Park in the village of La Roquebrussanne. The hike can easily be done in the opposite direction to the description or by reversing the figure-of-eight shape it describes. The route described below allows you to cross the section by the ruined building and Source des Orris on the way up. As this section requires using your hands, it is also easier to find when approached this way.
(S/E) From Avenue du Portail, take the Chemin des Baumes.
Pass the Jardin d'Élie Alexis. The tarmac road becomes a track. Look out for a red cap nailed to a tree on the left-hand bend. This tree is about 750 m from Avenue du Portail.
From this point, take the path on the left that climbs uphill, pass a beautiful terraced field and then, at the barrier (a rope) marked ‘private property’, turn left. The path becomes a trail (marked by cairns). From there, you can see the chapel and the watchtower, which we will pass by.
(1) Leave the path and take another one on the left which, after a few steps, climbs up to a terraced plot and enters the undergrowth. Follow the arrows and pink dots leading to the chapel.
The climb across the terraces becomes steeper. Pass a small ruined hut on the left, ignore a path on the left, then reach the chapel.
Caution! The section between the chapel and the watchtower (ruins) has been roughly mapped out for about 200 m, as this path is not shown on maps. The route is fairly visible: follow the cairns and study the terrain carefully.
Go round the Chapelle Saint-André on the north side along an unmarked path. The path climbs steeply then levels out towards the north-west. Pass a small platform surrounded by monolithic rocks and turn right onto a path which, after a few metres, climbs up to the remains of the watchtower.
Return to the previous path and turn right. The path first descends and then levels out through the undergrowth. At the junction with another path, turn left (to the right, the other path comes from the chapel; it is visible on OSM). Then, follow the base of a rocky outcrop on the north side. Be careful as the path is sometimes barely visible: the app and the cairns are a great help. When you reach the junction with a path coming from the right, cross the wooden footbridge and continue north-east, then join the tarmac road.
(2) Follow the tarmac road for 300 m towards Pas Gravet. Before the bend, look out for the path on the right marked by a cairn.
Option: before taking the path, you can continue along the road for a few hundred metres (there and back) to view a remarkable group of rocks, then return to the start of the path.
(3) Take the path that descends to the right. At the start, it offers a beautiful view before heading into the undergrowth via a short slab where you’ll need to hold on with your hands.
200 m after leaving the road, pass in front of the ‘Grotte aux 400 Moutons’ (Cave of the 400 Sheep), the entrance to which is on the left between two rocks.
Pass some other small caves and a path coming from the right, then continue southwards for a while.
300 m after the cave, pass at the foot of a remarkable dolomite rock visible from the road: “the rock with its finger pointing skywards”.
Stay on the path furthest to the left, which enters the undergrowth and becomes hard to follow where it levels out as it reaches Les Orris: see practical information. Cross a wet area, climb up a terraced slope from which you can see a ruin on the left, built against the cliff: Les Orris.
(4) Climb up to the ruin, head south, pass the spring and look for a path that climbs north-east, becoming very steep and requiring you to use your hands for about twenty metres. Follow the red markings to the left as you climb. Green markings lead to the right onto a promontory. Once past this section, the path passes through an arch, levels out again and joins another path marked with yellow dots. Several paths lead to a Y-junction. The path to follow is marked with yellow markings.
Alternative route to avoid the vertical section: from the ruins, take the path descending southwards. At the track, turn left onto it. Proceed to the Pas de la Nible, then turn left to reach a Y-junction to the north to rejoin the route.
(5) Head north, ignoring the various paths coming from the left and those descending to the right. Reach a Y-junction.
(6) Take the path on the right. The one on the left is the return route. Pass a meadow and a few paths on the right. Exit the undergrowth then climb gently northwards to a large crossroads (Alt.: 574 m).
(7) Pass the ruins of Jas d'Émilien, leave the path on the right and take the path on the left marked in blue. You will reach an open crossroads at the 574m mark.
(8) Take the path on the left, which heads westwards up a steep slope. About 500 m further on, take the path on the left, marked in blue. Join the tarmac road, turn right and head towards the transmission relay station.
Head to the viewpoint by following a concrete, very steep path alongside the first building of the relay station. There, a wide and beautiful view opens up before you.
(9) Head back along the tarmac road and, at the first bend marked by a large antenna, take the track on the right which ends at the summit of La Loube (Alt.: 830 m). Then take the fluorescent pink path which leads, after 50–60 m, to the fire lookout.
(10) From the lookout, return to the track and look out for cairns on the right marking the path through the undergrowth. Follow the description below rather than the OSM track, which diverges from the terrain. Head along this path towards the south-west. A large pine tree hides a crevice in the rock, which you enter. At the exit of the crevice, turn left, follow the cairns; the descent becomes steeper.
On the left, on a rock marked by a stone placed at eye level, turn left and cross a second, barely visible crevice, then follow the cairns and emerge from the woodland.
Pass at the foot of a dolomite outcrop, go past a path branching off to the right to reach a post by the roadside.
From this post, take the fairly wide path on the right (Blue), which leads into the undergrowth, then leave it for a barely visible path on the left, at the foot of a rock. Its start is marked by two cairns. This path veers around the rock and then climbs. As it is not very well marked, this path can be followed by estimation. It joins the tarmac road, which you follow to the right for about fifty metres until you reach a path on the left.
(11) Take this path on the left, which descends south-east. Towards the end, pass a ruin and reach the fork you passed on the way out.
(6) Turn right then continue roughly southwards until you reach the other fork you also passed on the way there.
(5) Take the path on the left (yellow) which becomes a track and leads to the Pas de la Nible at a three-way junction.
(12) Take the track on the left and continue to a Y-junction, then leave the track and look for a path on the left that descends south-west through the woodland.
(13) Take the path which, at the start, runs alongside the fence of a reservoir, enters the woodland amidst rocks covered in ivy and moss, and then leads to the Notre-Dame d’Inspiration Chapel.
(14) Walk to its amphitheatre, then take the path that descends through the woods and joins the tarmac road known as the “Chemin de la Chapelle Notre-Dame”.
Take this road straight ahead, heading east at first, then leave it to take Rue Saint-Antoine, then Rue Georges Clemenceau on the right and finally, continuing on, Avenue du Portail (S/E).
