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Very close to the most eastern point of the open ridge of Luberon. |
This walk
will give you a taste of the ridge of Grand Luberon with its views in all
directions. You start at a high altitude (700m) and the trail is fairly gentle
going up, so it would also be one of the easiest ways to get up on the Luberon
Ridge in only about 1 hour.
This would
be a great walk for winter time also, as long as the wind stays moderate. To
get maximum sunshine, however, use the return route also for the onwards walk
up the mountain.
Drive up
past the village of Vitrolles-en-Luberon and continue the D33 till you reach
the highest point on the road (le Crete), called Aire des Mascas, and park
here. The walk starts along a wide trail going west and is marked yellow and GR
(blue & white).
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This is where this 3 hour walk ends. |
The trail
turns slowly north and goes almost parallel to the unsurfaced fire road, both
rising slowly. After about half an hour you almost join the fire road for a
small section and after another 5 minutes you branch off on the GR trail to the
right (just after the 840 meter point). The GR trail will take you gently all
the way to the ridge of Luberon (939 meter point) in another 25 minutes. I
suggest you climb another 15 minutes up the GR trail to the top at the 1038
meter point for fantastic views in all directions.
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This is a bit futher west if you chose to walk longer. |
If you have got a taste for this section of the Luberon, you could extend this walk by simply following the GR trail further along the ridge and turn around later.
This walk
turns around here on the 939 meter point. However, when you have returned back
down on the 939 meter point, follow strait on and take the brisk climb straight
ahead. It takes you further on the ridge, first to the 974 meter point and then
the 967 meter point. From the last point, you need to head south-east down
through some forest to get on the fire road as quickly as possible (5 minutes).
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St. Martin and La Motte in front of Etang de la Bonde |
You follow
around the bend of the fire road (another fire road joins in from the right)
and you get down to the 840 meter point in about 30 minutes from you where you left
the ridge. Following the fire road all the way back to the car will take about
another 35 minutes.
Basic information:
Duration: 3h (excluding lunch)
Distance: 11 km.
Ascent: 400 m
Difficulty: Easy
Start/finish: Vitrolles-en-Luberon (Parking des Mascas,
700m)
Map: IGN 3243 OT (Pertuis Lourmarin)
Great review of an amazing walk. Thank you
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