From the Pont de la Salce to the Castle, starting from Sainte-Marie

From Guillestre, take the D902 towards Sainte-Marie. Park in the car park on the left as you leave the village heading towards the resort.

(S/E) The walk begins on the path by the municipal garages. With your back to the car park, take the Chemin de Reculas opposite and follow the Torrent de Chagnon along the right bank. Continue to the next track and the Pont de la Salce. Along the way, you’ll come across numerous RTM (mountain land restoration) dams built to prevent flooding. You’ll arrive at the Pont de la Salce.

(1) Turn left onto the path towards Sainte-Catherine and head north-west until you reach the next set of buildings, which mark the start of the Sainte-Catherine walking routes.

(2) Leave the path leading to the Col de la Scie on your right and carry on straight ahead through the village (yellow and red markings). Keep going straight on until you reach the school, then turn sharply left and then right to leave the village.

(3) On leaving the village, turn right onto the path signposted ‘château’. The markings are now yellow and purple. Continue along this path, which climbs to take you up to the plateau where the ruins are located. Carry on to the next junction.

(4) Pass the path leading to the Val d’Escreins on your right and carry on straight ahead.

(5) Walk to the right of the house to reach the castle site, where there are two panoramic viewpoints.

(6) Return to the house.

(5) Take the path on the right to head back down to Saint-Marcellin. Cross a road, then pass by two reservoirs and continue to the D902.

(7) Cross the road carefully and continue to the left until you reach the edge of the village.

(8) Turn right and follow the sign for “Sainte-Marie via the peatland”. The path joins a road, which you continue to follow until the next junction.

(9) Leave the road leading to Lac de Peyrol on your right and continue along the Torrent de Chagne to Sainte-Marie. Head up Rue du Lièvre Blanc on the left and carry on to the Grand-Rue.

(10) Cross the street, walk past the town hall and, at the end of the street, turn left onto Rue de la Cime de Ville and head for the car park (S/E).

There are several places to get water along this walk: fountains in Sainte-Catherine, in front of the house near the castle, in Saint-Marcellin and Sainte-Marie.

On the castle site, there are remains of a watchtower which could have sounded the alarm to defend this crossroads between the Durance, Ubaye and Queyras.
In each village, there is a Queyras-style cross and sundials.