but it’s tricky),
but if you walk up to the left and follow the ridge out, you see down into
Calanque de l’Oule on the other side.
Calanque de l'Eissadon |
You could lunch here,
and it is advisable if it’s a windy day. However, because you have a very steep
climb just in front of you, it could be advisable to take this 20 minutes climb
before lunch. You are now up on the plateau of Falaises du Stevenson about 2,5
hours after leaving the car.
Walking along the
Falaise du Stevenson, you have wonderful views of the sea and the coast in all
directions. You walk for about 30 minutes until Col du Stevenson. Here you can see
the GR51 coming up from the valley, joining your green 8 path. This is the
point to think about returning to the car. Take the GR51 to the right down into
the valley and up the next valley etc. back to Col de l’Oule (about 40
minutes). From here, you have another 50 minutes up to the car.
The quickest way back
from Col de l’Oule is following the brown path 5 all the way to Maison
Forestiere and then up to the car on the road marked red and green.
Basic information:
Duration: 6h (incl. 1 hour for lunch)
Distance: 15 km.
Ascent: 630 m
Difficulty: Moderate, but demanding in places and not
for people suffering vertigo.
Start/finish: Parking de Stele at the 236m point on the D559 from Cassis to Marseille.
Map: IGN
Les Calanques de Marseille a Cassis (1cm=150 m)
VisoRando Lien.
Pour le fichier GPX,
vous pouvez télécharger à partir d'ici (voir ci-dessus) ou mettre à jour via ce
lien VisoRando où vous pourrez également voir l'itinéraire sur une bonne carte:
For the GPX-file, you
could download from here (see just above) or go to this VisoRando link where
you also will see the route on a good
map.
If
you have problems with this VisoRando link, download the GPX-file from above
and import it to VisoRando or other application.
Bjorn....looks like you're getting some good hikes in this spring!
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