Les Goudes (Marseille): Sommet de Marseilleveyre (433m), Grotte de Saint-Michel, Col de la Selle, Col de la Galinette and Calanque de Marseilleveyre.

Les Goudes

This is a fantastic mountain walk only some 7 km from the centre of Marseille. Best for winter and out of the hot season (little shade), but to be avoided in high winds and in wet weather. The view as just superb all the way and the 360 degrees views from the top of Marseilleveyre is magnificent. As a bonus you pass the massive Cave de Saint-Michel on the way up. Well worth a visit (15 minutes extra). From early May till almost Christmas time you could also take a refreshing swim at the beach at Calanque de Marseilleveyre on the way back (30 minutes extra for the swim). You could also visit the tiny Port des Croisette and Cap Croisette on the way back to les Goudes (extra 20 minutes all the way out).

Attention: This area is often closed to the public from 1st June till 30th September because of the risk of forest fires. But call 0811 201313 for exact information.

On the way up to Sommet de Marseilleveyre.

You park anywhere near Port des Goudes (no problems out of season) and start the walk up Chemin de la Batterie. This is the Red trail No 1 on the map (marked red in the terrain) and after only 15 minutes you join the GR51-98 trail for a short while further uphill. After only some 5 minutes, the Red No 1 trail leaves the GR trail off to the left (well marked on stone). Some 25 minutes later and much higher up, the red trail joins a yellow marked trail. You want to stay on the yellow trail No 3 (takes off shortly to the right) in order to see the Cave Saint-Michel (5-6 minute’s walk – one way) and you see the massive entrance from far away. It’s a massive big Cave worth visiting for a look (lamp recommended).

You might have noticed that Green trail No. 1 joined your yellow walk on the small hill top before you reached the Cave. To continue the walk you want the joint yellow/green trail back to the hill top, where you want to take off to the right along the Green No 1 trail heading north here. You follow the green trail for about 10 minutes till it joins the red trail, which is the route you want for the top of Mount Marseilleveyre, where you will be in another 40 minutes. This is the main viewpoint and it is quite a large area up there, so easy to find a place for lunch.

Grotte Saint Michel

The way down from the top on the Red 1 path is quite steep and as usual in these parts full of rolling stones. Keep a sturdy foot! The steep path you start on downhill is the joint red, yellow and blue trails. After about 15 minutes downhill, you want to branch out to the right and follow the Blue No 1 trail direct to Col de la Selle, where you will be in about 20 minutes.

It should be noted, however, that if you want to avoid this somewhat airy part of the blue trail, you could stay on the red trail all the way down and at the “bottom” take right onto a yellow trail for the climb back up to Col de la Selle. It is slightly longer, but takes about the same time and is easier walking. The only thing you will miss is keeping the hight (you walk down and up again) and the lovely views along the mountain ridge.

Sommet de Marseilleveyre

At Col de la Selle the walk turns south for the sea, and you will follow Yellow path No 2 (starts off south-west from the Col). Follow this path for about 40 minutes till you see a massive great boulder only a few meters from you on your left just before the hill top marked 149 meters. The trail is marked yellow 2b on old maps, but is no longer marked in the terrain. The path is shown on most free landscape maps, so you find the position with a GPS. Just behind this boulder you will see the path going down steeply, and you follow the steep path down till it joins the green trail No 3 going down the valley below in about 20 minutes. Now you turn right down the green path and you will be on the beach of Calanque de Marseilleveyre in about 5-6 minutes.

Here it should be noted that you could easily avoid the unmarked and steep path down from just before Col de la Galinette (at the big boulder) by taking off from the yellow trail after only some 15 minutes walk from leaving Col de la Selle. Here the Green trail No 3 takes off down into the valley and you will be on the beach in about 30 minutes (20 minutes quicker than on the longer but more scienic route along the yellow trail).

The beach at Calanque de Marseilleveyre

The beach at Calanque de Marseilleveyre is the biggest in these parts and well suited for a swim. The local café serves just coffees or full hot meals (no electricity out here, but nice basic food). The restaurant is not open every day all year around as in the old days, but you could consult their Facebook page for more information: Search for “restaurant chez le belge”.

La Grotte at Callelongue looks like any odd Cafe/Restaurant from the outside.

The main path along the sea (GR51 and Black path 2) will take you to Callelongue in about 45 minutes and the way proposed for getting back to the car will take you another 30 minutes. There is a very nice Café/Restaurant in Callelongue and in les Goudes you will also find places open. Could be well worth delaying the departure home till after rush hours! It’s worth noticing, however, that the drive back to Pertuis only took us 1 hour 10 minutes starting at 17.00 at les Goudes on a Monday in January (using the toll tunnel directly from le PRADO).

