Grotte des Infernets and Glacière des Encanaux

The starting point is the “Les Artauds” stop on line 8/9 of the Pays d’Aubagne et de l’Étoile free transport network.
For those arriving by car, several car parks are available nearby (one on the other side of the D560, another at the north exit of the roundabout).

(S/E) Head west to the roundabout and take the D45a towards Plan d’Aups. Follow it to the recycling centre.

(1) Immediately after, and before the pumping station, turn left, following the light blue markings.
Further on, take the tarmac road on the right, leaving the Chemin de la Ventrade on your right and the Traverse des Chênes on your left. At the fork, turn right onto the Chemin des Lagets and, at the pass, continue to the right. At the fork with a postbox marked 1809, keep to the right and head for a crossroads at elevation 360.

(2) Turn sharply right and go through the gate where the SB200 marker is, then take the track that descends to the right. Further on, follow the path leading down to the right, marked in blue. At the crossroads, take the path on the left. This is a pleasant walk with the Vède Valley on your right. You’ll reach a crossroads by a water tank at an elevation of 296 metres.

(3) Cross the concrete track and continue straight ahead, staying on the track to the right, marked in blue. At the fork, turn right towards Pont des Encanaux, taking the goat track downhill.
Further on, you’ll see the picnic tables on the right, then reach the Pont des Encanaux.

(4) Cross the bridge and follow the track for about a hundred metres. Turn sharply left onto a path leading off towards Pic de Bertagne. Climb up the dry riverbed, following the yellow markings.
When crossing the stream, a Yellow Cross indicates that you must not go back up the stream bed; continue instead to the left, following the yellow markings until you reach a fork.

(5) Turn right onto a path marked with a Yellow Cross and you will reach the Grotte des Infernets on your left.

(6) A little further on, follow a path on the left leading to a large cairn. Behind it, take the small path on the right and ignore the one heading left. Then, at the next junction, take the path descending to the right. Further on, at the crossroads, take the path leading down to the left, marked with pale blue signs. A little further on, you’ll reach the Glacière des Encanaux on the left.

(7) Continue the descent until you reach a small dirt-track clearing.

(8) Turn right towards Pont des Encanaux; there is a SB101 marker at the start of the path.
At the fork, keep right and head for the bridge you crossed on the way there.

(4) Cross it again and turn left onto the path in the opposite direction to the outward journey, towards Auriol via the Pont de la Vède, blue markings. Return to the first crossroads and the cistern you passed on the outward journey.

(3) Leave the route you have already taken and continue left along the concrete path, passing through the gate.
At the junction with the Chemin de l’Horloge, near houses nos. 128 and 132, turn left, following the blue, yellow and red/yellow markings, then emerge at a road junction near a bridge at the end of the Chemin des Estiennes, with the Maison du Légionnaire on your left.

(9) Cross the D45a and take the Chemin du Petit Pont opposite. Cross a small bridge and, when you reach a road, continue straight on to the crossroads with a wayside shrine.

(10) Turn right onto Chemin de la Magdeleine. 400 m further on, at no. 453, turn onto the dirt track on the left and follow an old pond on the right. Pass in front of a farm and join the D560. The Les Artauds bus stop is on the left (S/E).

Accessible via the free transport network of the Pays d'Aubagne et de l'Étoile.
No drinking water along the route.
Picnic tables along the route.

(6) Grotte des Infernets.
(7) Glacière des Encanaux. Ice houses are thick-walled towers buried deep underground that were used to store ice during the winter and distribute it during the warmer months.