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.

Col de la Gineste: Les Calanques, Mont Puget, Cap Gros et Col de la Candelle.

Calanque de Sugiton

 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 the top of Mont Puget (563 meters) in less than 1,5 hours. The return trail passes Col de la Candelle and high above Calanque de Sugiton, and never falls much below 300 meters above sea level (the normal Calanque walks stay between sea level and 250 meters). Fantastic views of Marseille City, Luminy and all around the calanques, and the sea is everywhere. But like many walks in the Calanques, it’s not for people that has trouble with vertigo.

The 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.

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 down all the bends to Luminy).

Climbing up towards Mont Puget

Start walking straight south on trail 6, then branch off to the right onto trail 6a (Chemin du Centaure). Make sure you know precisely where you are on the map as you walk along this road (count the bends in the road) because you want a small trail to the left after about 45 minutes walk from the car. There is no markers, only the trail, but the trail should start gently (in the beginning) upwards to the left almost parallel to the road, and further up you see that the mountain side has a “crack” in it, enabling a fairly strait forward climb up to the top (you will need to use your hands a few times).

The climb up takes less than 30 minutes and as soon as you can see the open landscape of the ridge that goes up to Mont Puget, I suggest you take off the trail to the right and simply follow the ridge to the large cairn at the top (only another 10 minutes). (The trail, as you can see from the map, takes a long detour.)

At this point, I have included an extra 30 - 45 minutes trail passed Cap Gros on the GPX-file. This is a fantastic spot, but the trail down here could be a bit difficult for some (See map). This was also done for TET in 2019.

From the top you follow trail 6b down to trail 6 (green) and follow this towards the sea. Just before Col de la Candelle, the GR51 and GR98 come on to our trail from east. At Col de la Candelle (40 minutes down from Mont Puget) you are right behind the big mountain wall of la grande Candelle, which you will see later along the trail. I see now that the map has marked a square here (type of monument), a bit up in the mountain side, but I did not notice till I got back. But I did notice a few people up there when we passed the Col. Take a look!

Calanque de Morgiou and Ile de Riou

Continue along trail 6 westwards (and GR’s). 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 at the same cairn, you see a large unmarked trail taking off to the right, upwards in northern direction. Leave the marked trail here and take this trail upwards (wide enough for a four wheel drive), and you will soon join the 6a trail you were on this morning. The return to the car from the cairn should be about 1 hour.

Basic information:

Duration:        6h (including 1h for lunch and Cap Gros detour)

Distance:       12 km.

Ascent:           500 m (accumulated)

Difficulty:        Moderate plus

Start/finish:    Luminy (Parking at Col de la Gineste)

Map:               IGN Les Calanques de Marseille á Cassis
GPX-file:         Gineste1          (Link to free download)

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-/2791858

If you have problems with this VisoRando link, download the GPX-file (Gineste1) from above and import it to VisoRando or other application.

TET
December 2019, lunch at Cap Gros (12.00) 5h net ex. lunch!