Calanque de Callelongue

For the shortest way back to the car (about 30 minutes), you walk out of Callelongue along the main road uphill all the way to the top. You turn left into the parking area here and follow first the highest path for the hill just in front of you. Well before you reach the top, however, get down on the wide path/track road going along the northern side of the hill. Follow this path passed the hill top (great views of the local harbour and Marseille all the way) and where it seems to stop, you walk up a little to join the path going down on the ridge itself in a northern direction.

Les Goudes.

Head for the monument on top of the next hill, but before you get this far you see a narrow path cut out in the rocks taking off to the right. This path takes you directly to the village les Goudes. The path takes you first down to another surfaced path which you take to the right. Very soon you see some stairs going further down directly to the harbour (with a signpost). Take down the stairs and you are soon on the main road going into les Goudes. Follow the main road into les Goude and around back to the car.

Basic information:

Duration:      6h (including 1h for lunch)

Distance:      11 km.

Ascent:         620 m (accumulated)

Difficulty:     Difficult

Start/finish:   Les Goudes or Callelongue (Marseille)

Map:              IGN Les Calanques de Marseille á Cassis (1cm=150 m)

GPX:           Goudes1   (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:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/3072520

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.

TET:
2019, December, Jacky made a slightly longer walk, but without the coast.

Col de Sormiou: Calanque de Marseilleveyre par le Plateau de l’Homme Mort and Col de la Selle.

This part of the coastline is one of the best for combining hiking and swimming, and don’t be surprise to find the temperature in the Mediterranean still at 18 degrees well into November. Here you will find perhaps the largest and best beach in the Calanques: Calanque de Marseilleveyre. Here you could also have a drink or coffees at the  Bar/Restaurant (no road or electricity out here, so deliveries by small boats).

We often leave Pertuis at 9h30 to avoide traffic, arriving at Marseille Vieux Port tunnel at about 10h15. Follow for Pharo – Les Plages and drive along the Corniche de Marseille for 10-20 minutes (depending on traffic) to the round-about at Plage Bonneveine. Take left here and keep following for Mazargues and Sormiou. You should be at Sormiou in another 5-6 minutes after the round-about.

Calanque de Podestat

You will pass la Crayolle with its large shopping area (incl. Decatlon) and the road may stop at a barrier at the parking marked on the map by the large sewage complex marked “St. epur” on the map. In winter/spring (November to March) the road is open for traffic, so simply drive on to the highest point on the road (Col de Sormiou) and park here. In the summer/autumn you must call the day before (after 18.00) to check if the Calanques are not closed for walking (see Safety and Practicalities under Pages in this Blog) and walk from the parking up to the col (only  about 15 minutes).

From spring 2018, the road up to Col de Sormiou is closed for ordinary traffic from 31 March to 4 November! This means that you park the car below the Col (just before the barrier) and walk the 15 minutes up to the Col. So you need to add 30 minutes to the duration of the walk.

You start walking westwards on joint GR51&98 and Black path. You quickly arrive at  Col de Cortiou (8-10 minutes) and here you take right on the blue path going still further upwards. Fantastic views of the Calanques, the Sea and Marseille. A very steep 15 meters rock wall must be climbed with the help of the hands, but no problem for an experienced mountain walker.

Calanque de Marseilleveyre

After about 50 minutes from the car, a green path crosses your path. You just continue straight on, but this green path to the left could be an interesting short cut over to Grand Malvallon valley and finally down to the sea (see your map). After about 1h from the car, a yellow path will join your blue path and after another 25 minutes you are at Col de la Selle, where you take left on the green path and start the descent into the Grand Malvallon valley. It takes about 45 minutes to reach the beach, so if you can’t wait that long for your lunch, you better take it up here as there isn’t a lot of nice places to lunch before the beach.

Calanque de Podestat

Calanque de Marseilleveyr is probably the biggest and best beach between Callelongue (Marseille) and Cassis and it has an old charming beach restaurant. It used to be open 363 days a year, but now you need to check their Facebook page for opening ours (winter time 12.00 – 14.30), but some days closed.

Follow the sea side back towards Col de Sormiou along the GR51 and GR98 (also marked black). After 25 minutes, take off the GR path and down into the Calanque de Podestat, also a charming place and good for swimming. When you exit this place, make sure you don’t take the first path you see. You should in fact take the last path you see on your right (going inwards in the valley), marked with “Cassis” on a stone. This is a very good path and you will have no problems here.

