It is not advisable to do the walk alone and do not use
walking sticks. You will need both your hands free for support and avoid rainy
days or days just after rain because the stone paths get very slippery when wet.
But in any case use good footwear. Persons who suffers from vertigo are advised
to stay away. The hike should be taken in the direction shown on the map
because the Vidal path will be a lot more difficult going downhill. You will
also see many signs along the path, warning you against doing this walk because
of the dangers involved, and a sign that says swimming is forbidden in the
Verdon river. What is important, however, is that the river can rise rapidly
and rocks can fall from the steep sides on each side. So you walk on your own
risk like in most places.
Sentier l'Imbut |
From
Moustiers-Ste-Marie or from Aups you follow for the village of Aiguines on the
D19 or D71 roads on the south side of the Canyon. Here you continue the D71
road up to the canyon edge and follow the edge for about 20 minutes after
Aiguines. You will see a large sign for the Hotel/Auberge/Restaurant des
Cavaliers. Here you can park just below the buildings or on the other side of
the road.
Walk back
along the road you came for a few minutes, and you see a large wooden board on
the right side of the road giving details of hikes. You want the GR99
(signposted also Estellier – 40 minutes) down into the Canyon. It takes 35-45
minutes down to the high tech bridge made across the river Verdon at Estellier
in 2004, depending on your technique in steep downhill walking. Some fantastic
views of the Canyon on the way down.
There are
several options for those of you who do not want to do the difficult part of
this walk (the gigantic stone landscape and the Vidal exit path up from the
Canyon), but who would like to enjoy this fantastic Canyon. The most obvious
choice would be to walk for l’Imbut as described below, but to simply return
the same way wherever you like. The other would be to walk across the bridge,
follow the GR99 up where it joins the GR4, and follow the GR4 upstream as long
as you like. One natural point of return would be to walk as far as where the
small river “la Mescla” comes into “le Verdon”. Here you could leave the GR
trail and take right along a small trail the 500 meters until opposite where
“la Mescla” enters Verdon. A very nice spot. You will also have passed many
nice spots along the river already, and there are several places you could go
for a swim if the river flows slowly. Finally, another option would be to stay
on the south side of the bridge and follow the small trail going upstream. You
will quickly discover many nice places for picnics and swimming. For good sun
light down in the Canyon, the best period will be June to August.
Natural pool |
At the
Estellier bridge, you take the trail to the left just at the start of the
bridge (do not cross the bridge) and follow this path downstream. You are now
on the l’Imbut trail and it goes in places near the river and other places
needs to go a bit higher to pass a difficult spot. Some of the high “passes”
are quite spectacular; made like a narrow path (70-100 cm wide) cut out into
the mountainside, but high enough for a person to walk normally. You are
supported most of the way by means of cables mounted along the path.
Gravel beach |
On the way
down to l’Imbut, you could swim 3-4 places along the river, including the one
at l’Imbut. (The “beaches” just after the bridge upstream offers perhaps the
best conditions of them all, including good sunshine.) You also pass a small
forest and some gigantic trees. After almost 1,5 hours walk from the bridge,
the path starts uphill and you soon get to the signpost on the Vidal trail. If
you are short of time and want to do the Vidal trail up and out of the Canyon,
it’s straight in front of you here (small yellow and red markings). Otherwise,
you take right here (signposted for l’Imbut – 30 minutes).
Sentier l'Imbut |
The 20
minutes down towards l’Imbut goes nicely and you have a small beach there down
on the right. The next little beaches, however, is more beautiful, but requires
you to continue through the landscape of gigantic stones you saw on your left
just before descending to the beach at l’Imbut. Here you see no path, but make
sure you follow the white markings on the rocks. Things get a bit difficult
here. It helps a lot if you help each other in places along these giant rocks.
(Make sure you don’t fall down in between rocks and get stuck down there.)
Another 10-15 minutes and you see down on your right a small beach just before
the river disappears into the rock face.
You could walk down onto the beach here to see better, or walk another
70 meters along the trail across to the other side, down to the next beach
which is bigger and nicer.
The return from
l’Imbut starts with the 30 minutes back up to the signpost on the Vidal trail.
Here you could take the same route back again (about 2 hours) or start uphill
the challenging Vidal trail (about 1h 30min) straight on. The Vidal trail is
apparently made for workers as an emergency exit from the Canyon some time
back. It certainly is spectacular going almost vertically uphill like a winding
stairways cut out into the rock face with good metal wires along most of the
way. It will take about 45 minutes uphill before you can relax on a nice green
opening at the top, just before reaching the D71 road.
Sentier Vidal |
The 3 km. on
the road back to the parking will take you about ¾ hour and will offer many
spectacular views of the Canyon along the way. Not a very nice walk, however,
in heavy traffic. Alternative rout could be to follow the yellow marked Vidal
trail straight across the road up to the 832-meter point on the GR99 and follow
this back to the parking without any views of the Canyon. This route is not
longer, but would probably take you 15 minutes longer.
Basic information:
Duration: 6h (including 1h for lunch)
Distance: 8 km.
Ascent: 600 m
Difficulty: Difficult, but good support with wires
and ladders
Start/finish: Parking by Auberge de Cavaliers on D71
(south side)
Map: IGN 3442 OT Gorges du Verdun (1cm=150 m)
GPX-file: Gorge_du_Verdon1 (Free download from list)
GPX-file: Gorge_du_Verdon1 (Free download from list)
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 update through this VisoRando link
where you also will see the route on a
good map.
Not sure if you guys know but there is a new collection of Lavish Hotels and Resorts with the best collection of hotels and resorts in the world. They only list 10 of the best and they are amazing! You guys have to check it out, they are insane!
ReplyDeletehttp://lavishhotelsandresorts.com/