Vitrolles-en-Luberon: Le Lac, Luzerne Ruins and the Eastern Luberon Crete.

le Lac.

This is a pleasant and easy walk, ideal for winter time because its well exposed for sun shine. Drive up to Vitrolles and park in the new large car park at the entry to the Village (take left at the first round-about).

Vitrolles

Walk back down to the entry of the old town where the GR97 passes by. You see the yellow signpost for walkers and you take the direction for Les Pins. Stay on the GR path for about 750 meters (along the road) till you see a new yellow sighpost. Take left here and walk along this marked path first going east, then turning north till you see another signpost at Garbonnel. Here you turn right along the GR97 going east.

Luzerne Ruins

You follow the GR signs for the rest of the morning. When you have walked about 1 hour  from the car, you have the “famous” Lac de Vitrolles” on your right (200 meters). Take a look, it’s a charming place.

You keep following the GR along the forest road for another 1 hour till you see the yellow signpost in a sharp turn. Here you see the GR takes left off the road and onto a good forest path. It takes about another 30 minutes before you meet the road again and here you take sharp left and then almost immediately left again on an old track road leading to the Luzerne Ruins (see map), where it would be nice to have lunch.

After passing the ruins on the track road, follow it further (parallel to the main Crete road) until it joins the main Crete road. This road is yellow marked (in places) and you should follow the main road for about 1hour 45 minutes till you see the yellow signpost on the 681 meter point. Here you turn left and follow for Vitrolles. There are 2 main short cuts along 1 hour 45 minutes on the Crete (see map and GPX-file) that could save you 15 minutes, but you will miss the views and the sun shine on the main road.

Walking down from the 681 meter point, you will cross the main road after 15 minutes and continue down to the yellow signpost at the 539 meter point. Here you turn left and join the GR trail that will take you back to Vitrolles in another 20 minutes or about 45 minutes from the 681 meter point.

Basic information:

Duration:        6h ( including 1h for lunch)

Distance:        17 km.

Ascent:           350 m (accumulated)

Difficulty:         Easy

Start/finish:     Vitrolles-en-Provence

Maps:             IGN TOP25 No. 3243 OT (Pertuis) and No. 3342 OT (Manosque).

GPX:              Vitrolles1    (Link to 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 go to this VisoRando link where you also will see the route on a good map:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/2728601

If you have problems with this VisoRando link, download the GPX-file (Vitrolles1) from above and import it to VisoRando or other application.



TET:
09.02.2020 Anne. Lunch at ruins at 12.05 (very good). 5h+1h lunch. Great for winter and Mistral.