The GR path will start rising but you go through a fantastic mountainous landscape here along the coast. You shold be back up on Col de Conrtiou in about an hour and back down at the car on Col de Sormiou in 5-10 minutes.

Basic information:

Duration:         5,5h ( Group of 10, including 1h for lunch)

Distance:        10 km.

Ascent:           550 m (accumulated)

Difficulty:        Medium to Difficult (Climb 15m cliff and steep descents)

Start/finish:     Col de Sormiou (Marseille – Mazargues – la Cayolle)

Map:               IGN Les Calanques de Marseille á Cassis (1cm=150 m)

GPX:              Col_Sormiou1   (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:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/2724533

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 (Vitrolles1) from above and import it to VisoRando or other application.



TET:
28.02.2020: Bjorn, 10.00 - 15.45 (2,5h + 2,0h).

Col de Sormiou (Marseille): Les Calanques, Calanque de Podestat and Marseilleveyre.

All the coastline from Marseille to la Ciotat

This was the last bit of accessible coastline we still had not covered between Marseille (Callelongue) and Cassis and it was a very nice surprise: Perhaps some of the best and varied coastline we had seen along here and the possibilities for swimming were very good. It started off very rough and with steep cliffs from Col de Sormiou (like most of the Calanques) and after only about 1,5 hours walk westwards the green and “open” Calanque de Podestat appeared very inviting for a swim even if it was November. The gravel beach here was very good, and only 10 minutes further west you could descend to the very small secluded beach in the Calanque des Queyrons or walk another 10 minutes to perhaps the largest and best beach in the Calanques: Calanque de Marseilleveyre. Here you could also have a drink or coffees at the  Bar/Restaurant open 365 days a year (no road or electricity out here, so deliveries by small boats).

The difficulty by passing the cliffs at Calanque de l’Escu by means of 2 sets of cable supports could be tricky and dangerous for some, but could easily be avoided by using the GR51/Black path for going both ways. For an alternative route all the way to Calanque de Marseilleveyre, use the inland route described at the end of this posting. Then you can take the fantastic coastal GR51 path back again.

Start by driving to Mazargues, on the southern fringes of Marseille City. We normally come in from the east (from Cassis) along the main D559 Cassis - Marseille road because of the traffic in Marseille. After the Luminy roundabout, it is only about another 10-15 minutes to the tall column in the middle of the large roundabout at Mazargues. Here you take left, and follow signs all the way for Sormiou. You will pass la Crayolle with its large shopping area (incl. Decatlon) and the road may stop at a barrier at the parking marked on the map by the large sewage complex marked “St. epur” on the map. In winter/spring (October – May) the road is open for traffic, so simply drive on to the highest point on the road (Col de Sormiou) and park here. In the summer/autumn you must first call the day before (after 18.00) to check if the Calanques are not closed for walking (see Safety and Practicalities under Pages in this Blog) and walk from the parking up to the col (only  about 15 minutes).

Start of 2nd Cable support (horizontal)

From spring 2018, the road up to Col de Sormiou is closed for ordinary traffic from 31 March to 4 November! This means that you park the car below the Col (just before the barrier) and walk the 15 minutes up to the Col. So you need to add 30 minutes to the duration of the walks.

You start walking westwards on joint GR51&98 and Black path. You pass quickly Col de Cortiou (8-10 minutes) and after only another 5 minutes, look out for the Green path taking off down on your left. The Green path takes you down towards the sea with spectacular views in all directions. About 1 hour from Col de Sormiou, you get to the point where a dotted green path takes off to the left and could take you down to the sea at Calanque de l’Escu. Nice place to lunch (do not swim here – dangerous currents), but this path is a dead end. However, if you fancy to look at Escu, it takes 10 minutes down and 10 minutes up again.

At the same place as the dotted green descends to Escu, the Green path continues upwards with the first cable supports (only a few meters of cable). Continue the well-marked green path and you will come to the point where you need to pass by the cliffs of Escu with the help of perhaps 7-8 meters of continuous cable. Afterwards walk the green path until it joins up with the Black path (and GR’s) and around the corner you will see Calanque de Podestat.

Calanque de Podestat

Make sure you find the dotted black path on your left that descends to the water at Podestat, were you will be in about 1h 30 minutes from Col de Sormiou. Very nice pebble beach and there are also nice places to sit along the rocks going out of Podestat on the other side. Here the flat rocks down by the see seem to go on forever, and after only another 10 min. walk from Podestat, back up on the Black path, you see small paths descending down through some wood, that could take you down to the Calanque des Queyrons, were there is another beach.

