Country:
City:
The standard starting point is the car park on the Route de la Gineste (D559), opposite the Carpiagne military camp.
(S/E) As vehicles are no longer permitted on the Col de la Gardiole, take this road straight south until the first bend.
(1) There, follow the sign for ‘Col de la Gardiole’ to the left, then immediately turn right and walk through the heath for a few hundred metres before beginning a very stony and difficult descent that will take you back to the tarmac road. Continue 150 metres southwards and you’ll come to the start of an ascending path marked with a double cross.
(2) Take this path as it saves time on the climb up to the Col de la Gardiole. Continue straight on, crossing the road twice, to reach the Col de la Gardiole.
(3) At the pass and the old Gardiole car park, we head south-west onto the track leading to the forest warden’s house and the Calanque d’En-Vau. We follow this track downhill for about 3.5 km until we reach a three-way junction.
(4) At this point, just before the 71-metre mark, turn right, heading due west, onto an ascending path which will take you to the Col de l’Oule (174-metre mark).
(5) Head due west along a path descending to the right, which takes us towards the Vallon de l’Oule.
(6) After 500 m, don’t miss a small, steep path on the right which takes you to a short flat section at around 230 m.
(7) Turn right, heading due north, to begin a descent and rejoin the Vallon de l’Oule; then it’s an ascent towards the Col de la Fenêtre. There’s only one path, so you can’t go wrong.
(8) At this pass, take a clearly visible path opposite, heading downwards towards the north-west.
The real difficulties begin. Above all, do not miss a path on the right that is not very visible, 100 metres after the pass.
Be careful: it’s a scree slope, not very long, and at the bottom you turn left for about a hundred metres to begin a steep climb on the right, which takes you to a fork at around 250 m.
(9) Turn right and descend into the Vallon des Rampes. Then climb up to the left, still heading north, until you reach a clearly visible cairn on the right ( see photo).
(10) At this cairn, we turn around 180° and tackle another gruelling climb, keeping straight on, ignoring a path on the left which would take us round a large rock and lead us for about 700 metres to an altitude of around 270 metres.
(11) Another steep climb to the left, due north, followed by a long but gentler ascent that will take you back towards the Crêtes de l’Estret track at around 300 m.
(12) Turn left and follow the path uphill until you come to the track that will take you back to the Col de la Gardiole on the right.
(3) From there, simply turn left and follow the path in the opposite direction, which will take you back to the car park on the Route de la Gineste (S/E).
Visorando Member
Difficult 
Very difficult 
