La Citerne et retour par le Saint-Esprit

Thank you for the various reports indicating that vegetation has reclaimed the area and that the path has become completely overgrown. I have just amended the route accordingly to avoid this section between (4) and (7).

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It’s a lovely walk to set off on in the morning to beat the heat, although the climb is fairly shaded. The view from La Citerne is magnificent, and we had a lovely picnic there in the shade of the oak trees.
As for the drama of the 5-6 shortcut, one brave soul in our group gave it a go and managed to get through: the path is unclear and it’s easy to get lost there. I therefore recommend continuing along the natural path beyond point 5 and then taking the path on the right, which leads straight to the cistern without any trouble. It’s worth noting that this path on the right isn’t at point B as indicated on the IGN map, but well before it at point A, which is clearly visible in the screenshot I took. I’ll try to add it to this post if I can figure out how to attach a document...

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Date of your route : Nov 14, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

We had no problems at point 9.
However, taking the shortcut from 5 to 6 is only for masochists (our trio must have been!) or lumberjacks. I don’t really understand the point of publishing the route.
It’s a shame, because the rest of the hike is really lovely.

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I’m the one who created this hike. I did it this year. I can confirm it wasn’t easy. That’s an understatement!
But I was absolutely determined to go that way. I spent a lot of time there (the grandeur of the pointless). Without a GPS, it would have been impossible for me. Indeed, the standard route is to follow the small path after point 5. At the hut, you can either head straight down towards Vaugines (a bit tedious) or, as you say, carry on and climb up towards the cistern. You have to admit it’s tempting to look for a shortcut. I should have kept this to myself

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Date of your route : Nov 22, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

The walk is magnificent, with spectacular scenery, picturesque woodland and even a broom forest at the start. The guide isn’t very clear, as the waypoints are described only as junctions or crossroads; for example, at waypoint 2, it would be clearer to say that you need to turn right to take the track that starts to go downhill.
But above all, there is a major problem between points 5 and 6: it is stated that the passage is unpleasant, but in reality it is impossible: if you follow the GPX track the whole time, the track gradually disappears, though you can still follow it for a while by looking for possible routes. Then the forest becomes impenetrable, even on the GPX track itself. It took us a quarter of an hour to make 10 metres of progress. Escaping the trap wasn’t easy; we veered west to find the path shown on the map, which takes us to point 6 without any trouble.
In short, those who haven’t thought to bring a machete and an axe would be well advised not to turn off at point 5, but to continue along the path which, at the cost of a detour, will still take them to the cistern.
On a more technical note, I would still like to know when and how the GPX track was recorded (could the vegetation have transformed the terrain to such an extent since then?); or could there be a discrepancy between the GPX track and reality?

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Good evening,
You’ve gone wrong at point 4, so you’ll find yourself on a slightly tricky stretch as you’ll be off the trail for a few hundred metres through the heath to reach the summit of La Citerne. I can confirm that doing the circular loop in the opposite direction is difficult, particularly when it comes to finding the path at the top.
If you’d like to return to this spot, I’d recommend checking out hike no. 40705185 (summit of the cistern via Ginouveau). The circular loop is longer in distance, but on the other hand it offers a small, relatively well-marked path that’s shown on the 1:25,000 map.

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Date of your route : Oct 24, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely hike towards the Grand Luberon ridge trail, but I took a wrong turn on the climb at point 4, heading towards point 7 instead of point 5. However, you can’t do the 4, 5, 6, 7 circular route in reverse because you can’t find the start of the path from 6 to 5. We descended from 6 to 7, then 4, 3 and 8. In conclusion, I wasn’t paying enough attention to the numbering on this figure-of-eight route (double circular loop), but it was a lovely walk nonetheless – easy, quiet and, as always, a pleasure to admire the landscape and the sweeping views from the ridge road.

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