Calanque de Marseilleveyre

We propose you take lunch at Podestat or Queyrons and walk the extra 10-20 minutes to Calanque de Marseilleveyre, where you could take coffees at the Bar/Restaurant or simply a swim at perhaps the largest beach of all the Calanques.

The return walk from Marseilleveyre to Col de Sormiou along the Black path (GR’s) will take you about 1,5 hours. The walk back is fantastic; the path varies a lot and magnefic scenery in all directions.

Basic information:

Duration:         5h ( including 1h for lunch and swimming)

Distance:        10 km.

Ascent:           560 m (accumulated)

Difficulty:        Difficult (Passing steep cliffs with cable support, but alternative path.)

Start/finish:     Col de Sormiou (Marseille – Mazargues – la Cayolle)

Map:               IGN Les Calanques de Marseille á Cassis (1cm=150 m)

GPX-file:        Col-Sormiou2   (linkto 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:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/3132649

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.

Cassis (Stele): Les Calanques, Col Gardiol, Falaise du Devenson, Calanques des l'Oule et l'Eissadon.

Falaises du Devenson

 This is yet another fantastic walk in the Calanques designed for winter time; i.e. no swimming because you don’t easily get down to the sea (unless you count on an extra 3 km. return, going down to Calanques d’en Vau). You start at the big parking at Col de la Gardiole and head straight for the sea at Calanques de l’Oule and Eissadon. You continue along the sea on Falaises du Devenson to Col du Devenson and here you join the GR51 for the route back to the car.

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.

Follow the red 7 trail (also marked green) down to a large intersection just after passing the Maison Forestiere (15 min). Continue the red trail to the right, but after only some 5 minutes (large cairn on your left), I propose you take this unmarked track to the left. (Alternatively, and for those who do not fancy a steep slope with lots of loose stones for 5 minutes, just continue the main red 7 trail down to where it meets up with the GR51 at the 70 meters point.)

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)

GPX-file:       Cassis2 (link to free download fromlist)

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:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/3134212

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.

Col de la Gineste: Les Calanques, Cap Gros, Falaises du Devenson and Mont Puget.

Just below Cap Gros

This is a type of high trail in the Calanques. You start at Col de la Gineste (326 meters) and you will find yourself on Cap Gros (500 meters) in a good hour. From here, you descend to Col des Charbonniers (278 meters) and follow the Falaises de Stevenson along the coast. The return trail dips down into Vallon des Charbonniers (200 meters) before you start the return to Cap Gros. Fantastic views of Marseille City, Luminy, Cassis and all around the calanques, and the sea is everywhere. This walk is exelent for winter times, but the total time including lunch break etc. will be around 6 hours, so make sure you start early enough (latest 10 am in December) to have good daylight for the return walk.

Park the car at the car park at Col de la Gineste on the D559 road going from Cassis to Marseille (just before the road starts descending all the bends to Luminy).

View of Cassis and Cap Camaille

Start walking straight south on trail 6 (marked red), and you will be on Col Richard in less than half an hour. Continue the red markers southeast and at Puits du Cancel (35 minutes) a green and a blue trail starts off paralelle to the red 6 trail. Follow upwards to the 501 meter point (1 hour), where the red trails joins a yellow trail for a short distance. Stay on the red trail and you find youself on Cap Gros in about 15 minutes. Here are fantastic views in all directions; Cassis with Cap Canaille, the sea is everywhere and just in front of you la Grande Candelle.

la Grande Candelle from the side

From Cap Gros, you descend steeply down to join the GR51 and GR98, and here the red trail joins the GR-trail to descend further down to Col des Charbonniers (278 meters), followed by a short climb up to the start of Falaises du Stevenson. I suggest you take lunch somewhere along the coast here, for example near the 320 meter mark (about 2 hours from the car).

You could continue on the Falaises du Devenson on the green 8 trail, but since this is primarily a winter walk for me, that could easily be too long for the daylight. I therefore suggest you continue on the red trail (also GR51 and GR98) and cross the Vallon des Charrbonniers (lowest point on hike: about 200 meters) and find the handy short cut across to the blue 3 trail at the 237 meter point (30 minutes from lunch). The blue trail will bring you gently all the way back up again to Cap Gros (1 hour 20 minutes from lunch).

