Circular walk between Laragne-Montéglin and Arzeliers

Date of your route : Sep 09, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Very busy route : No

Far too many long stretches of tarmac in full sun. The only interesting part was the castle ruins.

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Date of your route : Jun 16, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

To avoid the section starting from Laragne, we set off from Eyguians, parking near the cemetery. The climb up a forest track alongside a torrent is lovely and offers some fine views. This took us past the ruins of old Eyguians, where there are also information boards, and onto the Botanical Trail. We joined the walk at point 2. Overall, we really enjoyed the variety of terrain and the ruins of old Arzeliers. Please note that in hot weather, there’s a stretch with very little shade between points 4 and 6 – and even further on if you’re heading back to Laragne.

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Date of your route : Jul 24, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Walk completed at the end of July
Well shaded for two-thirds of the route
Below is a video of my hike (with some sections filmed by a drone)

https://youtu.be/mH-ZUysaSao

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Date of your route : Aug 09, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

A very (too) long stretch of road at the start. To find La Casse, you need to have passed the addiction treatment centre on the right. There’s no pavement after Laragne (though there aren’t many cars) and no shade. The problem arises once you’ve passed stage 1. The path is poorly maintained, full of brambles, and, above all, when you reach the first field opposite, you honestly have no idea which way to go. With no further signposts, we assumed we had to go through the field. I admit I didn’t follow the instruction to ‘head in a general north-westerly direction’, but it’s still rather vague. It might be a good idea to add a few landmarks (leave the path on the left and follow the field on your left, or something along those lines). According to the map, the path should have been obvious, as stage 2 is marked much further on, but in the absence of proper signposting and clearer instructions, well, it seems we got lost. Rather than following the field – which, in any case, didn’t look like a path – we had to take the path marked with black dotted lines, actually crossing the white road, but further upstream, or perhaps another one that doesn’t seem to be marked, then we crossed it, as there was a road opposite that doesn’t appear to be marked on the map either; we hesitated, we retraced our steps, came back, passed a pond on our left (not marked either) and found a path. The problem was that this path, which was narrower, soon proved to be… tricky and even dangerous (slippery and steep). We eventually came across a stream and followed it (it must have been at the Ravin d’Oriane, or perhaps towards the Combe torrent), via the path, all the way to the D1075. In short, a bad experience. Yet the walk looked like it would have been nice further on – a shame. So I’ve only noted down what we actually managed to experience of the hike, of course. At least we saw a very unafraid doe and caught a glimpse of her fawn from a distance...

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Date of your route : Nov 25, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

a gentle walk that everyone can join in with

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