From Cap Gros, you take the same route as you came, and you will be back at the car in about 1 hour 15 minutes. An alternative route back could be over Mont Puget (563 meters). This will avoid some up and downs, but it’s a slightly longer route and will take some 15 minutes longer. For the entusiasts, this is a very nice route, avoiding the deep shady areas of the main route. It requires good knowledge of map reading, however, because it could be difficult to find the small path down from Mont Puget through the steep Falaises de Luminy and onto the Chemin du Centaure (trail 6a) which takes you back to Col Richard.

Basic information:

Duration:       6h (including 1h lunch break)

Distance:      13 km.

Ascent:          685 m (accumulated)

Difficulty:       Moderate, but heavy going with 700 meters ascent.

Start/finish:    Marseille/Luminy (Parking at Col de la Gineste on the D559 road)

Map:               IGN Les Calanques de Marseille á Cassis (1cm=150 m)

GPX-file:       Gineste2 (link to free download fromlist)

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:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/3134421

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.

Luminy (Marseille): Les Calanques, Autour de la Grande Candelle.

Calanque de Sugiton

This walk combines a low altitude trail along the sea (between 10 and 100 meters above sea level) with a high altitude trail for the return trip (around 300 meters), and with stunning views all along, especially of the Calanque de Sugiton. The only snag is that the trail combining the two trails have a rather difficult passage with a number of chains and iron fixings for your support. In any case, this is not a walk for anyone with vertigo problems. You should also be aware of the fact that the low altitude trail (red 6 trail) passed la Grande Candelle has a risk of falling rocks from above.

In addition, this area is normally closed to the public from 1st July till 15th September (except for morning walks till 11 am) because of the risk of forest fires. But call 0811 201313 for exact information.

The walk starts off on the low altitude trail going east from Luminy with good contact with the sea. If the difficult passage proves too difficult, it is only to turn around and enjoy some of the small trails down towards the sea (you could get all the way down in places, especially around ”le Tonneau”). It would still be a very nice walk. You could also visit Calanque de Sugiton for a swim on the way back.

Below Grande Candelle

Park the car in the large car park outside the University of Liminy and take the main forest road going straight south (yellow 6a on the map). After about 20-25 minutes walk you are at a big junction with a Citerne (water reservoir) at the 215 meter point. Here you take slightly to the left, following the trail marked GR, yellow and green 6. After another 20 minutes, the red 6 trail joins the forest road and after only another 50 meters, you take right along the continuation of this red 6 trail going east along the ”Falaise des Toits”.

On the 139 meter point, after only another 10 minutes walk (about 50 minutes from the car) you have a very nice view point down on your right with a few shady pine trees (marked on the map with a black spot). If your walk started late in the morning, this would be an ideal spot for lunch. The alternatives for lunch are after another 15 minutes (a smaller view point) or after 30 minutes (the point where the trail turns north, just before the difficult passage).

When you pass just above the large rock in the sea called ”le Tonneau”, you will notice small trails going down towards the sea. This could also be worth exploring  with lunch in mind. On this side of ”le Tonneau”, there is another big rock in the sea nearer land that seems to be popular among some to jump onto.

After the last ”beach” (about 1.5 hours from the car excluding breaks, the path goes steeply uphill and turns north in order to join the GR trail back to Luminy. After only 10 minutes you meet the difficult passage (marked with a red triangle on the map). But with good help of a number of different chains and metal fixings in the steep mountain side, I had no problems getting up (or down), but I see that many people have problems, so I have classified this walk as difficult for this reason.

Because of the the steep climb from almost 0 meters to about 350 meters where you meet the GR trail, you need to recon on a good 30 minutes before you see the GR signs. You could explore one of the short cuts indicated on the map (I have not tried them), but you will eventually be on Col de la Candelle, just behind la Grande Candella.

Continue along the GR trail (and yellow and green 6) westwards. You are high up with fantastic views, so take your time. When you are about straight above “le Torpilleur” in Calanque de Sugiton, the trail turns sharply downwards, and it descends fairly steeply about 60 meters. When the trail levels off again, you will very soon see a large cairn and a sign for a different walk down to the left (back eastwards). But you continue the yellow 6 and 6a all the way back to Luminy.

Basic information:

Duration:        6h (including 1.5h for lunch)

Distance:       11 km.

Ascent:          560 m (accumulated)

Difficulty:        Difficult

Start/finish:    Luminy (Parking at the University)

Map:              IGN Les Calanques de Marseille á Cassis (1cm=150 m)

GPX-file:       Luminy3 (link to free download fromlist)

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:

https://www.visorando.com/randonnee-/3136042

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.